The cryptocurrency market suffered a sharp, macro-driven selloff on Monday, January 19, 2026, with XRP among the hardest-hit major assets. The downturn was triggered by escalating trade tensions between the United States and the European Union, following threats from U.S. President Donald Trump to impose tariffs on eight NATO allies unless Denmark agrees to sell Greenland to the United States.
XRP's price action was particularly severe, briefly retesting its January 2nd low of $1.85 and trading down 3.7% to around $1.97 at the time of reporting. The selloff triggered a massive wave of liquidations for leveraged traders. According to market data, over $5 million in XRP long positions were forcibly closed, with Binance alone accounting for more than $1 million of that total.
The geopolitical catalyst saw Trump threaten tariffs starting at 10% on February 1, rising to 25% by June, on imports from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, and Finland. European leaders criticized the move as "blackmail," warning of a dangerous spiral in transatlantic relations. A Financial Times report indicated European capitals were considering retaliatory tariffs of up to €93 billion (~$108 billion) on U.S. goods.
The broader crypto market felt the impact immediately. Bitcoin dropped from above $95,000 to below $93,000 within hours. Analysts reported nearly $500 million in leveraged long positions were wiped out in roughly 60 minutes, with total market liquidations reaching about $871 million over 24 hours.
Market analyst Amr Taha highlighted the scale of the XRP-specific liquidations, while researcher Min Jung of Presto Research noted the crypto market's particular weakness. "While US-EU trade war concerns have had the largest impact on sentiment, other risk assets... are trading flat to higher. This suggests crypto-specific weakness persists," Jung stated, indicating investors are favoring other risk assets over crypto.
Technically, XRP's momentum indicators turned bearish, with its RSI at 40 and the MACD line crossing into negative territory. The token was trading inside a descending channel, with sellers defending the $2.10 to $2.15 resistance area. Despite recent net inflows of about $57 million into spot XRP ETFs, the macro headlines outweighed these crypto-specific positives, leaving the token vulnerable to further declines toward $1.80 if the selloff continues.
