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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.