Baby Grok

Altcoins have been steadily recovering over the first two days of the new calendar year, and one popular analyst has stated that we could see sustained upward price action overthe next 2-3 months. The larger cryptocurrency market, and altcoins in particular, have been under a major bearish spell since the flash crash of October 10 last year. Still, now there are indications that a trend reversal may be on the cards.
Altcoins to Take Charge
Michael van de Poppe, the analyst in question, has over 815,000 followers on X. He is upbeat about a potential recovery, driven by altcoins as we have bid farewell to a bearish 2025. He tweeted:
“Many #Altcoins have been correcting all the way down to their wick of the 10th of October.
Finally, things start to turn upwards.
The same can be said for $LINK, which is currently breaking the 21-Day MA for the first time since the Summer.
This would imply that the markets are ready for an upward run coming 2-3 months.”
Van de Poppe highlighted the positive development for LINK, a major altcoin with a $9.2 billion valuation. Here is the price action of LINK:

The short-term moving averages are convincingly trending upwards, and a similar pattern can be seen across multiple other altcoins. Historical data from previous cycles shows similar MA breaks often precede 20-50% rallies in altcoins over 2-3 months, provided Bitcoin stabilizes above $90K, as seen in Q4 2024’s post-halving uptrend.
The Future
Altcoins are looking to start 2026 on a positive note, but the bullish forces have their work cut out for them if they wish to shed the bullish baggage from 2025.
One user replied:
“As long as Bitcoin is ranging, any altcoin strength stays fragile.
Sustainable alt moves need a Bitcoin breakout first.”
The “ranging” in question is the premier cryptocurrency being stuck in a narrow trading zone dominated by the nervousness of the bullish forces.
The market has remained under pressure and squeezed for the better part of the last 3 months, and it will take some effort from the bulls to ensure a sustainable turnaround. Only a strong move to $100k is likely to open up the altcoin market in the near future.
#Write2Earn

By the merit of excellent timing, [a cryptocurrency trader](https://solscan.io/account/z5m3JaRdgy7WyrGVjVNeSEWEbvDMtH4m6Nw5Ss8FziB?page_size=20#transfers) succeeded in turning approximately $4,000 into more than $1 million within just three hours on January 22, 2026, according to data Finbold retrieved from the [blockchain](https://finbold.com/guide/blockchain-developer/) records platform Solscan.
The highly successful trades leverage a new [token](https://finbold.com/guide/types-of-cryptocurrency/) issued by the [publicly-traded company](https://finbold.com/guide/ipo-explained/) named DeFi Development Corp (NASDAQ: DFDV) and called the DisclaimerCoin (DONT).
# Why the DONT crypto trader might be a project insider
Along with being exceptionally successful, the blockchain maneuver hints at either incredible luck or [insider knowledge](https://finbold.com/guide/insider-trading/) as the investor purchased their first batch of DONT before the company distributed its meme coin 
Another point of interest is that, prior to January 22, the wallet executed only a handful of trades – most of the traffic was accounted for by [Solana](https://finbold.com/guide/how-to-buy-solana/) ([SOL](https://finbold.com/cryptocurrency/solana/)) – and spent the last three months completely inactive.
Whether by luck or by insider knowledge, it is difficult to dispute that the [cryptocurrency](https://finbold.com/cryptocurrencies/) trader has been extravagantly successful when trading the DisclaimerCoin.
# The meme coin trade that turned $4,000 into $1 million
Perhaps the best showcase of this is that the first recorded DONT trade – executed some 21 hours before press time in the early morning of January 23 – saw the investor purchase 1.8 billion of the meme coin for just $83.41.Indeed, in total, they bought more than 29 billion DONT for about $4,100.
On the other end of the maneuver, the first sale – executed approximately one hour later – came close to returning the entire investment as it, despite involving only about 175 million of the meme coin, raised over $3,689, per Solscan data.
Some of the later trades were even more impressive. About five hours after the initial purchase, the trader offloaded more than 17 billion DONT across four successive trades, raising more than $800,000.Lastly, the most recent recorded DisclaimerCoin trade was recorded 15 hours before press time in the morning of January 23 and appears to have cleared the entire position. 
The subsequent transactions overwhelmingly involved SOL or Wrapped Solana. Still, it is also curious that the address received multiple transactions from accounts such as ‘Flip.gg | #1 Solana Casino’ and an automated trading tool designated ‘boostlegends-volumebot,’ which is designed to boost trading volume artificially.

One year after Donald Trump’s inauguration as U.S. President, celebrated by supporters as a victory for the digital asset industry, the crypto market is deeply in the red.
While Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) have seen moderate losses, major altcoins have suffered drops of 40% to 50%, with smaller assets collapsing 70% to 90% from their inauguration day prices.
This steep decline presents a complex picture for an industry that had banked on a “crypto president” to usher in a regulatory dawn and a sustained bull market, forcing a reassessment of political expectations versus market reality.

Market Performance Contrasts with Political Promises
A review of price performance on CoinGecko since January 20, 2025, revealed a broad downturn, with data at the time of writing showing Bitcoin down approximately 15% over the past year and trading near $91,000. It reached an all-time high above $126,000 in October 2025 but has since fallen. Ethereum shows a relatively smaller decline, down about 8% year-over-year to near $3,100 after hitting its own peak at just under $5,000 in August 2025.
However, the losses are steeper for other major assets. For instance, XRP has fallen nearly 40% in the last twelve months and is now trading a bit below $2.00, while Solana has been halved, going down by more than 50%, with its price around $129.
These figures only tell part of the story. According to analyst Ted Pillows, the damage extends far beyond large-cap tokens. He stated that other large-cap cryptocurrencies are down 50% to 60%, mid-cap assets have fallen 70% to 80%, and small-cap and meme coins have seen declines of around 90% over the same period.
This broad-based correction occurred despite early market optimism following Trump’s election in November 2024. At that time, analysts from Bybit projected a transformative period with regulatory clarity and a favorable environment for altcoins and DeFi.
Geopolitics Overshadowed Regulatory Optimism
Over the past 12 months, the market’s response has often been impacted by the Trump administration’s trade policies. The president’s repeated threats of imposing tariffs on China and the European Union have caused volatility and halted Bitcoin’s bullish momentum. As an illustration, consider the recent market liquidations, which totaled roughly $871 million in just one day following Trump’s confirmation of new tariffs on a number of European nations.
This pattern has left the optimistic expectations from early 2025 unmet. While Trump appointed pro-crypto officials, such as SEC Chair Paul Atkins, macro events have overshadowed the anticipated regulatory clarity. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse acknowledged in a December 2024 interview that the crypto community had embraced Trump, but the market’s performance since suggests that political support is only one factor among many.