Winter storms trigger energy crisis, natural gas futures soar—how does this affect the crypto market?

On January 26, 2026, Asian morning trading, the natural gas futures prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) surged significantly, with the February delivery contract soaring by as much as 19%, reaching a high of $6.288 per million British thermal units. This is the first time since December 2022 that U.S. natural gas prices have broken through the $6 mark.

As of press time, natural gas prices are at $6.095, with a single-day increase of over 13.86%. More notably, over the past week, U.S. natural gas prices have risen approximately 70%, marking the largest weekly gain recorded since 1990.

01 Market Impact: Historic Breakthrough in Natural Gas Futures Prices

The recent surge in natural gas prices is not an isolated event. On January 26, the day of the surge, natural gas futures opened at $5.791 and quickly broke through multiple integer thresholds. Market data shows that intra-day price increases continued to expand, with gains exceeding 10%, 11%, 12%, ultimately surpassing an astonishing 19%.

This price spike has made natural gas one of the most outstanding commodities globally. In stark contrast, on the same trading day, the total market capitalization of the global cryptocurrency market was approximately $3.045 trillion, with a 24-hour trading volume of $130.877 billion.

02 Storm Effect: How Extreme Cold Weather Is Reshaping Energy Supply and Demand

A historic winter storm is sweeping across most of the United States, directly driving the surge in natural gas prices. The storm has caused nearly 10% of U.S. natural gas production to be forced offline, severely disrupting the energy supply system.

Meanwhile, the cold weather has significantly boosted heating demand. The surge in residential heating and power generation consumption is expected to push electricity demand to record winter levels. U.S. grid operators have urgently urged power producers to ensure sufficient natural gas supplies this week.

The storm is expected to reduce natural gas production by 86 billion cubic feet over the next two weeks. Under the dual pressure of supply disruptions and demand surges, U.S. natural gas inventories showed a decrease of 1,200 billion cubic feet in the past week, down to 3.065 trillion cubic feet.

03 Market Transmission: Hidden Links Between Energy Fluctuations and Crypto Assets

There are multiple transmission mechanisms linking the intense volatility in the energy market with the cryptocurrency market. Historically, soaring energy prices tend to exacerbate inflation expectations, influence the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy direction, and thereby affect global risk appetite.

On January 26, 2026, against the backdrop of rising energy prices, the global cryptocurrency market exhibited a complex trend. Market data shows that the Gate (GT) token was priced at $9.67, with a 24-hour trading volume of $3.94 million.

GT’s price experienced a slight adjustment of 1.8% over the past 24 hours, and declined by 4.1% over the past 7 days, aligning closely with the overall market trend. The circulating supply of GT is 115.18 million tokens, with a total market cap of $1.114 billion.

04 Gate Ecosystem: Robust Financials and Continuous Innovation

In the face of external market volatility, the Gate exchange has demonstrated strong risk resistance. The latest reserve proof report dated January 12, 2026, shows that Gate’s total reserve ratio has reached 125%, an increase from previous levels, with verified assets totaling $9.478 billion.

Gate’s core asset reserves are particularly ample, with BTC reserves accounting for 140.69%, meaning user assets are well over-collateralized. This financial robustness provides a solid foundation for the platform’s ongoing operations amid market fluctuations.

In terms of technological innovation, Gate launched the Gate Layer mainnet based on the OP Stack in September 2025, a high-performance second-layer network. GT is designated as the sole on-chain activity fuel token on this network, greatly expanding GT’s practical use cases.

Gate’s quarterly token burn mechanism is also ongoing. In Q4 2025, the platform permanently burned over 2.16 million GT, worth over $26.9 million. Since the launch of GateChain in 2019, a total of 184.8 million GT have been burned, reducing supply by over 60%.

05 Future Outlook: A New Market Order in Energy Transition

Goldman Sachs, an energy analysis institution, remains cautious about the natural gas market, maintaining a forecast of $3.80 per MMBtu at Henry Hub in 2027, and lowering the 2026 forecast from $4.50 to $3.75. This indicates that professional institutions believe the current high prices may be unsustainable.

Trading Economics’ forecast model suggests that natural gas prices are expected to trade around $5.48/MMBtu by the end of this quarter, with potential reaching $6.50 in the next 12 months.

In the cryptocurrency sector, as the Gate Layer ecosystem expands and more decentralized applications are deployed, the demand for GT’s utility is expected to continue growing. The platform plans to fully launch Gate Perp DEX (decentralized perpetual contract exchange) and Gate Fun (no-code token issuance platform) in 2026.

Future Outlook

The crypto market’s response to this energy shock has been relatively restrained. The GT token on the Gate platform is priced at $9.67, with a market cap of $1.114 billion. Gate’s latest reserve proof ratio of 125% and its expanding ecosystem provide buffers against external volatility.

As the winter storm continues to impact energy production, natural gas price fluctuations may persist. Meanwhile, Gate’s quarterly token burn mechanism is ongoing, with the next scheduled burn planned for the first quarter of 2026. The mutual observation between energy and crypto markets continues, revealing a hidden and profound connection between these seemingly independent asset classes within the context of global capital flows.