Gold Rises, Bitcoin Tanks Below $88,000 in Biggest Sale of 2026

Crypto markets erased all gains this year as Bitcoin fell hard on fears of trade wars and turmoil in the Japanese bond market.

Total market capitalization fell 4% on the day as markets shed more than $200 billion since the weekend. Bitcoin led losses, briefly falling below $88,000 during early trading in Asia on Wednesday morning, but it appears America is leading the charge.

BTC has now lost 10% in just seven days as it returns to support levels. However, the pullback shows that it remains within the two-month range channel and continues to consolidate.

More volatility was forecast for Tuesday following a public holiday in the US on Monday, as markets digested President Trump’s latest round of tariff threats in Europe.

“The cryptocurrency market crashed on January 21, mainly due to broad risk-reduction sentiments from President Trump’s renewed 10-25% tariff threats to European countries/NATO due to the Greenland conflict, fueled by sharp Japanese government bond sales,” said Andri Fauzan Adziima, head of research at Bitrue.

Payments, Japanese bonds, and Geopolitics

Trump’s trade war is not the only thing affecting the crypto markets today.

“A lot of the turmoil in today’s markets is coming from Japan,” said SoFi’s Head of Investment Strategy, Liz Thomas.

Head of Commodity Strategy at Saxo Bank, Ole Hansen, explained that “The constant increase of the classic JGB. [Japanese government bond] it shows signs that one of the most reliable conditions in the world is coming to an end, with consequences that extend far beyond Tokyo.”

The pressure on global currency is impacting risk in assets such as crypto and tech stocks first, while safe assets such as gold and commodities are benefiting.

MF Fund founder Michaël van de Poppe said that if gold continues to gain, “there is a big panic happening in the markets, as people get into potentially risky assets.”

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#Bitcoin vs. Gold breaks.

The current rating of #Bitcoin it has never been this low compared to gold before.

It is the same with the periods of 2022 and 2018, the end times of those periods.

Gold keeps going up, the higher it goes, the faster we get… pic.twitter.com/GpnlFzC8M8

– Michaël van de Poppe (@CryptoMichNL) January 20, 2026

Elsewhere in Crypto Markets

The broader crypto market is full of blood today, with Ether dropping 7% in the fall below $3,000 again, hitting $2,925 and returning to December lows.

There were also big losses for Binance Coin, Monero, and Hyperliquid, but most altcoins were down 3-4% on the day. Canton (CC) bucked the trend with a 12% gain on the day.

The market cap had fallen to the lower limits of its lateral channel at $3.08 trillion at the time of writing. It needs to hold key support here to avoid falling into a full bear market and a long crypto winter.