Invest ideasNews
20 Jan 2026, 11:54
If Bitcoin Doesn’t Move Soon, the Next Move Could Matter More
After a positive start to the year, Bitcoin’s upside momentum has taken a noticeable correction over the past two days. BTC attempted a break above the decisive level of $95K on January 14th but has since seen six consecutive red days, pulling back around 7% since the local high of $97,900. Approximately $100 billion has been wiped out from the total crypto market cap across the last 48 hours. The altcoin marketcap, measured by the TOTAL2 excluding stablecoin chart, also experienced declines of roughly 3.5% over the same period. After failing to reclaim the $95K level on the weekly timeframe, BTC is now back within the consolidation range it’s been in since mid November. Should downside pressure accelerate, attention shifts to key support levels that need to hold to preserve the broader long-term market structure. What Caused the Selloff? BREAKING: President Trump announces a 10% tariff on Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the UK, Netherlands, and Finland beginning February 1st. This tariff will be increased to 25% beginning on June 1st. Tariffs will remain in effect until the US reaches a deal to buy… pic.twitter.com/978qAHjxao — The Kobeissi Letter (@KobeissiLetter) January 17, 2026 The selloff was largely triggered by macro uncertainties around Trump’s renewed push to annex the arctic island of Greenland coupled with threats of broad tariffs on eight European countries until what he described as a complete and total purchase is negotiated. While these developments remain highly speculative and politically charged, such headlines increase uncertainty around global trade tensions and diplomacy. As a result, investors have moved to de-risk their portfolios, rotating out of assets like BTC in favor of safer positioning. This risk-off rotation is reflected in the strong outperformance of commodities like gold and silver, which are currently trading at all-time highs and have gained 9.59% and 31% YTD, respectively. Key Levels to Watch The first key level for BTC to hold and where many traders potentially could position themselves for a bounce opportunity is at the 50 day Simple Moving Average (SMA). This currently sits at $90,400 and is in confluence with an ascending trendline that dates back to the lows of $80.5K recorded in November last year. Beyond the 50-day SMA, attention shifts to the yearly open near $87.5K, which aligns with the 0.5 Fibonacci retracement. Just below this, the Fibonacci golden pocket (~$86K) represents a key zone that needs to hold to preserve the broader consolidation structure. What Could Confirm the Next Move Beyond price levels, confirmation of the next directional move will require a pickup in volume. Aggregated daily exchange volume has tapered off since January 16th, signaling reduced conviction behind the recent price action. The diminishing volume suggests that we are seeing a market that is currently correcting on thinning liquidity rather than strong directional intent. Therefore, for any sustained trend, up or down, volume needs to expand, as low volume moves tend to be fragile and prone to reversals rather than continuation. Looking ahead, institutional participation and activity could be a key variable to watch. With U.S. markets closed yesterday, BTC spot ETF flows in the coming week will provide a clearer insight into whether institutional demand can offset the recent selling pressure or amplify it. Ultimately, the current backdrop largely hinges upon broader macro developments. As geopolitical rhetoric and trade-related uncertainties continue to shape risk appetite, BTC’s next move is likely to be driven as much by macro signals as by technical levels, making the coming week particularly pivotal for market direction.
