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Former CoinRoutes CEO Dave Weisberger argued in an X post on February 23 that Bitcoin’s early-2026 hashrate rebound is more than a mining-cycle recovery and may be a lagging signal of a broader price move ahead. His core thesis is that sovereign-linked mining activity is starting to play for Bitcoin the same structural role central bank gold buying played for gold before its breakout. Weisberger frames the comparison through the recent gold cycle, where he says sovereign accumulation preceded price discovery by years. In his telling, the key signal was not ETF demand or retail flows, but central banks steadily adding reserves as geopolitical fragmentation and fiat-risk concerns rose. “The result? A parabolic gold rally that few saw coming in real time,” he wrote. “Gold has surged to record highs well north of $5,000/oz in this cycle, leaving the ‘it’s just inflation’ crowd scrambling. The buying came first. The price discovery followed later.” Related Reading: Another $438M In Crypto Longs Gone As Bitcoin, Altcoins Pull Back Why Bitcoin’s Hashrate Recovery Is Signalling The Next Rally Applying that framework to Bitcoin, Weisberger points to what he describes as a “textbook V-shaped recovery” in network hashrate in early 2026. After a sharp pullback of roughly 15% to 20% from prior peaks, he says computational power rebounded from below 900 EH/s to above 1 ZH/s, accompanied by one of the largest absolute difficulty increases on record, at nearly 15%. For Weisberger, that recovery is not just a post-stress normalization after winter curtailments, regional shutdowns, and post-halving margin compression. He argues it reflects a different class of miner stepping in. “This isn’t random noise. It is the direct footprint of sovereign mining stepping in where private miners hesitated,” he wrote. A central part of the post is Weisberger’s claim that at least 13 nation-states are now mining Bitcoin at a governmental or state-linked level (backed by VanEck research). He cites Bhutan, the UAE, and El Salvador, and also names Russia, Iran, and Ethiopia as countries deploying energy assets into mining. “These are not retail or even corporate miners chasing daily hashprice,” he wrote. “These are governments converting stranded or strategic energy into a portable, verifiable, seizure-resistant reserve asset. They mine for policy reasons: revenue without printing more local currency, network security in which they hold a direct stake, and positioning in a world where financial sovereignty matters.” Related Reading: Bitcoin COT Data: Smart Money Goes Net Long With ‘Urgency’ Weisberger argues sovereign miners operate with different constraints than private miners: longer time horizons, different cost of capital, and less need to sell output into market weakness. In that framework, sovereign mining becomes a mechanism for absorbing newly issued BTC directly into long-term holdings, reducing sell-side pressure while also strengthening network security. Weisberger explicitly describes hashrate recovery as a lagged, not coincident, indicator, because sovereign mining expansion requires hardware procurement, energy contracts, infrastructure buildout, and policy approvals. Those processes move slowly, often during periods when price action appears flat or corrective. He argues that this sequence can change market structure before price reflects it: stronger security, tighter issuance flow, and broader validation of Bitcoin as a reserve asset rather than a purely speculative vehicle. His conclusion is blunt: “The hashrate recovery isn’t just technical resilience. It is a sovereign signal flashing bright. Governments are voting with energy infrastructure and balance sheets.” At press time, BTC traded at $63,209. Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com

The recent Bitcoin (BTC) price performance may appear subdued, with the leading crypto currently trading below the $65,000 level and sitting around 50% under all-time highs, but a new report from River suggests that adoption trends in 2025 tell a very different story.  According to the firm, the network’s growth across institutions, businesses, financial advisors, and even nation-states accelerated sharply over the past year, despite market weakness. Institutional Bitcoin Demand One of the most notable developments has been the scale of institutional accumulation. River reports that institutions acquired approximately 829,000 Bitcoin in 2025 alone. These buyers included corporations, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), investment funds, and government-related entities.  Related Reading: History Repeating? XRP Flashes Signal Last Seen Before Explosive 60,000% Rally Investment advisors have also emerged as steady buyers. Registered investment advisors (RIAs), which collectively oversee around $146 trillion in client assets, have been net purchasers of Bitcoin exposure for eight consecutive quarters.  Their participation largely began after the launch of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds in 2024. Over the past two years, RIAs have invested approximately $1.5 billion per quarter into Bitcoin ETFs, without a single quarter of net selling.  Adoption within this group is already widespread: 29 of the top 30 US RIAs hold Bitcoin exposure. However, allocations remain minimal, averaging just 0.008% of assets, leaving considerable room for expansion. Surge In Bank, Corporate And Retail Adoption Traditional banks are also moving closer to the asset. Around 60% of the largest US banks are reportedly developing Bitcoin-related products.  Corporate adoption accelerated as well. Public company ownership of Bitcoin increased by 2.5 times in 2025, with businesses collectively ranking as the largest net buyers during the year.  Much of this demand came from Bitcoin treasury companies, but River notes that many established corporations have been quietly adding BTC in smaller amounts. The firm expects this type of balance sheet adoption to expand across the S&P 500 in the years ahead. Merchant usage has grown at a rapid pace. In the United States, the number of businesses accepting BTC payments tripled in 2025, while global merchant adoption rose by 74%.  River, which serves more than 3,000 businesses across multiple industries, reports that the strongest growth is occurring among small, privately held companies, many of which do not publicly disclose their Bitcoin strategies. Nation-States Expand BTC Holdings  Nation-state involvement also increased. Five additional countries became Bitcoin holders in 2025. Among them were Luxembourg and Saudi Arabia, whose sovereign wealth funds acquired exposure, and the Czech Republic. Governments have accumulated Bitcoin through a variety of channels, including state-backed mining operations, direct purchases, ETF exposure, asset seizures, donations, and even hacking-related recoveries.  Related Reading: World Liberty Financial Cites ‘Coordinated Attack’ — But Are There Deeper Issues? Looking ahead, River argues that the divergence between price performance and adoption is striking. While the current phase of growth may not immediately translate into dramatic price multiples, it reflects a deeper form of progress:  We expect that in the coming years, Bitcoin adoption will not only continue its current trend but meaningfully accelerate.  As of this writing, BTC is trading at $64,459, marking losses of 26% and 31% over the past thirty days and year-to-date, respectively.  Featured image from OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com 

