North American trading hours become the driving force behind Bitcoin's rise, with a reversal signal appearing for BTC in early 2026?

On January 14, Bitcoin briefly touched the $96,000 mark this week, with a cumulative increase of nearly 10% since 2026. On-chain and market data indicate that the core driving force behind this rally comes from the North American trading session, which has performed significantly better than other regions.

According to Velo’s statistics, Bitcoin’s cumulative gain during the North American trading session is about 8%, making it the main contributor to the current price strength. In comparison, the European trading session saw only a mild increase of about 3%, while the Asian trading session performed relatively weakly, somewhat dragging down the overall trend. This regional divergence is reshaping Bitcoin’s short-term price structure.

It is worth noting that this pattern contrasts sharply with the situation at the end of 2025. In the fourth quarter of last year, after Bitcoin rebounded to around $80,000, it faced multiple sell-offs during the US market open, with the North American trading session experiencing a cumulative decline of up to 20%. At that time, spot Bitcoin ETFs saw almost daily outflows, and market sentiment was clearly bearish.

Looking at more granular hourly data, the changes become even clearer. Velo data shows that the most profitable period for Bitcoin currently is between 14:00 and 16:00 UTC, right after the US market opens. Over the past six months, this period has been the weakest window for Bitcoin performance, indicating a shift in capital behavior and trading logic.

It should be noted that the so-called “US trading session” does not fully equate to the behavior of domestic US investors. Price fluctuations during this period also reflect buy and sell activity across global trading platforms. Therefore, the strength during the North American trading session may more likely reflect a global risk appetite recovery rather than demand driven by a single region.

As Bitcoin stabilizes and rises during the North American session, related US stock assets are also recovering in tandem. The stock price of publicly traded company Strategy (MSTR), which holds a large amount of Bitcoin, continued to rebound after bottoming out at the end of December 2025, with gains exceeding 12% since 2026. From a technical perspective, its stock price found support near the 200-week moving average, which is regarded as an important signal for long-term trends.

From the current structure, the North American trading session has once again become Bitcoin’s main rallying ground, possibly indicating that market sentiment is emerging from the low phase at the end of 2025, providing a new foundation for subsequent market movements.