20 Jan 2026, 11:50
JST price lags as JustLend burns 11% of supply and buys back $40M
JustLend DAO, a prominent DeFi lending protocol on the TRON blockchain, has executed its second major buyback of the JST tokens. This action was followed up with a burn that permanently removed all the purchased tokens from circulation. The buyback and burn occurred on January 15 of this year, but days later, the token price has shown only limited immediate volatility, trading around $0.04 with only modest gains. How the JST token responded to the buyback effort The subdued reaction was a disappointment, and it further adds credence to the point other projects have made regarding buybacks — that it is no longer as effective as it used to be at triggering pumps, even for the short term. The token’s market cap had surged past $400 million in recent times, but it is currently hovering around $361M while its trading volume has gone up about 22% to $31 million since the buyback and burn occurred. On X, despite the token’s lackluster response to the announcement of the second major buyback by the lending protocol, the community has remained optimistic. The deflationary shift will see more burns happen this year at a quarterly interval to keep the trend going. How much did JustLend spend on buybacks? According to an official post from the JustLend DAO, the team spent a total of $21 million on the second phase, a couple of million more than what it spent during the first phase of the buyback . That $21 million was funded entirely from the protocol’s Q4 2025 net income as well as from its accumulated reserves. Combine this recent buyback with the first one, which occurred in October 2025, and destroyed about 560 million JST tokens, and the total reduction now stands at over 1.085 billion JST tokens, nearly 11% of the original total supply of 9.9 billion. Meanwhile, the cumulative value of both buybacks is hovering at almost $40 million. In the official post announcing the second buyback, the JustLend DAO boasted about walking the talk, implying that not all project buybacks were as effective or consistent as theirs. “In DeFi, many talk about burns,” the post read, “Few actually reduce supply, repeatedly and at scale.” The buyback mechanism was approved in October 2025 JustLend announced on October 21, 2025, that the JustLend DAO community had officially adopted the Proposal on JST Buyback & Burn Program. According to the official announcement, all of JustLend DAO’s net revenue, along with the portion of USDD’s multi-chain ecosystem revenue above $10 million, would be dedicated to the JST buybacks with transactions executed transparently on-chain. The announcement was met with a warm welcome from the community, who recognized that it was more than just another buyback program. Until then, JST was a passive utility token, but the approval turned it into a deflationary asset powered by real revenue. The burns are designed to not only create scarcity, but also reduce sell pressure and reward holders by reallocating ecosystem profits back into token buybacks. The project’s TVL has grown to over $7 billion, providing a robust foundation for the new revenue-driven model. The first burn, which happened swiftly after the approval, was executed using JustLend DAO’s existing revenue, which totaled 59,087,137 USDT. As outlined in the proposal, 30% of that amount, about 17,726,141 USDT, was used to buy back and burn 559,890,753 JST, accounting for about 5.66% of the total supply. Claim your free seat in an exclusive crypto trading community - limited to 1,000 members.
20 Jan 2026, 11:44
U.S. Supreme Court Rulings Impact Global Markets and Bitcoin Prices
Global markets face uncertainty before the Supreme Court's tariff decision. Bitcoin's deeper correction to $60,000 is possible according to technical analysts. Continue Reading: U.S. Supreme Court Rulings Impact Global Markets and Bitcoin Prices The post U.S. Supreme Court Rulings Impact Global Markets and Bitcoin Prices appeared first on COINTURK NEWS .
20 Jan 2026, 11:40
BitMine ramps up Ethereum staking to $5.6B as token reserves on exchanges thin
BitMine Immersion Technologies, the leading Ethereum Treasury company in the world, has recently staked about 86,848 tokens, rapidly expanding its ETH stockpile to approximately 1.77 million ETH—roughly $5.66 billion at current prices. This move demonstrated a growing trend in which institutional investors, public firms, and treasury companies like BitMine are allocating a significant portion of their funds to staking to push their long-term Ethereum holdings. Meanwhile, as this trend persists, analysts have conducted research and found a significant shortage of ETH supply on crypto exchanges. However, hope for a more positive future for Ethereum has been sparked by the reduction in the number of Ethereum available on crypto exchanges, and by BitMine’s long-standing effort to make significant staking of the cryptocurrency. BitMine makes a big move in the crypto ecosystem Regarding BitMine’s recent move, the on-chain analytics platform Lookonchain initially disclosed the leading Ethereum Treasury company’s staking activities on the social media platform X. According to reports from Lookonchain, these staking activities took place five hours ago, on January 20. With fewer ETH tokens on the market, analysts see potential upward price pressure if demand holds or increases. Interestingly, even with significant staking, BitMine’s industry executive asserted that they will continue to promote further accumulation of Ethereum in their holdings despite rising market instability. To illustrate their commitment to achieving this goal, sources highlighted that the firm acquired around 24,000 Ethereum, expanding its total ETH holdings to 4.17 million. This approach drew the attention of several investors. BitMine’s CEO, Tom Lee, weighed in on the matter. He noted that, “We continue to be the largest ‘fresh money’ buyer of ETH worldwide. And when MAVAN starts its commercial operations, we will become the biggest staking provider in the entire crypto ecosystem.” Lee also pointed out that he adopted the Ethereum staking program for BitMine as a critical step to help the firm address its $4 billion debt. While pursuing this aim, Ether traded below $3,000, resulting in $4 billion in losses. Nonetheless, even with this temporary downturn, Lee expressed optimism about the long-term potential of cryptocurrency and stated that the company will begin staking to generate additional income. Crypto firms demonstrate heightened interest in purchasing the largest altcoin BitMine’s staking move has played a crucial role in boosting the firm’s overall Ethereum staking. To remain competitive in the industry, key players have decided to follow the Ethereum treasury company’s lead by retaining their tokens for the long haul. As this trend persists, reports indicate that Ethereum staking has soared to a record $118 billion. Apart from staking, analysts also discovered that significant institutions such as BitMine have shown heightened interest in purchasing the largest altcoin. Other firms that have played a part in this move include Sharplink, The Ether Machine, and ETHZilla . These companies have gone so far as to create their own Ether reserves. Regarding the supply shortage, sources explained that the surge in corporate Ether purchases is the root cause of the sharp decline in the token’s supply on cryptocurrency exchanges. Currently, only about 16.3 million Ether are available on centralized exchanges (CEXs), according to CryptoQuant. On the other hand, analysts anticipated that such a scenario could lead to price increases in ETH as demand for the cryptocurrency escalates. Don’t just read crypto news. Understand it. Subscribe to our newsletter. It's free .
