Bombings, protests, and insider activity hit the headlines, but the crypto market continues its brand-new uptrend.
After a year of waiting for the most anticipated bull run, the crypto market seems to have finally initiated a new trajectory, leaving the woes of 2025. This improvement in the price of cryptocurrencies comes despite the growing geopolitical tension in different parts of the world.
In the Middle East, the U.S. is trying to interfere in Iranian affairs as the state killed 8 peaceful protestors within a week. However, the Iranian state thinks that the anti-government protestors are running an agenda, which is backed by other countries like the U.S. With that in mind, the Iranian government, which is a bitter foe of the U.S., threatens to attack it if it intermeddles with its affairs.
Just a few thousand kilometers away from Iran, the UK and the French jointly bombed an underground arms cache of the Islamic State (IS) in Syria. While the battlefront gets aggressive, the prediction markets are trying to sort out their own problem.
Just like crypto, which needed a solid framework to stop insider activity, US Representative Ritchie Torres is trying to introduce legislation to curb insider trading in the prediction market. Torres put forward this idea after a wager profited around $400,000 with a bet. The wager, supposedly an insider, placed $32,000 on the removal of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro from power by January 31st, 2026. Shortly after, the US Army captured Maduro, profiting the wager.
Despite all this disturbing news from far and wide, the sentiment of the crypto traders has returned to the neutral zone after being in the fear zone for quite some time. The Fear and Greed Index indicator shows 40, an improvement from 29, deep in fear territory.
As the crypto traders moved out of fear, the total crypto market, which was under the $3 trillion level in 2025, has now crossed this level, and it reads a value of $3.12 trillion.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin, on the other hand had its own obstacle, the $90K psychological resistance level. The flagship crypto crossed this threshold after multiple attempts since mid-December. Some rallies are hype- and excitement-driven; however, BTC’s rally is methodical and measured.
The altcoin market cap has been trading inside a bullish falling wedge for the last four and a half years, and now that it is forming the apex of the wedge, it is high time for it to break out. As such, the altcoin season may spring into action, and the alts would start to appreciate.
Altcoins to watch out for
Arbitrum
Arbitrum is one of the tokens that you need to watch out for. Why? After more than 6 months, ARB has broken above the 21-day moving average, and it seems to be starting a new trend. Given that this start turns into a fully fledged rally, ARB will be testing $0.4.
Bittensor
Bittensor (TAO), an artificial intelligence network, has a perfect setup for a breakout. The token has crossed above the demand, and a clean breakout is possible. The token is showing classic resetting signals where the volumes dropped from levels when the token was testing its resistance level above $500.
XRP
Meanwhile, Ripple’s XRP is following its 2017 trajectory, which broke out into a huge rally. Crypto analyst Steph stated, “In 2017, that structure marked the final reset before the breakout. Once price exited the wedge, XRP entered its expansion phase, and momentum accelerated rapidly.”
Although the chart looks like it is heading towards a bullish rally, the developing geopolitical tensions could spill into the crypto markets. In volatile crypto markets, news, tweets, and regulations often override technical indications. Charts only capture the data after everything has happened. As such, it is important to keep an eye on what is happening and what it would evolve into when taking a position.