A potential final sell-off in Bitcoin is back in focus after market analyst Aaron Dishner warned that the asset appears structurally close to capitulation. Based on cycle timing, historical drawdowns, and converging technical signals, he argues the market may be nearing its last downside move before a longer-term bottom forms. He urges investors to brace for volatility as this “bottom year” unfolds. Bitcoin’s Past Fractal Points To One More Flush Dishner’s framework centers on a structural comparison to May 2022. On the weekly BTC/USDT chart, he outlines a sequence mirroring prior bear market endings: a major high, a liquidation-driven drop, a failed relief rally forming a bear flag, and a breakdown into new lows. After that breakdown, the price typically moves sideways before a final aggressive sell-off. Related Reading: AI Explains What’s Driving The Ethereum Price Volatility, Can It Rise Above $3,000 Again? He projects a downside target around $35,000–$40,000, aligning with historical drawdowns of 70% to 75% from all-time highs. Previous cycles support this range: the 2013–2015 decline lasted about 59 weeks with an 87% drawdown; the 2017–2018 cycle spanned roughly a year with an 84% decline; and the 2021–2022 bear phase retraced around 77% over 54 weeks. Based on this pattern, he expects the current cycle to extend at least 52 weeks from its peak, placing a potential bottom near October 2026. Moreover, weekly RSI has reached deeply oversold territory, levels historically associated with capitulation events such as late 2018 and the COVID crash. While not at the most extreme historical lows, RSI is within the zone that previously preceded large downside wicks and sharp sell-offs. Volume metrics also show deterioration. On-balance volume across major exchanges reflects persistent distribution, resembling conditions seen before prior cycle lows. The broader takeaway is that price structure, momentum, and volume are converging toward what Dishner describes as a final flush. Stablecoin Dominance And S&P Risk Add Pressure Dishner also highlights combined stablecoin dominance, specifically USDT and USDC. Historically, sharp increases in stablecoin dominance have coincided with heavy Bitcoin sell-offs. He notes dominance is approaching resistance near 13%, and previous breakout clusters preceded steep downside moves in BTC. RSI behavior on the dominance chart mirrors pre-capitulation setups from 2022. In that cycle, a spike in dominance aligned with Bitcoin’s June decline, followed by weeks of choppy consolidation before recovery attempts. Related Reading: Dogecoin’s Third Time Breakout Could Send Price On 2,000% Rally To $2 Macro risk compounds the outlook. Dishner points to bearish divergence signals on the S&P 500, referencing clusters of downside momentum warnings seen near prior equity tops. An 8% pullback is viewed as plausible, with a deeper 20%–25% correction representing a high-impact scenario. In his assessment, a significant equity drawdown would transmit stress into digital assets, intensifying margin pressure and accelerating Bitcoin’s decline. Even after capitulation, history suggests the market may not immediately reverse. Prior cycles required 19 to 40 weeks of sideways or unstable price action before sustained recovery began. If the pattern holds, Bitcoin may be entering its final sell-off phase, potentially bottoming around October. Until then, Dishner maintains conditions remain structurally bearish, with elevated risk across crypto and traditional markets. Featured image created with Dall.E, chart from Tradingview.com

Bitcoin flipped a small but notable technical switch this week when the Coinbase premium moved back above zero, ending a run of negative readings that began after heavy selling on February 6. Related Reading: XRP Fell Nearly 70% — Could History Repeat With An 835% Surge? Coinbase Premium Flips Above Zero According to market data published on February 23, 2026, Bitcoin was trading around $66,150 on Binance futures at one point, showing a brief hourly uptick of 0.40%. Yet other spot indexes told a different slice of the story: CoinMarketCap listed BTC near $65,070 and flagged a roughly 3% drop for the day. Those gaps are normal: futures, spot feeds, and aggregate trackers can diverge. What matters here is the premium’s direction — it had been negative for much of February and then crossed into positive territory. Coinbase Bitcoin Premium has flipped positive for the first time since the Feb 6th bottom. It looks like institutions are done with selling for now. pic.twitter.com/rUYgxO2Fo8 — Ted (@TedPillows) February 23, 2026 Why Traders Care About The Premium Coinbase is widely used by big US buyers, so a positive premium is read by many traders as a hint that domestic spot demand is outpacing offshore pressure. But a flip above zero is only a starting signal. The size of the spread, how long it holds, and whether exchange inflows back up the move are the things that turn a signal into a trend. Small, short-lived flips can be caused by temporary liquidity differences or quick arbitrage trades. Larger, sustained spreads are the ones that tend to matter to portfolio managers. Geopolitics And Market Mood Market watchers are also pointing to broader factors. Rising tensions between the US and Iran, along with talk about tariff adjustments linked to US President Donald Trump, have driven investors toward safer assets in recent sessions. That mood has at times pushed BTC below important technical cushions near $65,000, and some sessions saw brief dips under $64,000 before a few calm windows allowed minor rebounds. When fear spikes, crypto often feels it first. Derivatives, Volume, And Technical Levels Futures activity on Binance and other platforms stayed busy, even if volume didn’t show the sort of surge that precedes big breakouts. Reports put daily trading volume near $45.71 billion while market cap sat close to $1.30 trillion. Funding rates, open interest, and exchange inflows are being monitored closely; each can either confirm or undercut the message from the Coinbase premium. A rising open interest that aligns with a growing premium would be more persuasive than a lone spread tick. Related Reading: Bitcoin Buying Spree Nears Century Mark, Saylor Hints Encouraging Signs A Coinbase premium turning positive offers a hopeful signal after weeks below zero, but it doesn’t confirm a sustained rally. Investors will be tracking how large the spread is, whether Coinbase sees significant inflows, and if funding rates and open interest support the move. Traders are likely to wait through the next sessions for clear signs before considering the market stabilized. Featured image from Gemini, chart from TradingView

After closing the week below a crucial support level, Bitcoin (BTC) has fallen below the $65,000 support for the first time since the early February crash, reaching a two-week low of $64,152. Amid this performance, some analysts have warned that the flagship crypto could be on the “cusp of bearish acceleration,” warning that another major crash could be around the corner. Related Reading: Bitcoin Mirrors Software Stocks More Than Any Other Market — Here’s Why Bitcoin Loses The 200-Week EMA On Monday, analyst Rekt Capital highlighted that Bitcoin produced a “historically pivotal” development after closing last week below the 200-week Exponential Moving Average (EMA), which currently sits “at the center of a major confluence zone.” Notably, the 200-week EMA aligns with BTC’s Post-Halving Re-accumulation Range highs, located between $66,000-$71,000. Meanwhile, the Post-Halving Re-accumulation Range lows, around the $58,000-$60,000 levels, define the broader structure of BTC’s current range. Over the past three weeks, the cryptocurrency attempted to develop a demand region around this area, which was previously a major supply area. However, this level hasn’t historically been a structurally reliable support for BTC’s price, the analyst asserted, noting that it has previously acted as a 10-month resistance. “In the current structure, we have seen three consecutive weeks of elevated sell-side volume in this region, with limited meaningful buy-side response,” he explained. Per the post, this imbalance has led to a weekly close below the 200-week EMA, losing it as support in this timeframe. This suggests that a “continuation of Bearish Acceleration into its second wave” could follow soon. The analyst cautioned that now that price has closed the week below this critical level, there is a “strong probability that Bitcoin presses back toward the underside of that EMA to attempt turning it into new resistance.” If the underside retest holds, the structure would shift from defending the support to confirming the resistance at this level. He warned that if that level begins to act as resistance, downside continuation will become increasingly probable. BTC’s Bottom Targets $30,000 Rekt Capital also noted that BTC’s recent performance aligns closely with its price action in prior cycles. As he detailed, in 2018 and 2022, a weekly close below the 200-week EMA acted as a structural trigger to the second wave of bearish acceleration. “Bitcoin would attempt to reclaim the level, turn it into resistance, and then dissipate lower. That pattern is now attempting to replicate itself,” he asserted. Similarly, Ali Martinez pointed to the cryptocurrency’s historical performance, but on the three-day chart, affirming that this has been one of BTC’s key timeframes from a macro perspective. According to Martinez’s post, market observers must watch the upcoming interaction of the 50-day and 200-day Simple Moving Averages (SMAs), as the crossover between these two indicators on the three-day timeframe has historically preceded the final leg down of the bear market. Bitcoin dropped around 50%-72% from its 2013, 2017, and 2021 cycle tops before its death crosses took place in late 2014 and 2018, and mid 2022. Following the 50-day and 200-day SMAs crossovers, the flagship crypto experienced another 45%-52% decline. Related Reading: Investors In Trump Family Memecoins Record $4.3 Billion In Losses As Tokens Sink Now, BTC has fallen more than 52% from its October 2025 peak and is approaching a potential death cross on the three-day chart by the end of February. “If history repeats — even partially — this could signal the beginning of the final leg down of this cycle,” the analyst warned. Based on this, Martinez predicted that another 30%-50% correction from current levels could follow, placing the cryptocurrency’s target near the $30,000-$40,000 supports. “If the cross confirms, it becomes a level to take very seriously,” he concluded. Featured Image from Unsplash.com, Chart from TradingView.com