20 Jan 2026, 11:39
Bitcoin slides to $91,000 as U.S. trade tensions spur selloff : Crypto Markets Today
Bitcoin erased last week’s rally as Asia-led selling hit crypto alongside falling U.S. equity futures.
20 Jan 2026, 11:39
FETH: Not A 'Buy' Without Staking (Rating Downgrade)
Summary Fidelity Ethereum ETF is downgraded due to a lack of staking and extreme ETH valuation concerns. ETH network fees collapsed 86% YoY in Q4-25, driving the P/F multiple to a historic high of 3,260x. FETH lags peers in inflows; Grayscale Ethereum Mini ETF is favored for its lower fee and staking capability. Ethereum's stablecoin usage and capital flows remain strong, but success may already be priced into ETH. It has been about 6 months since I last covered the Fidelity Ethereum Fund ETF ( FETH ) for Seeking Alpha. To briefly recap my thoughts on the fund, it was my preferred spot Ethereum USD ( ETH-USD ) ETF back when it launched in July 2024. I have generally liked that Fidelity relies on self-custody for asset holdings rather than third-party providers like Coinbase Global, Inc. ( COIN ), though Fidelity has deviated from the self-custody strategy in the newer Fidelity Solana Fund ETF ( FSOL ). In this update, we'll look at Ethereum's key metrics for Q4-25 as well as capital flow considerations broadly and for FETH specifically. Ethereum Network Metrics Q4-25 was a continuation of the broad trend that we've seen for Ethereum over the last several quarters. Namely, on-chain activity is up when viewed through usage metrics like Daily Active Addresses and transactions; each of which was up by nearly 30% year-over-year. However, we continue to see what I view to be one of the most important economic numbers for the network declining. Ethereum Q4-25 Q3-25 Q4-25 YoY QoQ DAAs (000s) 400.8 516.0 509.9 27.2% -1.2% Transactions (millions) 112.1 147.3 145.2 29.5% -1.4% Fees (millions) $552.10 $125.40 $76.60 -86.1% -38.9% Source: Artemis Analytics. Fees in the quarter were down 86% year-over-year from $552 million in Q4-24 to just $76.6 million in Q4-25. The sequential decline in fees was also high at nearly 40% in a single quarter. This decline in fees took Ethereum from the top network in the public blockchain industry in Q4-24 down to the third-ranked chain by fees in Q4-25. Even though network fees have essentially collapsed over the last several years, Ethereum's stablecoin footprint continues to be terrific. Not only has the chain seen more than 89% year-over-year growth in stablecoin supply from Q4-24 to Q4-25, but the actual usage of those coins has seen tremendous growth. Stable Tx Vol Q4-25 Q3-25 Q4-25 YoY QoQ Total Market (trillions) $10.2 $15.8 $19.7 93.1% 24.7% Ethereum (trillions) $2.3 $5.0 $7.5 226.1% 50.0% ETH Share 18.40% 24.04% 27.57% 49.9% 14.7% Supply (billions) $87,100 $130,300 $164,700 89.1% 26.4% Source: Artemis Analytics. In the last three months, Ethereum settled $7.5 billion in stablecoin transaction volume. This was good for 226% year-over-year growth and 27.6% shares of the total stablecoin market. Importantly, Ethereum's share of stablecoin transaction volume also grew both year-over-year and sequentially. Digital Asset Capital Flows Capital markets are still viewing Ethereum favorably from where I sit. During the full year 2025, Ethereum saw $12.7 billion in positive net flows into investment products. This was good for just under 27% of the total asset flows in the market. That trend is generally continuing in 2026, with $553 million in year-to-date net flows giving Ethereum 23% share of capital flows. Asset (millions) YTD Flows AUM 2025 Flows Bitcoin $1,664.0 $149,776 $26,984 Ethereum $552.9 $27,543 $12,698 Multi-asset -$32.1 $6,881 -$214.0 XRP $108.1 $3,865 $3,697.0 Solana $75.8 $3,832 $3,562.0 ETH Dominance 23.0% 