Daily Crypto Signals: Bitcoin Surges Past $94K, XRP Rallies 18% as Altcoins Lead 2025 Crypto Inflows
The cryptocurrency market entered 2026 with renewed momentum as Bitcoin reached nearly $94,000 amid geopolitical catalysts, while XRP posted
Quick overview
- Bitcoin reached a year-to-date high of nearly $94,000 in early 2026, driven by geopolitical events and a rally in risk assets.
- Despite a 35% drop in Bitcoin fund inflows in 2025, alternative cryptocurrencies like Ethereum, XRP, and Solana saw significant institutional investment, totaling $47 billion.
- XRP gained 18.5% in the first five days of 2026, with analysts predicting potential price targets between $2.60 and $7 based on technical patterns.
- Concerns about market liquidity and low trading volumes persist, even as analysts forecast further upside for Bitcoin.
The cryptocurrency market entered 2026 with renewed momentum as Bitcoin BTC/USD reached nearly $94,000 amid geopolitical catalysts, while XRP XRP/USD posted an 18.5% gain in the first five days of the year. Despite Bitcoin fund inflows dropping 35% in 2025, altcoins including Ethereum ETH/USD, XRP, and Solana SOL/USD drove record institutional investment into crypto products, with total inflows reaching $47 billion.
Crypto Market Developments
In early 2026, the cryptocurrency market changed a lot because of political and institutional forces that changed how the market worked. Major crypto exchanges showed that they were becoming more in line with US political leaders by giving more than $21 million to the pro-Trump MAGA Inc. Super PAC before the US primary season. Gemini Trust Company and Crypto.com’s parent company Foris Dax were among the donors. Gemini gave $1.5 million in USDC, while Foris Dax gave $10 million in two separate donations. This shows that the industry still supports policies that are good for crypto.
In 2025, there was a big shift in institutional investments toward alternative cryptocurrencies. Throughout the year, crypto exchange-traded products brought in $47.2 billion, which is only 3% less than the record $48.7 billion set in 2024. But the makeup of these flows changed a lot. For example, Bitcoin inflows fell 35%, from $41.7 billion to about $27 billion. At the same time, Ethereum ETPs experienced a 138% increase in inflows, bringing the total to $12.7 billion. Solana funds saw a 1,000% increase, bringing the total to $3.6 billion. XRP investment products saw a 500% increase, bringing the total to $3.6 billion. Even though total inflows fell a little, the amount of worldwide crypto ETP assets under managed grew from $160 billion the year before to $180 billion by the end of 2025.
Vitalik Buterin, one of the founders of Ethereum, made big promises about how peer data availability sampling (PeerDAS) and Zero-Knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machines (ZK-EVMs) may solve the blockchain trilemma. Buterin stressed that Ethereum now achieves decentralization, consensus, and high bandwidth all at once. PeerDAS is already active on the mainnet, and ZK-EVMs are performing at production-quality levels.
Bitcoin Tests $94,000 as Risk Assets Rally
Bitcoin touched its highest level in almost a month on Monday, reaching a year-to-date high of $94,026 on Bitstamp. This was because risk assets rose after the US sent troops to Venezuela. The top cryptocurrency joined traditional assets in reporting early-year gains. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite indexes both rose 1%, and spot gold rose more than 2.5% to $4,455 per ounce. Bitcoin’s run since December 11 has been its best, and it has already broken over important technical levels including the 50-day exponential moving average and the 2025 yearly open at $93,500.
But worries about the health of the market dampened bullish excitement. Bitcoin was criticized for having a narrow order book and low trading volumes, with analytics company Glassnode saying that crypto spot trade volumes were at their lowest since late 2023. The platform said that demand is falling, which is very different from price increases, which shows that liquidity is getting thinner. Even though these worries were there, well-known analysts predicted more upside. Trader Michaël van de Poppe said that a breakout toward $100,000 could happen within the next week, but he warned against expecting a quick, clear-cut rally.
XRP’s Potential 230% Upside Could See $7 Test
XRP showed a lot of momentum in early 2026, rising 18.5% in the first five trading days to go above $2.16. The token’s daily chart showed a falling wedge breakout, which is a bullish reversal pattern that formed over several months as prices settled into a smaller channel. XRP started to reclaim important moving averages after breaking above the wedge’s upper trendline near $2.05-$2.10 in early January. The next technical hurdle was the 200-day EMA near $2.35. Technical analysts said that the confirmed breakout might push prices up to $2.60-$2.70 by February, which would be a 25% increase from where they are now.
Long-term technical analysis pointed to even bigger goals. The charting analyst saw a Wyckoff reaccumulation pattern, and XRP is trying to break through resistance that is going down between $2.10–$2.15. A clear breakthrough confirming the “Jump Across the Creek” phase could send prices up to $2.80–$3.20 at first, with some estimates going as high as $7, which would be a possible 230% gain. Institutional support for XRP stayed strong, with US-based spot XRP ETFs seeing inflows for the 29th day in a row through December.
On Friday alone, the funds brought in $13.59 million, bringing the total amount of money that has come in since the funds started to $1.37 billion, with total net assets hitting $1.24 billion. At the same time, XRP balances on exchanges dropped to their lowest level since 2018, which means that there is less liquidity on the sell side. Standard Chartered backed up its positive perspective by keeping its prediction that XRP may reach $8 by 2026 if more institutions get involved and long-term capital flows continue to grow.
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