Bitcoin Falls Below 90,000 on Trump's Tariff Threats

Bitcoin plunged below 90,000 on January 21, 2026, extending a sharp selloff triggered by President Donald Trump's threats to impose escalating tariffs on eight NATO allies unless Denmark agrees to sell Greenland. The cryptocurrency, which had hovered near 95,000 over the weekend, fell as low as 89,162 during the session, settling around 89,368, a roughly 1.9 percent decline. This downturn, unfolding amid heightened global trade tensions, led to over 708 million in crypto liquidations across derivatives markets in the prior 24 hours, with the vast majority targeting long positions.

The rapid drop began Sunday evening, when Bitcoin shed 3 percent from 95,500 to 92,474 in just four hours, according to exchange data. Major altcoins mirrored the weakness, with Solana declining 6.7 percent, SUI and ZCash each falling 10 percent, and Ethereum and XRP posting similar losses during Asian trading hours Monday. Liquidation figures from CoinGlass highlighted the imbalance: 648.8 million in long positions were wiped out versus 60.1 million in shorts over 24 hours, affecting 166,432 traders. In the preceding 12 hours, the totals reached 466.4 million, again skewed toward longs at 422.7 million.