14.2% 26.9% Source: CoinShares, Bloomberg as of 1/16/25. Considering Ethereum's investment AUM in the digital asset space is just 14.2% share of the market, Ethereum should continue to see a bid from investors if the network can continue to scale both stablecoin supply and stablecoin usage on-chain. FETH Vs. Peers While the market demand for Ethereum products in 2026 remains strong relative to AUM share, not all the digital asset ETF providers are seeing the same success. Despite having the third largest AUM in the broad space, Fidelity's products are underperforming a broad market that has already seen $2.4 billion in net inflows to begin 2026: Provider (millions) MTD Flows YTD Flows AUM 2025 Flows iShares $1,798 $1,798 $87,477 $35,056 Grayscale $28 $28 $27,636 -$2,851 Fidelity -$126 -$126 $23,048 $2,151 Bitwise $262 $262 $8,448 $1,105 Volatility Shares -$77 -$77 $4,352 $372 Total $2,404 $2,404 $193,556 $47,153 Source: CoinShares, Bloomberg as of 1/16/25. With $126 million already coming out of Fidelity products to begin the year, this could actually get worse for the provider before it gets better, given the fact that it has been Fidelity's Bitcoin USD ( BTC-USD ) product rather than its Ethereum product that has created the outflow year to date. Fidelity's ETH product has generated a little under $23 million in positive inflows. But that inflow is lagging competing funds: Fund Expense Ratio Staking? YTD Net Flows iShares Ethereum Trust ETF ( ETHA ) 0.25% Pending $369.90 Grayscale Ethereum Mini Staking ETF ( ETH ) 0.15% Yes $137.30 Bitwise Ethereum ETF ( ETHW ) 0.20% Pending $59.90 FETH 0.25% Pending $22.60 21Shares Ethereum ETF ( TETH ) 0.21% Pending $6.60 Source: Farside. The biggest issue I see for FETH at this time is that the fund lacks staking. While it is widely expected that the SEC will eventually approve staking for FETH, among other funds, right now, Grayscale is the only provider that does indeed have staking enabled for the fund assets. In a prior article , I detailed why I liked Grayscale's Mini ETF compared to Grayscale's original Ethereum product despite the lower staking ratio. Until FETH has staking enabled, the Grayscale Ethereum Mini ETF is likely the better long-term bet due to its lower fee and staking of assets. Risks There are numerous risks to consider before allocating capital to digital assets. Those risks include, but are not limited to, declining network usage, potential for speculative capital outflows, sales from DAT companies, and regulatory headwinds. Aside from all the standard risks that go with buying digital assets and their proxies, these things generally trade at nosebleed valuations when compared to traditional equities. Circulating P/F Ratio (Token Terminal) For instance, on a circulating price-to-fees multiple, ETH has never in its history been as 'overvalued' as it is today. At 3,260x fees, the decline in network fees coupled with the elevated price of the token has created a parabolic rise in the P/F multiple. I'm very concerned about this personally and see it as possible, if not likely, that Ethereum's potential success in stablecoin payments is already being priced in by the market. Not only is stablecoin payment success far from a sure thing broadly within the industry, but there is no guarantee that Ethereum will remain the long-term winner should such success manifest. Closing Summary I'm no longer personally holding FETH. My personal Ethereum exposure is limited to on-chain holdings and a speculative position through Grayscale's Mini fund. In the event FETH does get staking enabled, I could see myself revisiting the product. But for now, I'm downgrading FETH on two core factors: I like an alternative product better, and I'm highly concerned about the token's valuation.
