Metals surged again, while crypto slid, reinforcing a defensive, bear-market tape.
January 29 looked like another “rally, then rejection” session. Bitcoin perps traded near $88,232, down about 1.1% over 24 hours.
The day’s range was wide, topping near $90,567 and dipping near $87,660. Ethereum perps traded near $2,958, down about 1.6%. Solana fell about 2.7%, and XRP dropped about 1.6%.
High-beta names stayed heavy. HYPE fell about 3.2%. RIVER dropped about 7.9%. ZEC slid about 6.5%. That mix signals risk trimming rather than confident accumulation.
The outlier was not crypto. It was metals. XAU perps rose about 5.3%, with XAUT up about 5.5%. PAXG also climbed over 5%, and silver rose about 3.4%. That divergence matters because it shows the market paying for safety, not for upside stories.
Your charts underline the same stress. The daily candle printed O $89,167, H $89,214, L $87,582, C $88,149. That is a red day that closed near the lows.
The 4-hour candle printed O $87,906, H $88,251, L $87,761, C $88,149, which confirms only a small bounce that can be erased quickly. The weekly chart is the real warning.
It printed O $86,568, H $90,438, L $86,422, C $88,149. Price is sitting on the last usable part of the Ichimoku cloud. A clean slip below that shelf invites a drop into the $70,000s because the structure below is thin.
Bollinger bands are also sending a message. They widened after the selloff, then kept price pinned in the lower half of the range. That pattern often appears when volatility expands into a downtrend.
The market’s behavior over the last month adds context. There have been roughly ten rally attempts that were sold quickly. That is classic bear-market microstructure, where traders sell strength and stop trusting dips.
What could change the picture in the coming days and weeks is straightforward. Sustained spot demand would help, especially if ETFs turn consistently positive again.
Clear progress on the US market-structure “clarity” bill would also matter. Lower rates or a softer dollar would ease pressure on leveraged risk. Without those shifts, bounces can keep failing even as adoption keeps growing.
