Bitcoin (BTC) faced downward pressure on Wednesday, January 7, 2026, sliding toward the $91,000 level. The decline of over 2% occurred despite ostensibly bullish signals, including a whale-linked accumulation of $280 million worth of BTC and a decision by index provider MSCI to keep crypto treasury companies in its benchmark indexes.
Technical pressure is mounting from two unfilled price gaps in CME Group's Bitcoin futures market. A weekend gap was created when futures closed near $90,600 on Friday and reopened around $91,600 on Sunday. A second, larger gap from New Year's Day sits near $88,000. Traders closely watch these gaps, as Bitcoin has a historical tendency to "fill" them by retracing to the gap's price level. From a trading price around $91,900, a 1.6% drop would fill the weekend gap, while a further 4% decline would target the New Year's gap.
Simultaneously, a rule change from MSCI introduced a fundamental headwind. The index provider announced it will no longer adjust index weightings to reflect newly issued shares from companies. This change directly impacts MicroStrategy (MSTR), which has previously issued billions in new equity to fund Bitcoin purchases. Passive funds tracking MSCI indexes were required to buy these new shares, creating steady demand. With that automatic buying now removed, analyst Crypto Rover warned that MicroStrategy's ability to raise capital for future BTC purchases is limited, stating the company could face a "brutal crash" if it attempts a similar capital raise in 2026. MicroStrategy's stock price fell 4.10% following the announcement.
From a chart perspective, Bitcoin is testing key support. The pullback followed a test of an ascending triangle's upper trendline. BTC is currently holding above its 50-day exponential moving average (EMA) near $91,700, but a failure to sustain momentum could expose downside risk toward the $88,000–$89,000 zone, aligning with the 20-day EMA and the triangle's lower trendline. A breakdown below that level could trigger an extended downtrend toward $79,450.
The article also notes that a similar gap-filling dynamic is emerging in BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), with open gaps around $48 and $50, suggesting ETF trading may increasingly mirror futures-based technical patterns.