In six months, the Bitcoin price has crashed by around 50%, dropping below $64,000 at the start of this month. Naturally, this has triggered a cascading event, with devastating effects on the rest of the market, and questions about what could be driving the decline. With no notable event driving the crash, as was seen in 2022 with the crash of the FTX crypto exchange, the simple answer has pointed to one thing: large investors are selling. Corporate Holders Are Getting Out Of Bitcoin In an X post, Coin Bureau highlighted an interesting trend among corporate Bitcoin holders that could explain the sustained decline the digital asset has suffered in recent times. According to the chart shared on the post, these large corporate holders have been dumping their holdings. Related Reading: Ready For A 443% Dogecoin Move? The Meme Coin Just Touched A Historically Explosive Level For the better part of 2025, there had been a clear trend of accumulation among corporate buyers. Sometimes, the buying trend would be sustained for weeks before a sell-off trend would be recorded. However, this is quickly changing as the last few weeks have been dominated by dumping. The post showed that in the last three weeks, there has been no buying done. Rather, corporate investors have been dumping BTC on the market. For context, the longest selling streak among these large investors recorded in history was two weeks before buying began again. However, at the time of writing, only outflows have dominated the treasuries of these companies, marking a new record since companies began buying Bitcoin in 2020. Given this, it is possible that the accumulation trend that drove Bitcoin to new all-time highs in 2025 may have ended. Data from CoinShares also corroborates this sell-off trend. In its Digital Asset Fund Flows Weekly Report, it shows that in just the last week alone, Bitcoin lost $215.3 million to outflows from digital asset funds, thereby leading the sell-offs. Related Reading: Analyst Predicts The Ethereum Price Bottom With A Marked Path To $15,000 In the same vein, Ethereum suffered outflows of 36.5 million, and multi-asset funds saw $32.5 million in outflows. Interestingly, though, the likes of XRP and Solana continue to see inflows, despite their poor performance in the market. Given this trend, it shows that corporate investors are looking to altcoins for likely higher profit margins compared to Bitcoin. As supply continues to pile up in the market, it is likely that the Bitcoin price will continue to fall until buying picks up once again. Featured image from Dall.E, chart from TradingView.com

On-chain data shows the Bitcoin short-term holders continue to capitulate as they are realizing net losses of $0.48 billion every day. Bitcoin Short-Term Holder Net Realized Profit/Loss Is Notably Red According to data from on-chain analytics firm Glassnode, the Net Realized Profit/Loss has been negative for the Bitcoin short-term holders recently. This indicator measures, as its name suggests, the net amount of profit or loss that BTC investors are harvesting through their selling. Related Reading: Another $438M In Crypto Longs Gone As Bitcoin, Altcoins Pull Back The version of the metric that’s of relevance here specifically tracks this for the short-term holders (STHs), a BTC investor cohort that includes only buyers from the last 155 days. Statistically, the longer an investor holds onto their coins, the less likely they become to sell them in the future. Since the STHs represent the new entrants into the market, their resilience tends to be low, and they may take part in panic selling during market volatility. Recently, Bitcoin has faced a major drawdown and the STHs have naturally reacted to it. Below is the chart shared by Glassnode that shows how the 7-day exponential moving average (EMA) of the Net Realized Profit/Loss has fluctuated for this group during the recent volatility. As is visible in the graph, the Bitcoin STH Net Realized Profit/Loss saw a deep plunge into the negative territory during the price downturn that followed the October high, implying realized losses notably outweighed the profits. In January, the metric recovered toward the neutral mark as the market saw an uplift, but the price drawdown since the end of the month has again taken the indicator to a highly red level. On February 6th, the STH Net Realized Profit/Loss fell to a value of -$1.24 billion per day, notably lower than the red peak observed last year. Since this low, the metric has risen a bit and today, it’s sitting at -$0.48 billion per day. “While the intensity has cooled, the broader regime still signals a market under pressure, with participants in the base formation phase continuing to capitulate,” explained the analytics firm. In some other news, the Bitcoin Coinbase Premium Gap has been negative recently, as highlighted by CryptoQuant author IT Tech in an X post. The Coinbase Premium Gap tracks the difference between the Bitcoin spot price listed on Coinbase (USD pair) and that on Binance (USDT pair). From the chart, it’s apparent that the metric has maintained at red values since mid-December, indicating that Coinbase users have been applying a higher amount of selling pressure than Binance traders. Related Reading: Bitcoin Extreme Fear Streak Extends To 22 Days As Price Struggles Coinbase is mainly used by US-based investors, especially the large institutional entities, so this trend can be a sign that there isn’t much demand for BTC among them right now. BTC Price Bitcoin has been slipping deeper as its price is now trading around $64,000. Featured image from Dall-E, chart from TradingView.com

