Crypto Market Shakes Off ETF Blues as Ripple Eyes Saudi Gold

Bitcoin steadied near $88,000 on Monday. After a punishing week. For crypto exchange-traded funds. Investors pulled about $1.7 billion. From crypto ETFs. With Bitcoin products taking roughly $1.33 billion. Of that.

Meanwhile, Ethereum funds saw about $611 million in exits. As risk appetite thinned. Additionally, macro nerves crept back in.

Yet price action refused to turn into something. A rout. Bitcoin briefly probed the mid-$86,000s. Over the weekend. Then, crawled back towards $88,000. However, the market still looks bruised. With BTC down about 10.5%. From mid-January levels. Near $98,000.

Traders talked up something. A possible “relief bounce.” As momentum gauges hinted at something. Seller fatigue.

Bitcoin’s Wild Ride: Outflows Hit Historic Highs

ETF flow data did the damage. But derivatives finished the job. Liquidations rose. As leveraged longs tried to defend $88,000. And failed. Moreover, a CME futures gap of roughly $2,900 became something. A magnet for short-term positioning. With fast money leaning into the volatility.

Technical Signals Emerge

Technicians, however, found something to like. Bullish RSI divergence showed up. On Bitcoin charts. Suggesting weakening downside momentum. Even as price tested support. Therefore, $87,957 has become a line in the sand. For dip buyers. While $89,878 sits nearby. And then $91,256. As upside markers. Into 28 January.

Key Market Metrics

ETF stress: About $1.33BN left Bitcoin ETFs last week. And about $611M left Ethereum ETFs.

Key levels: Support near $87,957. With resistance bands around $89,878. Additionally, $91,256.

Drawdown check: BTC is about 10.5% below mid-January levels. Near $98,000.

Macro noise: Prediction markets priced US shutdown odds around 78%. Weighing on broader risk.

Elsewhere, the dollar’s dip helped counterbalance something. The fund outflows. The DXY index retested levels. Last seen in September. Which typically loosens financial conditions. At the margin.

However, traders remained wary. Ahead of looming policy headlines. With “one bad print” still capable of something. Spiking correlations. Across equities. Additionally, rates. Furthermore, crypto.

Ripple’s Gulf Gambit: RLUSD Tests Saudi Waters

While Bitcoin sulked, Ripple grabbed attention. With a Saudi move. The company signed something important. A memorandum of understanding. With Jeel. The innovation arm tied to Riyad Bank. To explore blockchain-based payment use cases. In the kingdom.

No launch timetable came. With the announcement. And nothing is live yet. Still, the direction of travel matters. Why? Since Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 agenda has become something. A powerful umbrella. For fintech pilots.

Ripple’s Strategic Positioning

Ripple’s pitch leans on regulated rails. Additionally, its RLUSD stablecoin. Gulf regulators have shown more enthusiasm. For controlled experimentation. Rather than for freewheeling retail speculation.

Meanwhile, Ripple has already cultivated traction. In Dubai. Additionally, Abu Dhabi. So Saudi pilots read as the next stop. In a deliberate regional build-out.

RLUSD matters. Which Ripple positions for institutional payments. Has been backed by a growing web. Of custody relationships. Additionally, reserve relationships. Therefore, each incremental regulator conversation can become something. A credibility trade. Even before volumes arrive.

Tokenized Frontiers and Stablecoin Surges

Stablecoins stayed at the heart. Of the day’s narrative. Tokenized settlement keeps moving. From conference slide to implementation plan. With T+0 settlement increasingly treated as something. A near-term project. Rather than a distant experiment.

Meanwhile, new euro stablecoin projects continued to queue up. Including efforts targeting 2H 2026. With multi-bank support.

That matters for crypto prices. Why? Because stablecoins are the market’s plumbing. When their use expands? On-chain liquidity normally improves. However, tighter regulation can also reshape who issues. Who banks them. Additionally, which chains benefit.

Altcoin Action and Oddballs

In majors, Ethereum faced renewed talk. Of a potential 20% slide. Towards the $2,780 to $3,020 area. If risk sentiment worsens.

Meanwhile, reports of something caught attention. A dormant whale shifting 50,000 ETH. To Gemini. This revived a familiar fear. Watching big wallets for clues. That supply might hit the market.

Solana slipped. Even as memecoin activity stayed noisy. And some traders pointed to fee spikes. Additionally, churn. As gasoline for leverage flushes.

NFTs, for their part, showed signs of life. With weekly sales doubling. To about $122.5 million. And CryptoPunks rising about 25%.

Key Takeaways

ETF outflows remain the near-term headwind. So rallies may struggle. Without flow stabilization.

Bitcoin’s RSI divergence supports tactical bounce setups. But $87,957 is the risk line. To watch.

Dollar softness can ease pressure. Although macro shocks may still dominate. Intraday moves.

Ripple’s Saudi pilot work helps something. The “enterprise stablecoin” narrative. Yet catalysts depend on actual rollout.

In alts, leverage clean-outs keep punishing crowded longs. So position sizing matters more. Than conviction.

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