Why is the crypto market down today? (Jan. 8)

The crypto market slid down 2% on Thursday as traders booked in profits and market sentiment took a hit.

According to data from crypto.news, the total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies combined fell 2% over the past 24 hours from its Wednesday high of $3.27 trillion to nearly $3.2 trillion at press time.

Bitcoin (BTC) is down 2%, trading at $90,733, while Ethereum (ETH) has lost the $3.2k support after falling nearly 3.7% over the day. Other large-cap crypto assets such as XRP (XRP), BNB (BNB), Solana (SOL), and Cardano (ADA) were also in the red, marking losses of 2–5%. 

The top laggards were Provenance Blockchain (HASH), Pump.fun (PUMP), and Zcash (ZEC) with declines of 11.8%, 7.6%, and 6.9%, respectively.

The crypto market tanked as investors started to book profits after the market rebounded in the first week of January and pushed many leading tokens higher.

Notably, the crypto market rallied over 8% between Jan. 1 and Jan. 7, led by Bitcoin’s 8.5% surge past the $94,400 mark on Jan. 6. This bullish momentum spilled over into the altcoin sector, where high-beta assets like Dogecoin (DOGE), Pump.fun (PUMP), and Shiba Inu (SHIB), among others, posted double-digit gains

It is quite common for crypto assets to cool off after notching up double-digit gains in a short period.

At the same time, Bitcoin’s repeated failure to break past $94,500, a level it has also struggled with in December, has turned traders cautious about the underlying strength of the rally. 

Crypto ETF outflows spook traders

Another major reason why investor appetite has been subdued is that institutional traders are moving away from the market once again after buying in during the first few trading sessions of January.

Data from SoSoValue shows that spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded nearly $730 million in outflows over the past two days. The nine Ether ETFs also broke their three-day inflow streak on Wednesday with $98.45 million in net outflows, while SOL ETFs ended their six-day inflow run with $40.8 million in net outflows.

January expectations fail to materialize

Meanwhile, there are signs that the January effect is fading. For context, the January effect is a seasonal trend where financial assets such as cryptocurrencies and stocks rally for a couple of days at the start of the year. This seems to be weighing on investors who were expecting a bullish start to the year.

This is evident by the Crypto Fear and Greed Index, which has slipped back to the lower bounds of neutral territory after hitting a multi-week high of 49 earlier this week. Over the past 24 hours, it has dropped six points as risk sentiment started to fade amid market uncertainty.

Miners are selling

Besides the weakness in ETF markets, large-scale selling from miners has also contributed to the decline in crypto prices. U.S.-based crypto miner Riot Platforms has reportedly sold over 1,800 BTC worth around $161.6 million to meet operational needs.

Such large-scale selling events tend to exacerbate volatility in an already thin market, where the lack of depth means even mid-sized orders can cause significant price slippage.

Traders await U.S. jobs report for next catalyst

Market watchers are also awaiting the U.S. December 2025 jobs report set to be released tomorrow, Jan.  9, 2026, at 8:30 a.m. ET. Most economists forecast the unemployment rate to drop slightly to 4.5%, down from the November high of 4.6%.

A cooling labor market typically increases the probability of interest rate cuts, while a stronger-than-expected report could prompt the Federal Reserve to keep rates higher for longer. Cryptocurrencies tend to rally when expectations of a Fed rate cut are high.