Bitcoin continues to struggle below the $65,000 level as persistent selling pressure weighs on market sentiment. Price action has remained fragile in recent weeks, with volatility elevated and traders showing limited conviction amid tightening liquidity conditions and broader macro uncertainty. While intermittent rebounds have occurred, they have so far failed to establish sustained upside momentum, leaving Bitcoin locked in a cautious consolidation phase below a key psychological threshold. Related Reading: XRP’s Brutal Supply Compression Signals A Repeat Of The 2024 Expansion A recent CryptoQuant report highlights a notable structural development involving StrategyB, formerly known as MicroStrategy. It has now been more than six years since the company began its Bitcoin accumulation strategy, targeting roughly 5% of the asset’s total supply. The initiative, driven by CEO Michael Saylor — one of Bitcoin’s most vocal long-term advocates — reflects a conviction that BTC could eventually surpass the $1 million mark over time. To pursue this objective, StrategyB has executed what many consider the largest dollar-cost averaging program in Bitcoin’s history, notably without selling any BTC since inception. Annual investment figures illustrate the scale of this effort: $1.1 billion in 2020, $2.57 billion in 2021, $276 million in 2022, $1.9 billion in 2023, $21.9 billion in 2024, $22.4 billion in 2025, and $4.1 billion so far in 2026. StrategyB’s Aggressive Bitcoin Accumulation And Market Implications According to the report, 2025 marked a record year for StrategyB in terms of capital deployed, with more than $22.4 billion invested into Bitcoin accumulation. The data suggests that 2026 is currently following a comparable trajectory. If this pace continues, the firm could surpass last year’s record, further consolidating its position as one of the largest institutional holders of BTC. At present, Bitcoin is trading below StrategyB’s estimated realized price, which sits near $76,000. This metric reflects the company’s average acquisition cost across its holdings. StrategyB reportedly holds approximately 717,131 BTC, equivalent to around 3.4% of Bitcoin’s circulating supply. Such concentration highlights the scale of institutional participation now embedded in the market structure. However, the interpretation of this data requires caution. Trading below a large holder’s realized price does not automatically imply undervaluation; realized price is a cost-basis metric, not a valuation model. Market conditions, liquidity flows, and macroeconomic variables remain dominant drivers of price direction. Still, the broader takeaway is notable: even major institutional participants often rely on relatively simple accumulation strategies such as dollar-cost averaging. Whether that approach proves optimal in current conditions depends on individual risk tolerance, time horizon, and broader market context. Related Reading: The Great Bitcoin Handover: $8.2 Billion BTC Swamps Binance As Retail Momentum Fades Weekly Breakdown Below Key Moving Averages Signals Structural Weakness Bitcoin’s weekly structure has deteriorated materially over the past several sessions. After failing to sustain acceptance above the $90,000–$100,000 region, price rolled over and has now retraced toward the mid-$60,000 area. The latest weekly close near $66,000 places BTC decisively below the 50-week and 100-week moving averages, both of which are beginning to slope downward. This shift in positioning is technically significant. During the 2024–2025 advance, these moving averages acted as dynamic support, consistently absorbing pullbacks and reinforcing trend continuation. Their loss now converts them into overhead resistance, limiting upside unless reclaimed with strong volume confirmation. Related Reading: Ethereum Breaks Fhe Final Whale Floor In A 2018-Style Capitulation: What To Expect The 200-week moving average, currently tracking near the mid-$50,000 zone, remains the last major structural support on this timeframe. Historically, sustained closes below the 50-week average following a cycle peak have signaled prolonged corrective phases rather than shallow consolidations. Volume has expanded during the recent breakdown, suggesting distribution rather than simple low-liquidity drift. The sharp selloff from the $90,000 region to sub-$70,000 levels reflects decisive supply entering the market. For bulls to regain control, BTC would need to reclaim the $75,000–$80,000 range and reestablish higher weekly highs. Until then, the weekly trend favors caution, with momentum tilted toward continued consolidation or further downside exploration. Featured image from ChatGPT, chart from TradingView.com 

A sharp drop in XRP has rattled short-term holders, but some onlookers warn the sell-off may be setting a base for a much larger rebound. Reports say the token slid hard after peaking last year, and a mix of on-chain metrics and chart patterns has traders weighing whether this is panic or opportunity. Related Reading: Bitcoin Buying Spree Nears Century Mark, Saylor Hints Deep Losses And A Familiar Pattern According to price data, XRP fell from a high near $3.65 to roughly $1.38, a move that wiped out a large chunk of recent gains and produced a 60% pullback from the July peak. Traders watched as realized losses spiked, with roughly $1.90 billion recorded over one week — a level that matches past capitulation events. When big losses pile up in a short span, selling pressure can be exhausted and the market is often left with fewer weak hands. Reports note that the token is approaching a higher-time-frame demand area between $0.85 and $0.65, a zone that acted as resistance before the rally in late 2024. In prior cycles, that same area turned into a multi-year accumulation range where long-term buyers stepped in. $XRP Crashed 69% And Everyone Is Panicking: Last Time This Happened It Pumped 835%#XRP Is Trading Around $1.39 After Breaking Down From $2 Support Zone. Currently Retesting The HTF Demand Level Which Previously Acted As Multi-Year Accumulation Zone Upper Boundary. Already… pic.twitter.com/ZVKY1nwLD4 — Crypto Patel (@CryptoPatel) February 22, 2026 From Panic To Jubilation Analyst Crypto Patel has highlighted those historical signals on social feeds, arguing the setup looks familiar and may not be permanent panic. He warned that XRP has dropped 69% and panic is spreading, but the last time it fell this much, it surged 835%. Bitcoin Moves Provide Context Across the broader market, Bitcoin’s swings have been a backdrop to altcoin pain. Recent sessions saw BTC shift from the high $66,000s down toward the mid-$60,000s, and that kind of volatility tends to drag other coins along. When BTC retreats, altcoins often fall harder, and XRP was no exception. The interplay between Bitcoin’s price action and altcoin flows is a practical reminder that macro moves still matter even when token-specific stories dominate headlines. Reports have recorded quick selling from short-term holders after price broke below $2, a psychological level many treated as support. That drop accelerated the move to near $1.11 in early February, which represented close to 70% drawdown from the cycle top. Related Reading: XRP Flashes Rare On-Chain Signal That Once Preceded 114% Gains What Traders Are Watching Next A slice of the market exited positions in frustration. Those exits show up cleanly on-chain as realized losses, which can mark the final wave of sellers before stability returns. From a technical view, staying above the lower bound of the $0.65 to $0.85 band on longer timeframes would be taken as constructive by many. If that holds, a phased recovery could bring prior resistance levels back into play — around $2, then $3, and beyond. Featured image from Gemini, chart from TradingView

