Start-of-the-year recovery rally stalls: Crypto market pullback raises questions about rally sustainability

Source: CryptoNewsNet Original Title: Start-of-the-year recovery rally stalls: Crypto Daybook Americas Original Link: Major cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, XRP and solana, have lost more than 1.5% over the past 24 hours. All 16 sectoral indexes are in the red, led by the DeFi Select Index with a 3.6% drop.

The pullback has some analysts questioning whether the start-of-the-year bounce was driven by conviction buying or by seasonal factors such as new year allocations. A clue could come from the U.S.-listed spot bitcoin ETFs, which saw over $1 billion in inflows in the first two trading days of 2026 and lost $243 million on Tuesday.

“The pullback reflects how fragile the recent rally remains, with price action still sensitive to shifts in liquidity and seasonal factors rather than driven by conviction buying,” said a senior market analyst.