Crypto Market

BTC and ETH Market Insight

After a short sharp rally early in January that flipped the market's momentum, a period of consolidation was seen as the gains were digested. Bitcoin managed to push back above $97,000, but ran into stiff resistance there, then faded and settled around $95,000 by the end of last week. Ethereum and most major altcoins followed a similar script which consolidated on fairly weak support levels before eventually breaking lower.

Market sentiment has shown signs of improvement here and there. The Fear and Greed Index has climbed out of the "Fear" zone it was stuck in at the start of January and is now bouncing around the Neutral area. That’s a modest positive shift in attention toward crypto.

The past week carried a mixed but generally upbeat tone, helped by supportive macro data and regulatory developments acting as tailwinds.

1.) Core CPI print came in softer than expected—2.6% against a forecast of 2.7%. That eased worries about persistent inflation and raised hopes for Fed rate cuts later this year, which in turn boosted overall risk appetite for higher-beta assets like crypto. On top of that, 2.) The release of an amended draft of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act helped reduce regulatory uncertainty, giving the industry a dose of optimism and preventing any deeper sell-off.

Overall, last week felt more like an institution-led move than pure retail hype. Prices tested key resistance levels, failed to break through convincingly, and pulled back to consolidate on shaky support. The setup points to continued cautious price action until a solid push that clears those major overhead resistances.

Upcoming Macro Calendar - Source: Trading Economics

Options Market

Over the past week, BTC and ETH options markets maintained a subdued tone with no major expiries, as BTC Implied Volatility continued dwindling to lows around 36 vol points amid Realised Volatility grinding below 35%, while ETH IV drifted lower to ~45% with RV at ~45%, reflecting a fair valuation of options. Skew showed mild put premiums (BTC 7D ~5.5 vol points OTM puts; ETH 7D reverted to modest put bias  ~ 3.1 vol points), indicating cautious hedging amid tentative upside sentiment. ETF netflows reversed early-year outflows into strong inflows, with BTC ETFs netting +$1.4B over Jan 12-16 (5D +15.25k BTC) and ETH +$480M+ (5D +146.6k ETH), signaling renewed institutional demand.

Altcoins and Blockchain News

• South Korea lifts nine-year corporate crypto ban, allowing listed companies to invest in cryptocurrencies.
  
  
• U.S. Senate Democrats restart negotiations on cryptocurrency market structure bill.
  
  
• Dubai bans privacy coins and tightens stablecoin regulations.
  
  
• JPMorgan: Crypto market saw record $130 billion inflows in 2025, expects further increase this year.
  
  
• Solana Mobile: Will exclude some Seeker abnormal cluster addresses to ensure fairness in the airdrop.
  
  
• Bank of England Deputy Governor: UK may need to provide bank deposit-like protections for stablecoin deposits.
  
  
• Bitcoin spot ETFs see 1.42billionnetinflowthisweek,BlackRock‘ s IBIT leads with 1.035 billion.
  
  
• Ethereum validator exit queue drops to zero, entry queue surges to 2.6 million ETH.
  
  
• Vitalik: Ethereum to reclaim ground in sovereignty and trustlessness by 2026, no longer compromising for adoption.
  
  
• CoinShares: Digital asset investment products saw $454 million net outflows last week, mainly due to weakening Fed rate cut expectations.

Macro

The major benchmarks finished lower for the week: the DJIA shed 0.3%, the S&P 500 lost 0.4%, and the Nasdaq fell 0.7%. The Chinese stock market closed lower for the week after tightened regulations on margin finance: the Shanghai Composite Index shed 0.45%, the CSI 300 lost 0.57% while the Hang Seng index added +2.34%.