Bitcoin price failed to stay above $66,000 and dipped further. BTC is now consolidating losses and might struggle to recover above $66,000. Bitcoin started a fresh decline and traded below the $66,000 support. The price is trading below $65,500 and the 100 hourly simple moving average. There is a bearish trend line forming with resistance at $66,800 on the hourly chart of the BTC/USD pair (data feed from Kraken). The pair might dip again if it trades below the $63,500 and $63,200 levels. Bitcoin Price Breaks Key Support Bitcoin price failed to remain stable above the $66,500 zone. BTC started a fresh decline and traded below the $66,000 support zone. There was a push below $65,000. The price even spiked below $64,000. A low was formed at $63,351, and the price is now correcting some losses. There was a move above $64,000, but the price is still well below the 23.6% Fib retracement level of the recent decline from the $68,652 swing high to the $63,351 low. Bitcoin is now trading below $66,000 and the 100 hourly simple moving average. If the price remains stable above $64,000, it could attempt a fresh increase. Immediate resistance is near the $64,600 level. The first key resistance is near the $65,250 level. A close above the $65,250 resistance might send the price further higher. In the stated case, the price could rise and test the $66,000 resistance or the 50% Fib retracement level of the recent decline from the $68,652 swing high to the $63,351 low. Any more gains might send the price toward the $66,800 level. There is also a bearish trend line forming with resistance at $66,800 on the hourly chart of the BTC/USD pair. The next barrier for the bulls could be $67,500 and $67,700. Another Decline In BTC? If Bitcoin fails to rise above the $65,250 resistance zone, it could start another decline. Immediate support is near the $64,000 level. The first major support is near the $63,500 level. The next support is now near the $63,200 zone. Any more losses might send the price toward the $62,650 support in the near term. The main support now sits at $62,000, below which BTC might struggle to recover in the near term. Technical indicators: Hourly MACD – The MACD is now gaining pace in the bearish zone. Hourly RSI (Relative Strength Index) – The RSI for BTC/USD is now below the 50 level. Major Support Levels – $64,000, followed by $63,500. Major Resistance Levels – $65,000 and $66,000.

Data shows cryptocurrency derivatives exchanges have racked up liquidations as Bitcoin and other assets have gone through a price retrace. Crypto Liquidations Have Crossed $500 Million During The Past Day According to data from CoinGlass, a massive amount of liquidations have piled up on digital asset derivatives platforms following the latest market volatility. “Liquidation” refers to the forceful closure that any open contract undergoes after it has incurred a loss of a specific degree (as defined by the exchange). Related Reading: Bitcoin Extreme Fear Streak Extends To 22 Days As Price Struggles Fast, violent moves tend to catch a large number of contracts off guard at once, so mass liquidation events tend to accompany them. The same has been the case with the volatility shown by Bitcoin and the company during the past day. As the table below shows, about $507 million in derivatives contracts have been liquidated over the last 24 hours. $438 million or 86% of the liquidations involved long contracts. This overwhelming majority in the leverage flush from the bullish bets is naturally because of the fact that the sharpest move inside this window was one to the downside. Bitcoin went from $67,700 to a low of $64,300 within the matter of a few hours. As the market has rebounded since this plunge, some short investors have also been liquidated, with their 24-hour liquidation figure sitting at $69 million. In terms of the individual assets, Bitcoin was once again the biggest contributor to the derivatives flush, with $233 million in contracts involved. Below is a heatmap that shows how liquidations have looked for the other coins. On-chain analytics firm Santiment has made an X post discussing the volatility, noting that it has caused a drop in the Bitcoin Open Interest. This indicator measures the total amount of positions related to BTC (in USD) that are currently open on all derivatives exchanges. As displayed in the above graph, the Bitcoin Open Interest plunged to $19.5 billion following the event, which is about half the level that the metric was at during the January peak of $38.3 billion. The indicator’s decline signifies a mix of liquidations and investors choosing to pull back on risk. Related Reading: Bitcoin Big-Money Exits: Large-Holder Supply Hits Lowest Since May 2025 In the same chart, Santiment has also attached the data for the Negative Sentiment, a metric that tracks the degree of bearish sentiment around BTC on the major social media platforms. This indicator has shot up alongside the price decline and hit a two-week high, implying a spike in FUD among retail investors. Bitcoin Price At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading around $66,300, down nearly 5% over the past week. Featured image from Dall-E, chart from TradingView.com

Bitcoin’s recent wobble has traders on edge, but the picture is not all one-way. Reports note heavy losses for late buyers, and on-chain figures show real money changing hands as positions are forced closed. Markets moved fast; the mood did too. Related Reading: XRP Flashes Rare On-Chain Signal That Once Preceded 114% Gains Fear And Greed Plunges To Single Digits According to CoinGlass, more than 144,839 traders were liquidated in the last 24 hours, with total liquidations of over $508 million and about 92% tied to long bets. Reports from Alternative.me put the Crypto Fear and Greed Index at 5 out of 100 — a reading that has turned up only three times since 2018. That level screams panic. Yet panic often clears out the most fragile holders and leaves room for steadier hands to step in. Realized Losses And Capitulation Signals Based on reports from Glassnode, recent investors are still booking losses at a high rate — the seven-day moving average for net realized losses was close to $500 million per day. That kind of selling pressure looks brutal on a chart. At the same time, selling at scale can mark an end to a sharp phase of decline, because it reduces the number of people left to sell when prices fall further. Bitcoin Price Action In the middle of all this, price moves matter. Bitcoin rose to roughly $68,600 on Saturday, but it slid back and touched the mid-$64,000s after a wave of exits. Traders are watching a range that formed after the early-February drop to about $60,000. The coin remains roughly 48% below an October high of $126,000 and about 5.5% under the 2021 peak near $69,000. News tied to US-Iran tension and general risk-off trading pushed some traders toward safer assets, which added fuel to the pullback. Sharpe Ratio Hits Unusual Low Analyst Michaël van de Poppe shared a chart showing Bitcoin’s Sharpe Ratio at -38.4. That metric measures returns relative to risk; a number this low is rare. This is a phenomenal chart. It shows the Sharpe Ratio for #Bitcoin in the short term. The key takeaway: the Sharpe Ratio has dropped to -38.38, which historically has marked “Low Risk” accumulation zones. The red circles highlight every time the Sharpe Ratio dipped to similar… pic.twitter.com/Nwp7SkfVP4 — Michaël van de Poppe (@CryptoMichNL) February 21, 2026 Historically, extreme negative readings have sometimes lined up with moments when buying risk felt lower, because potential downside had been squeezed out by big selloffs. That does not guarantee a rebound, but it changes how investors view the trade-off between reward and risk. Related Reading: Political Meme Coins Implode: TRUMP Down 92%, MELANIA Nearly Wiped Out Where This Could Lead Some technical watchers warn that more tests of support could happen if uncertainty continues. Others point to the combination of heavy liquidations, deep fear readings, and large realized losses as signals that a base might be forming. Pasts on-chain figures show that panic and steep losses often precede quieter periods where buyers return slowly. Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView

