Bitcoin Falls Below $89,000 as Rally Fizzles Despite Trade War Relief - BTC, ETH Decline

Bitcoin (BTC) dropped below $89,000 on January 22, 2026, after failing to sustain momentum from a brief rally earlier in the day, despite expectations of reduced trade war risks. The cryptocurrency retreated to $88,500, down 1.5% over 24 hours, while Ether (ETH) fell below $3,000, declining 2.5%. Most crypto-related stocks declined, including Bullish (BLSH), Hut 8 (HUT), Galaxy Digital (GLXY), and XXI (XXI), all down 2%-4%, even as the Nasdaq rose 0.7%. Kaledora Fontana, CEO of Ostium, said market sentiment remains bearish through September due to expectations that Federal Reserve rate cuts will not materialize until after a chair transition, delaying broader risk-on flows. However, signs of modest risk appetite emerged in the MSTR-to-IBIT ratio, which rose about 5% year to date and broke a long-term downtrend since July, reflecting increased interest in leveraged bitcoin exposure via MicroStrategy (MSTR) relative to BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT).