Bitcoin briefly dips under $90,000 as profit-taking drags ETH, XRP and BNB lower

• Bitcoin slipped below $90,000 on Thursday after topping $94,000 earlier in the week, before rebounding to around $90,300.

• Major altcoins also turned lower, with Ethereum hitting $3,120 and several large caps showing losses of up to 7% over 24 hours.

• Traders pointed to profit-taking and long liquidations—tallying $150 million over the last four hours—as the pullback rippled across the market.

After an upbeat start to the business week that pushed Bitcoin to a 30-day high of $94,000, sellers briefly dragged the price down to $89,700. A quick rebound followed, lifting BTC back above $90,300. At the same time, other large-cap tokens—Ethereum, XRP and BNB—moved into the red, with 24-hour declines on some screens running as high as 7%.

Bitcoin’s drop below $90,000 was short-lived, but it set the tone for a choppy Thursday session. Ethereum fell to $3,120, and the broader tape looked heavy heading into the end of the week.

Over the past 24 hours, Bitcoin was down 2.7% and Ethereum fell 4.1%. XRP, Binance Coin (BNB), Solana, Dogecoin, Cardano and Hyperliquid were also lower, with declines reaching as much as 4%. The overall crypto market slipped 2.9% over the same period, according to CoinGecko.

Profit-taking and liquidations take the wheel

When Bitcoin tried to push beyond $94,000 earlier in the session, sellers regained control and pulled it back into the $91,000–$92,000 zone. Some market watchers said the move looked like profit-taking—amplified by long liquidations, which totaled $150 million in the last four hours, according to CoinGlass data.

Zooming out beyond Thursday’s dip, the week had still been constructive until recently: Bitcoin and Ethereum were up 3.2% and 5.1% on the week, respectively. A wider group of tokens—XRP, BNB, Solana, Tron, Dogecoin, Cardano and Hyperliquid—posted gains of up to 20% in the seven days ending Wednesday.

Levels traders are watching on Bitcoin

On the daily chart, Bitcoin briefly pushed above its October downtrend into late December, only to hit heavy resistance last Tuesday. Market watchers on X said support now sits at $87,496 and $85,982–$86,291, based on retracements tied to the corrected October rally and December lows.

They also flagged a key zone at $83,712–$84,000, derived from the 2025 weekly low close and the 38.2% retracement of the 2022 advance. If sellers press through that area, some expect risk of a renewed multi-month downtrend, with the next target projected at $78,342–$79,127—levels last seen in April 2025.

Another metric cited as weakening is CryptoQuant’s SOPR Ratio, which compares realized profitability between Long-Term Holders (LTH) and Short-Term Holders (STH). The ratio fell below 1 when Bitcoin dropped from highs near $110,000–$120,000 in October to the current $91,000 area—interpreted as short-term holders realizing losses, while long-term holders shed profits accumulated from November 2024 to Q4 2025.

Ethereum: institutional flows and a negative Coinbase premium

Ethereum has also faced pressure from the U.S. institutional side, following a $98.45 spot ETF outflow logged on Wednesday. At the same time, the Ethereum Coinbase Premium Gap—which compares prices on Coinbase versus Binance—has turned negative.

Its 14-day simple moving average fell to -2.285, the lowest since February last year, suggesting heavier selling pressure on U.S.-based exchanges. That negative premium is viewed as a headwind for ETH as it tries to reclaim $3,300 resistance.

Charts on CoinGecko also show Ethereum still wrestling with the aftermath of “doomtober,” when it peaked at $4,700 before sliding sharply back to the $3,200 area—and failing to climb back above $3,500 since November 15.

U.S. jobs data in focus as macro uncertainty lingers

Crypto has been sensitive to multiple cross-currents in 2026, including geopolitical tensions involving the U.S. and Venezuela. Thursday’s slide may also have been influenced by fresh U.S. labor-market data released yesterday.

According to ADP, private employers added 41,000 jobs in December, a modest rebound after November’s revised decline of 29,000. ADP Chief Economist Nela Richardson said that “even in those sectors that shed jobs this month, the shedding was not as strong as last month,” noting December’s gains were more positive than expected.

Economists added that investors are now weighing both jobs data and potential Supreme Court decisions on global tariffs for clues on how much risk they’re willing to take in digital assets.