Bitcoin’s long-term price outlook is a major talking point, with veteran trader Peter Brandt recently floating a bold timeline for when the leading cryptocurrency could hit $250,000. The comment came in response to a chart shared on X by NBA legend Scottie Pippen, who showed how Bitcoin’s current structure looks familiar. Brandt not only agreed with Pippen, he also attached a projection that points to a specific year for a when the Bitcoin price will eventually trade above $250,000. Power Law Projection Points To 2029 Breakout According to veteran financial analyst Peter Brandt, Bitcoin is on track to setting off to $250,000-plus by late 2029. He only noted this with a simple sentence, but the projection to $250,000 is visible in the weekly candlestick price chart he shared alongside his prediction. Related Reading: Don’t Fall For The Bitcoin Trap: Analyst Explains Why Recovery To $76,000 Is Not A Good Thing The chart shared by Brandt shows Bitcoin trading within a broad upward-sloping channel that has defined its macrostructure for over a decade. The lower boundary, highlighted in green, appears to act as a recurring support zone during major consolidations. The upper red band connects the different peaks over the years. The current structure is playing out in a way where Bitcoin has been trending downwards after a strong multi-year advance that peaked in late 2025. Brandt’s projection extends the channel forward into 2029, where the middle band of the channel intersects near the $250,000 price level.  $250,000 is a recurring Bitcoin price target among crypto participants, although the predictions have different timelines as to when Bitcoin will reach this price level. For instance, Fundstrat’s Tom Lee is also of the notion that Bitcoin will trade at $250,000 soon, although this came with a warning. Analysts at Galaxy Digital have also floated the same target, although on a faster timeline around 2027. That projection, however, came with expectations of an unstable 2026 before any strong rally. Scottie Pippen’s 2020 Comparison Brandt’s forecast was triggered by Scottie Pippen’s post comparing Bitcoin’s current setup to its 2020 structure. In Pippen’s side-by-side chart comparison, the left panel shows Bitcoin’s CME Futures in mid-2020 forming a base before launching into the rally that culminated in the 2021 highs. Related Reading: Bitcoin Ready To Bounce Again? The Major Accumulation Trend You Should Be Aware Of The right panel, which shows current price action in 2026, depicts a similar consolidation pattern above a green support zone. The visual comparison suggests that Bitcoin is now in a comparable pre-breakout phase like it was in 2020. In 2020, Bitcoin consolidated for months before breaking into a parabolic move. As such, although the long-term view is bullish, there’s a high probability that Bitcoin will continue to consolidate around its current price level before going on an aggressive 2021-style rally. At the time of writing, Bitcoin is consolidating below $70,000. The leading cryptocurrency is currently trading at $66,150, having lost 1.8% of its value in the past 24 hours. Featured image from Pixabay, chart from Tradingview.com

Michael Saylor’s quiet hint this weekend put a spotlight on a methodical habit that has quietly shaped corporate crypto moves for years. Related Reading: XRP Flashes Rare On-Chain Signal That Once Preceded 114% Gains Michael Saylor posted a chart with the caption “The Orange Century,” and through that single image he signaled what many traders already suspected: the company he chairs is poised to make another buy. Strategy has been buying Bitcoin in steady doses since 2020. Reports note the firm has completed 99 buys so far. That makes the next purchase the 100th. Short headline. Big milestone. The buy count matters because it shows a pattern more than it shows timing. Buy Pace And Signals The image Saylor shared on the X platform is the same type of chart the company has shown before when a purchase was near. Other market watchers read the post as a likely prelude to actual buy orders. The company has not issued a formal press release about a specific date. The Orange Century. pic.twitter.com/8zelTduTPC — Michael Saylor (@saylor) February 22, 2026 Recent Activity And Holdings According to public records, the firm now holds about 717,131 BTC at an average cost near $76,027 per coin. Market prices have drifted lower from that average. Bitcoin was trading around $65,050 at the time of the reports. That gap has put the firm’s cost basis in the red on paper. Still, buying has continued; the company has added BTC for many consecutive weeks in 2026 and showed no obvious pause even as prices moved down. Shareholders And Market Reaction Reports note that since the initial stake was bought in August 2020, the firm’s stock has climbed sharply. Yahoo Finance data shows a rise from roughly $12.44 then to about $131.05 at the time this report was made, an increase of around 950%. That price swing has made the strategy attractive to some investors who wanted exposure to Bitcoin through a public stock. Others worry about concentration risk when a single asset so heavily shapes a company’s balance sheet. How This Fits Broader Trends Other firms have copied pieces of this playbook. Moving treasury cash into Bitcoin has become one option among several for companies that want to shield some value from inflation or to chase upside tied to crypto. Related Reading: Political Meme Coins Implode: TRUMP Down 92%, MELANIA Nearly Wiped Out That has had a ripple effect: when big public holders buy, it can shift short-term flows and signal confidence to certain corners of the market. At the same time, critics argue that using corporate coffers to buy a volatile asset brings fresh governance questions. The next move will be watched closely. If the 100th buy happens, it will be seen as a reaffirmation of a strategy that has been consistent for years. Observers will then parse whether the purchase is symbolic, tactical, or simply another step in a long, steady accumulation. Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView

Bitcoin has increasingly moved in sync with the software and technology sector, and is reshaping its role in global finance. Rather than behaving like a traditional store of value or independent asset class, BTC has shown price patterns closely tied to technology-driven markets, particularly growth-oriented software companies and digital innovation stocks. This growing connection reflects BTC’s deep roots in technology and its dependence on market conditions that typically influence high-growth sectors and innovation cycles. How Market Liquidity Connects Bitcoin To Software Stocks According to crypto analyst Kevin, Bitcoin has been more tied to the software sector than any other market in recent years. The software underperformance has been caused by massive disruption from Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology, and BTC has also experienced similar underperformance due to AI technology disruption throughout 2025 and the broader market cycle. Related Reading: Thinking Of Buying The Bitcoin Dip? Here’s What This Metric Says However, as BTC is no longer the hottest new tech in the block and a tighter for longer monetary policy is in place, it’s the perfect combo to explain crypto underperformance overall. The key question now is whether BTC can overcome this hurdle in the future. Kevin believes that BTC can overcome this hurdle, but it has to overcome real fundamental narrative challenges for the first time. The current daily chart structure for Bitcoin has been interpreted as a strong bullish setup. Market commentator known as Super฿ro on X has highlighted that it is always better for BTC to flush out the lower liquidity levels first, leaving the overhead liquidity intact, which will later serve as fuel for a potential short squeeze. Thus, BTC had the opportunity to move higher and take out the short positions, but instead left them untouched. Currently, BTC has flushed out almost all the leveraged longs below, which is a setup but not a guarantee. Technically, this pattern could also be viewed as a bear pennant breakdown, with a potential downside target below $50,000.  Related Reading: Bitcoin Bull-Bear Cycle Indicator Drops To Deepest Level Since FTX Bottom Super฿ro is convinced that this move will prove too ambitious for the bears, as it would push the price into a major multi-year support zone. However, if BTC successfully holds its recent lows on a closing basis, the outlook could shift decisively bullish and open the door to a sharp recovery into the $70,000 range and potentially higher. BTC Flow From Spot To Futures Markets Explained The Bitcoin Inter-Exchange Flow Pulse (IFP) is approaching a golden cross with the 90-day moving average (90MA) line. A crypto investor and data analyst known as CW pointed out that the IFP indicator is based on BTC flowing from the spot market into the futures market. However, if this trend accelerates further, it could form a golden cross above the 90MA, then signal a bullish rally. Featured image from Pixabay, chart from Tradingview.com

