Bitcoin drifts lower as markets await key US data and Supreme Court decision
Bitcoin eased to around $91,000 on Friday as Asian markets opened on a slightly positive note. Investors are taking a cautious approach, keeping an eye on upcoming catalysts: the US nonfarm payrolls report and a possible Supreme Court ruling on President Trump’s tariffs.
In Asia, early trading was fairly measured. Shanghai rose 0.58%, the Shenzhen Component added 0.36%, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng climbed 0.4% to 26,254.50. Meanwhile, the China A50 slipped 0.16%, suggesting some caution among large-cap stocks.
Crypto mirrored this careful mood. After a volatile start to the year, prices stayed in a tight range, with traders adopting a “wait and see” stance ahead of key macroeconomic headlines.
Bitcoin: $91,102, up 0.3%
Ether: $3,111, down 1.3%
XRP: $2.12, down 1.8%
Total crypto market cap: $3.19 trillion, down 0.2%
Analyst Linh Tran from XS.com sees Bitcoin consolidating rather than plunging. “For the rest of January, Bitcoin is likely to trade between $88,000 and $95,000, with a cautiously upward bias,” she said.
Across broader markets, Japan and Australia opened higher, while South Korea lagged. Traders are watching global growth signals and US interest rates closely, as payroll numbers could shift expectations for the Federal Reserve’s pace of rate cuts.
Wall Street sent mixed signals overnight. The S&P 500 ended mostly flat Thursday, with technology names like Nvidia facing selling pressure, while defense stocks gained after Trump proposed a $1.5 trillion military budget.
The dollar remained firm, supported by expectations of at least two quarter-point Fed cuts in 2026. Treasury futures rose and mortgage-backed securities rallied after Trump announced a $200 billion purchase of mortgage bonds.
The Supreme Court’s potential decision on Trump’s tariffs is also on investors’ radar, with hundreds of companies hoping to recover some of the billions in duties they’ve paid.
Elsewhere, oil continued its climb amid developments in Venezuela and Iran, silver pulled back from this week’s record highs, and gold remained steady. Fitch raised its US growth outlook, projecting 2.1% GDP growth for 2025 and 2.0% in 2026, after factoring in late-arriving data from last year’s government shutdown.
