Technical Analysis

Bitcoin extended its rise above $95,500 and is currently trading over $96,000. Immediate resistance sits near $97,200 and $97,800, with further hurdles at $98,000 and $98,800, while supports include $96,000, $95,250, and $94,000. A sustained break above $98,000 could open room toward $99,500, $99,800, and $100,000.

Bitcoin is trading within an ascending channel, with bulls defending both the 50-week and 50-day moving averages as support while price trends higher. ETF flows and liquidation data show strong spot and institutional demand, including a recent $753.8 million single-day ETF inflow and $174.5 million in liquidations that largely hit short positions, supporting the view that the uptrend could extend toward the $130,000 area.

Bitcoin rose 5% to $95k as the broader crypto market added about $130 billion in value in the third week of the month. With cooling U.S. inflation, softer labor data and progress on the CLARITY and GENIUS Acts, some analysts see macro conditions supporting a potential push toward $100k.

XRP is compressing near the $2.30–$2.40 zone, with structure pointing to a possible expansion as volatility cools. Analysts note a 3‑day close above $2.40 could open a path toward $2.70 and potentially $3.13, while maintaining the broader uptrend as long as price holds above $2.00.

On January 13, Polygon Labs said it signed an agreement to acquire Coinme and Sequence for over $250 million. The deal targets stablecoin payments and cross-border settlement, leveraging Coinme's 48-state licenses and 50,000 fiat-to-crypto locations plus Sequence's enterprise wallets and cross-chain tech. Meanwhile, POL fell from $0.18 to $0.15 before rebounding to $0.16.

CryptoQuant contributor Darkfost reports Binance's Bitcoin futures open interest topped $15B on October 6, then fell more than 31% to about $10B as futures-led selling eased. He views the drop and an OI slide below the 180‑day average as a deleveraging signal, while Net Taker Volume has cooled to –$51M from a –$489M monthly peak. BTC last traded at $95,131.

A new draft of the U.S. Digital Asset Market Clarity Act could classify XRP, along with tokens like LTC, HBAR, DOGE, SOL, and LINK, as "non-ancillary" assets from January 1, putting them on similar regulatory footing to Bitcoin and Ethereum as ETF primary assets. While this change does not immediately move XRP's price, it adds institutional clarity as XRP trades around resistance at its 200-day EMA, with bulls eyeing a potential move toward $3.20 and bears watching support near $1.95.

OP led Layer 2 tokens with a gain of more than 13% as trading volume jumped over 140% to above $200 million. It ranked fifth among the top 100 coins by performance, while Optimism's network activity strengthened since 2025, with daily transactions surpassing 2.5 million and the cumulative count at 921.9 million.

An analysis by Steph is Crypto on X this Tuesday says the long-term XRP/gold ratio has returned to a support area near $0.0004. Past touches on this zone preceded rallies of more than 800% in 2020, over 120% in 2022, and about 530% in 2024. He also notes RSI around 33.38, and projects a move above $0.0018 if patterns recur.

Bitcoin rallied after $840 million flowed into spot ETFs on Monday and Tuesday, and Wednesday’s 5.5% jump lifted price to a two‑month high near $97,000. Options skew sits at 4% with puts priced richer, $370 million in short liquidations hit over two days, and macro risks plus weaker equities are capping momentum.