Bitcoin futures positioning among non-commercial traders is swinging sharply toward net long exposure, a move technical analyst Tom McClellan (editor of The McClellan Market Report) says has arrived “with some urgency” in the latest weekly Commitment of Traders (COT) report and one that has coincided with notable market outcomes in prior, similarly extreme episodes. Sharing a chart of Bitcoin futures (price on a log scale) alongside non-commercial net positioning, McClellan argued that in Bitcoin’s case, large speculators effectively function as the “smart money” cohort, because the market lacks the typical commercial hedger presence seen in traditional commodity futures. “The non-commercial traders of Bitcoin futures are usually the smart money,” McClellan wrote. “This week’s COT Report shows that they are moving net long with some urgency. Look back at what the last two similar excursions led to. But remember, this is ‘a condition, not a signal’.” Why Non-Commercials Matter In Bitcoin Futures McClellan later expanded on how he frames the CFTC’s weekly report, which breaks futures positioning into commercials, non-commercials, and non-reportables. In corn, for example, commercials might be producers or end users; in Bitcoin, he says that category is thin. “In Bitcoin, there are hardly any traders who qualify as Commercial traders,” McClellan wrote. “So in an unusual circumstance, the Non-commercial traders fill the role of being the smart money.” Related Reading: Bitcoin Extreme Fear Streak Extends To 22 Days As Price Struggles That distinction matters because COT is not about absolute long or short interest, every futures contract has a long and a short by definition, but about who is on each side. “Every futures contract is simultaneously one long and one short position, held by different parties. So the number of longs will always equal the number of shorts,” he wrote. “What matters is who holds the positions.” McClellan also cautioned against importing equity-market intuition about short interest into futures positioning. “So a large short position in a stock represents potential energy which could get converted into price movements via short covering,” he wrote. “COT data don’t do that. They just represent expert opinion.” The core dispute in the X thread wasn’t whether COT can be useful, but how to interpret timing. Trader toni (@tonitrades_) agreed the dataset has value but questioned whether futures positioning simply follows spot momentum. “COT data has historically been a solid indicator, no argument there,” toni wrote. “But non-commercial positioning often lags spot market moves by weeks. By the time futures traders pile in, the initial momentum is usually priced in already.” Related Reading: Bitcoin Bottom Call On Ice: Fear Is Extreme, Whales Aren’t Buying McClellan pushed back on that sequencing. “I think you meant that their positioning PRECEDES price moves sometimes by weeks,” he replied, underscoring his view that positioning extremes can show up ahead of meaningful market moves, though not on a predictable schedule. That’s where the thread landed: with an emphasis on uncertainty. Jim Osman (@EdgeCGroup) summed it up succinctly: “Timing still uncertain.” McClellan agreed. “Exactly, hence my admonition.” In his longer explanation, McClellan reiterated that most weeks the COT report has no actionable message, but that extremes can be informative with a crucial caveat. “A lot of the time there is no useful message in the COT data for each futures contract,” he wrote. “But when an extreme develops like now in Bitcoin, then we can get useful information. But as with any overbought or oversold reading on any indicator, COT data only reflect a ‘condition’ not a signal. The data will not tell you when that condition is going to matter, only that it should matter, sometime.” At press time, BTC traded at $65,663. Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com

Bitcoin price failed to stay above $68,000 and dipped sharply. BTC is now consolidating losses and might struggle to recover above $66,000. Bitcoin started a fresh decline and traded below the $66,500 support. The price is trading below $66,500 and the 100 hourly simple moving average. There was a break below a bullish trend line with support at $68,000 on the hourly chart of the BTC/USD pair (data feed from Kraken). The pair might dip again if it trades below the $64,500 and $64,200 levels. Bitcoin Price Dives Over 5% Bitcoin price failed to remain stable above the $67,200 zone. BTC started a fresh decline and traded below the $66,500 support zone. There was a push below $66,000. The price even spiked below $65,000. There was also a break below a bullish trend line with support at $68,000 on the hourly chart of the BTC/USD pair. A low was formed at $64,203, and the price is now correcting some losses. There was a move above $64,500, but the price is still well below the 23.6% Fib retracement level of the recent decline from the $68,653 swing high to the $64,203 low. Bitcoin is now trading below $66,500 and the 100 hourly simple moving average. If the price remains stable above $64,200, it could attempt a fresh increase. Immediate resistance is near the $65,250 level. The first key resistance is near the $66,400 level or the 50% Fib retracement level of the recent decline from the $68,653 swing high to the $64,203 low. A close above the $66,400 resistance might send the price further higher. In the stated case, the price could rise and test the $67,000 resistance. Any more gains might send the price toward the $67,600 level. The next barrier for the bulls could be $68,000 and $68,500. Another Decline In BTC? If Bitcoin fails to rise above the $66,000 resistance zone, it could start another decline. Immediate support is near the $64,400 level. The first major support is near the $64,200 level. The next support is now near the $63,500 zone. Any more losses might send the price toward the $62,850 support in the near term. The main support now sits at $62,000, below which BTC might struggle to recover in the near term. Technical indicators: Hourly MACD – The MACD is now gaining pace in the bearish zone. Hourly RSI (Relative Strength Index) – The RSI for BTC/USD is now below the 50 level. Major Support Levels – $64,500, followed by $64,200. Major Resistance Levels – $66,000 and $66,500.

As quantum computing inches closer to reality, nearly 7 million bitcoin, including Satoshi Nakamoto’s 1 million coins, are potentially at risk.

