US Stocks Plunge. Crypto Market Surges Against Trend, Bitcoin Eyes $100,000 Mark

TradingKey - The crypto market rises independently of US stocks as Bitcoin continues its strong rebound, poised to break the $100,000 mark.

On Thursday (January 15), cryptocurrencies extended their rally, with the total market capitalization rising 0.26% over the past 24 hours to $3.26 trillion. Bitcoin ( BTC) rose more than 1% today, briefly approaching $98,000 and reaching its highest level since last November. [Bitcoin Price Chart, Source: CoinMarketCap]

However, the privacy sector remained the top performer. Over the past 24 hours, the privacy sector surged 1.54%, with its market cap rising to $74.6 billion. Among them, Dash (DASH) skyrocketed over 40%, Horizen (ZEN) jumped 15%, Monero (XMR) rose over 7%, and Zcash ( ZEC) climbed 3%.

In contrast, the US stock market experienced a downturn. Notably, the three major US indices fell in tandem, with the Nasdaq sliding 1.00%, the S&P 500 down 0.53%, and the Dow dipping 0.08%. Large-cap tech stocks saw a collective sell-off, as Broadcom ( AVGO) fell over 4%, while Microsoft ( MSFT ), Amazon ( AMZN) and Meta ( META) all fell more than 2%. Nvidia ( NVDA) and Tesla ( TSLA) also dropped more than 1%.

[Price changes of large-cap tech stocks, Source: TradingKey]

The catalyst for this US stock market dip was a heavy-handed move by the US on chips. On January 14 local time, US President Trump announced a 25% tariff on chips that "transit" through the US before being used in products such as data center servers and ultimately exported to other countries. Trump also claimed that billions of dollars in revenue are expected from this measure.

After October 2025, the correlation between Bitcoin and US stocks gradually declined, with a clear divergence in their trends. While the Nasdaq maintained high-level consolidation and the Dow and S&P 500 climbed to successive new highs, Bitcoin prices continued to pull back. After November 21, Bitcoin prices bottomed out and rebounded, with the overall trend realigning with the three major US indices.

[Chart of Bitcoin and the Three Major US Indices, Source: TradingView]

Currently, US stocks are weakening while Bitcoin continues to rally, making it highly likely that capital will continue to flow back into the crypto market. Over the past three days, spot Bitcoin ETFs have seen continuous inflows. On January 13, spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded a net inflow of approximately $760 million, marking the largest single-day inflow since the crash last October.

[Spot Bitcoin ETF Fund Flow Chart, Source: Coinglass]

According to JPMorgan, inflows into crypto assets reached $130 billion in 2025, and they are expected to continue and potentially increase in 2026. JPMorgan analysts noted that the implementation of crypto regulations such as the US "Clarity Act" will encourage institutional adoption of digital assets. If so, Bitcoin would not only break $100,000 but could even surpass its all-time high.