Asia Morning Briefing: Bitcoin holds steady above $90K as fresh money returns to crypto

• Bitcoin remains stable above $90,000, reflecting consolidation rather than renewed selling pressure.
• Ethereum shows resilience with strong weekly and monthly performance, despite a cooling in futures positioning.
• Gold is expected to reach new highs in 2026 due to falling rates, central bank buying, and geopolitical risks.

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Welcome to Asia Morning Briefing, a daily summary of top stories during U.S. hours and an overview of market moves and analysis. For a detailed overview of U.S. markets, see CoinDesk's Crypto Daybook Americas.

Crypto markets are starting the year in recalibration mode rather than retreat, with bitcoin consolidating above $90,000 and ether regaining relative strength as institutional positioning resets.

As Hong Kong began its Wednesday trading day, BTC slipped modestly on short-term frames but remained range-bound after clearing the psychologically important $90,000 level.

"With stocks, gold and other precious metals at all time highs, we see the situation as a battle between price correcting higher to be in line with all the other assets vs price moving lower over the next few months to respect the 4-year cycle,” George Mandres, a crypto analyst at trading firm XBTO, told CoinDesk in a note, adding that the latter “can very quickly turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

So far, neither force has dominated price action. Instead of a sharp correction, bitcoin has moved sideways, suggesting digestion rather than distribution. Mandres pointed to the calendar effect as a key difference from late 2025.

"What is different now vs a few weeks ago, besides the [btc] price, which has gone above $90k, is the fact that a new year has started and therefore PNLs reset to 0, and investors need to allocate capital to attractive risk/reward opportunities,” he continued.

Ethereum tells a slightly different story. While ETH has outperformed bitcoin over weekly and monthly windows, futures data suggests positioning has cooled.

Bradley Park, founder of DNTV Research, said CME ethereum futures open interest offers useful context beyond spot charts.

“Rising open interest has increasingly reflected institutional participation via DAT-style, ETF arb trades, while falling open interest suggests an unwind,” Park said in a note to CoinDesk.

That unwind now appears well advanced.

“The recent pullback looks less like a structural break and more like a loss of momentum, with positioning resetting to roughly July 2025 levels,” Park added.

Importantly, that reset has not been accompanied by a sharp spot selloff.

A recent report from Glassnode reinforces the same theme across assets. Options markets have de-risked aggressively, with open interest contracting and volatility expectations rising, while U.S. spot ETF flows have flipped back to net inflows, signaling renewed institutional demand but also increasing sensitivity to near-term profit-taking.

Taken together, the signals point to consolidation and rotation rather than a broad risk-off move. Bitcoin is absorbing competing macro narratives without breaking trend, while Ethereum looks less crowded and better positioned if institutional flows re-engage.

Market Movement

BTC: Bitcoin is trading sideways above $90,000, with price action reflecting consolidation after a recent advance rather than renewed selling pressure, as macro support and cycle-driven caution continue to offset each other.

ETH: Ether is trading around $3,247, edging lower on short time frames but remaining up strongly on weekly and monthly views, underscoring resilience despite a recent cooling in futures positioning.

Gold: After a nearly 65% rally in 2025, banks see gold pushing to new records in 2026 on falling rates, central bank buying and geopolitical risk.

Nikkei 225: Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.45% on Wednesday as Asia-Pacific markets traded mixed, with Australia’s ASX 200 rising 0.38% after inflation data came in below forecasts.

Elsewhere in Crypto

• DeFi, ethics disputes remain in Senate crypto bill ahead of Jan. 15 vote (CoinDesk)
• Rapper Drake Faces RICO Lawsuit for Promoting and Using Crypto Casino Stake (Decrypt)

• KuCoin recorded over $1.25 trillion in total trading volume in 2025, equivalent to an average of roughly $114 billion per month, marking its strongest year on record.
• This performance translated into an all-time high share of centralised exchange volume, as KuCoin’s activity expanded faster than aggregate CEX volumes, which slowed during periods of lower market volatility.
• Spot and derivatives volumes were evenly split, each exceeding $500 billion for the year, signalling broad-based usage rather than reliance on a single product line.
• Altcoins accounted for the majority of trading activity, reinforcing KuCoin’s role as a primary liquidity venue beyond BTC and ETH at a time when majors saw more muted turnover.
• Even as overall crypto volumes softened mid-year, KuCoin maintained elevated baseline activity, indicating structurally higher user engagement rather than short-lived volume spikes.

• FIL slipped 3.6% to $1.54.
• The CoinDesk 20 index was 3.6% lower at publication time.

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