What followed was the decline of bitcoin to become less than $92,000 on January 19, 2026 that brought the cryptocurrency market into a state of turmoil due to the harsh threat of tariffs as expressed by President Donald Trump that caused a widespread fear among risk-averse assets. Ether fell 3.95% to $3,182, and Solana fell 6.69%, overturning gains in the wake of a general sell-off.
Sharp Market Drops
This was prompted by the announcement on Saturday by Trump in Truth Social that he would impose 10% tariffs on products of 8 European countries i.e., Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Finland effective on February 1, unless it signed an agreement to purchase Greenland. Equity futures also dropped, and the safe-haven assets soared: gold rose to record highs of $4700 per ounce (up 2%), and silver rose to record highs of $93.69 per ounce (up 4%).
said Richard Galvin, co-founder of hedge fund DACM
A rebound from the oversold levels driven by tax-loss selling and general capitulation coming into year-end.
Galvin added.
The latest bout of tariff concerns has pumped the brakes on that, while gold hitting all-time highs confirms the selling is “more a risk-off move than anything crypto-specific,”
The crypto liquidations hit an apparent high of $660 million in 24 hours, and long positions were washed at $533 million in one hour.
Recent Rally Fizzles
Cryptocurrencies began 2026 on a promising note, in response, bitcoin’s price has risen by 6% to $92,600 this month, with ether rallying nearly 8% to $3,200, CoinDesk data show and came out of the October 2025 decline and year-end tax sale demand. However, the wave of risk-off, which was driven by the concerns of trade wars, stopped the momentum.
CoinDesk’s market insights model said.
The correlation between ETF inflows and price action suggests institutional capital is actively driving market structure rather than passively following retail sentiment. This pattern differs markedly from late 2025, when Bitcoin struggled despite moderate ETF interest.
Outlook and Key Levels
In a bearish scenario in which Bitcoin loses its support at $90,000, analyst KillaXBT explains that the next price floor is around $87,500, which corresponds to the 2026 yearly open and the demand of institutional ETFs may intervene to absorb the market, as already indicated.
The backlash by Europe threatens to break down last year’s commercial agreement and this may prolong the volatility. It is worth noting that overriding macroeconomic head winds remain the major driving force of the market weakness.
During the follow-up period, the price movements are to be closely observed since failure to keep the critical level of support would presuppose increased exposure to downsides, yet successful recovery may occur in case of tariff pressures relaxation. The connection between crypto currency and equities is used to reflect the high stakes pivot upon the trade war that is still in place.
