Galaxy Head of Research Alex Thorn draws attention to an Ethereum/Bitcoin signal, which went unnoticed on the market, possibly due to the optimism with which cryptocurrencies began the year 2026.
Thorn highlighted a death cross on the ETH/BTC daily chart, adding that this mostly went unnoticed.
Digital assets had seen a seemingly promising start to the year, after ending 2025 in a malaise. Ethereum itself rose past $3,000, while Bitcoin rose near $98,000; several altcoins also saw significant gains.
However, this reversed, with several cryptocurrencies trading in red at press time and a handful of altcoins nursing sharper weekly losses.
ETH/BTC death cross completed
Alex Thorn, Galaxy’s Head of Research, noted that the ETH/BTC death cross at the start of 2026 went unnoticed.
this mostly went unnoticed afaict but ETHBTC started the year with a death cross pic.twitter.com/p6jNJzcgPF
— Alex Thorn (@intangiblecoins) January 20, 2026
On a chart shared by Thorn, the 50-day MA for the ETH/BTC daily chart has dropped beneath the 200 day MA, completing a death cross.
This signal, interpreted as a bearish one, has implications for the altcoin market, as it might lead to the prolonged underperformance of Ethereum and other altcoins relative to Bitcoin.
Altcoin outperformance has often coincided with a rising ETH/BTC ratio. This is because traders are willing to take more risk when Ethereum is outperforming Bitcoin and vice versa.
ETH price action
Ethereum is recording higher percentage losses than Bitcoin in the last 24 hours, even as the ongoing market sell-off intensifies.
At press time, ETH was down 6.46% in the last 24 hours to $3,104, while Bitcoin was down 3.12% in this time frame to $89,991.
In this light, Ethereum surpassed Bitcoin in 24-hour liquidation in Tuesday’s session, even as the crypto market saw $573 million in total liquidations. Ethereum accounted for $240 million of this figure, overtaking Bitcoin, which saw $180 million in 24-hour liquidations.