Bitcoin is trading like a rates product now because real yields are the new “gravity” Earlier this month, we saw the macro picture shift in a very real and tangible way. The record of last year's job level changed significantly, and markets treated that update as fresh information to trade on. Two days later, inflation […]
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A modest claim. A bold number. Both are on the table for Bitcoin this week as a debate over how to read short-term streaks in price gains grows louder. Related Reading: Bitcoin Market Bleeds $1 Trillion, Saylor Signals Strongest Crypto Conviction Yet Crypto analyst Timothy Peterson has pointed out that half of the last 24 months showed positive returns. Based on reports, he then gave a nearly 90% chance that Bitcoin would be higher in 10 months. That leap from a simple count to a firm probability is the headline grabber. It should be met with careful questions about how the odds were calculated and what assumptions were built into the model. Counting Positive Months Peterson based his view on a review of monthly performance data. Figures compiled by CoinGlass show that Bitcoin closed six months of 2025 in positive territory, while the remaining six finished lower. According to the data, 50% of the past 24 months ended with gains. Peterson said he tracks this rolling two-year window to spot potential turning points in price trends. 50% of the past 24 months have been positive. This implies a 88% chance that Bitcoin will be higher 10 months from now. The average return is exp(60%)-1 = 82% => $122,000. Data goes back to 2011. https://t.co/k4IjTisuTH pic.twitter.com/ZxfTyequjt — Timothy Peterson (@nsquaredvalue) February 21, 2026 Market Odds And Betting An exchange of bets shows a very different view. Polymarket currently prices December as only a 17% shot at being the best month of 2026, with November a hair higher. Those numbers answer a different question from Peterson’s: they reflect market bets on which month will outperform others, not whether the price will simply be higher at a future date. Betting markets can be blunt tools, but they do pack the collective view of many traders into a single number. Bitcoin Price Action Price has not been calm. Bitcoin traded in a roughly $67,000–$68,000 band this week as geopolitical tension in the Middle East tightened. Safe-haven assets like gold and oil jumped on news flows, and Bitcoin felt the squeeze as some buyers stepped back. At the same time, live tickers showed the token about 20% below its level at the start of the year, a reminder that headline percentages hide wide intraday swings. Analysts Are Split Voices from the trading desk are divided. Michael van de Poppe suggested near-term green candles could be coming, urging traders to watch for a lift. On the other hand, Peter Brandt has argued a deeper low may not arrive until late 2026. Both views rest on different sets of signals — one on momentum and chart structure, the other on longer cycle patterns and risk of macro shocks. Sentiment Still Down Meanwhile, flow data from spot ETF purchases, derivatives positioning, and on-chain liquidity figures would add weight to any forecast. Related Reading: XRP Tipped As Central Bank Bridge Asset — Bigger Than Bitcoin? Peterson’s forecast comes as crypto market sentiment continues to decline, with reports noting that discussion and activity around Bitcoin predictions have slowed. Traders appear cautious, weighing past trends against current uncertainty in the market. Featured image from Vecteezy, chart from TradingView

Bitcoin sometimes sells off hard on days with no crypto headlines. A recurring driver sits outside crypto: a yen-funded carry unwind that forces cross-asset deleveraging, then transmits into BTC through thinner liquidity, wider spreads, and fast position reduction in derivatives. Here's the core mechanism in one line: if USD/JPY moves fast enough to trigger margin […]
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Bitcoin just got ~15% harder to mine as hashrate falls—pushing miner revenue back into the $30 stress zone Bitcoin’s mining economy has tightened again, but its undertones could pave the way for a price recovery in the top crypto. Over the past weeks, the network difficulty jumped, while the hashrate has shown signs of softening. […]
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Bitcoin remains range-bound as liquidity clears on both sides, keeping price action indecisive. After months of weakness, demand has finally turned positive, hinting that selling is easing and structural accumulation may be returning. BTC Stays Range-Bound Amid Active Liquidity Clearing Bitcoin remains locked in a range-bound state, characterized by a lack of directional commitment. Currently, the price is actively engaged in clearing liquidity on both sides of the spread. This creates a market environment where expansion is met with selling pressure, while price dips are swiftly absorbed by buyers, trapping the asset in a tug-of-war. Related Reading: Thinking Of Buying The Bitcoin Dip? Here’s What This Metric Says According to Columbus, market liquidity remains exceptionally well-defined both above and below the current price levels. This structure reinforces the ongoing choppy environment, as the market seems content to bounce between established pockets of orders. In such a scenario, the data suggests that patience is the most valuable asset for traders. From this juncture, the market’s trajectory depends on how it reacts after the nearby liquidity is purged. If Bitcoin begins to find acceptance above the current range following a liquidity sweep, the probability shifts toward a bullish expansion, triggering a move into higher upside pockets. Conversely, if the attempt to gain acceptance fails after a sweep, the market remains vulnerable to further downside. This could result in additional sweeping of lower liquidity levels before any sustained recovery can materialize. Until then, the prevailing goal remains a technical clean-up of liquidity before the next major trend is established. Bitcoin Demand Turns Positive After Months Of Weakness CryptosRus recently highlighted that after nearly three months of persistent weakness, Bitcoin’s apparent demand has finally turned back above zero, currently sitting around +1,200 BTC. This marks a notable shift in investors’ sentiment and action in a market struggling with heightened volatility.  Related Reading: Bitcoin Extreme Fear Streak Extends To 22 Days As Price Struggles Back in December, demand had bottomed near -154,000 BTC, a quantity that helps explain the sluggish price action that persisted in the following weeks. Since then, the pressure has been quietly easing. Selling activity is slowing, and structural accumulation is beginning to re-emerge, signaling a potential shift in market dynamics. It’s important to understand what this metric represents, which is whether long-term holders are absorbing new supply. When demand is deeply negative, the market tends to struggle. Conversely, when the metric turns positive, it suggests that buying activity is rebuilding, creating conditions for a healthier market structure. That said, the market is not out of the woods yet. A single positive print does not confirm a trend reversal. However, if this recovery in demand persists, it is often one of the earliest indicators that the market is transitioning from a distribution phase back toward accumulation, setting the stage for potential sustained strength in the weeks ahead. Featured image from Pixabay, chart from Tradingview.com

A seasoned investor’s bold claim about XRP has reignited a common question in crypto markets: could a token built for fast settlement ever outgrow the original store-of-value? Related Reading: Bitcoin Market Bleeds $1 Trillion, Saylor Signals Strongest Crypto Conviction Yet According to posts on X by longtime Bitcoin backer Pumpius, if central banks adopt a single on-chain bridge, XRP could eclipse Bitcoin “by magnitude.” On-Chain Tension And Policy Moves Reports note recent market moves that have worried policy makers and traders. The trading desk at the Federal Reserve requested indicative dollar/yen quotes after a sharp move in the yen, a step that Treasury officials had asked for. That rare check underlines how currency volatility can push officials to consider new tools, and it has renewed talk about faster settlement rails. Every Central Bank will use XRP as the bridge asset. It’s now becoming a reality. When this happens, XRP will surpass Bitcoin by magnitude. Bookmark this. https://t.co/xyWxhVDCLx pic.twitter.com/kFTsXSw6Hn — Pumpius (@pumpius) February 19, 2026 Ripple’s Timeline And Institutional Talk Based on reports from company briefings and executive posts, Ripple’s leadership sees 2026 as the year when larger, regulated players might put real money onto the XRP Ledger. Ripple President Monica Long has sketched out scenarios where banks and asset managers run production systems tied to on-chain liquidity pools. Those views have been picked up across crypto news outlets and have added fuel to bullish narratives. How Would A Bridge Asset Work? Imagine dollar and euro liquidity on a ledger, available for near-instant swaps. In practice, permissioned pools and regulated stablecoins could provide the rails while an on-chain order book or matching engine handles the trades. Settlement times would be measured in seconds. Audit trails would be automatic. That said, large institutions put a premium on rules and oversight; any real rollout would be gradual and cautious. XRP Vs. BTC: The Size Of The Gap Numbers matter. Bitcoin’s market cap sits comfortably in the trillions, while XRP’s market value is under $100 billion dollars, depending on which tracker you consult. That gap is not small. For XRP to “flip” Bitcoin at present values would require trillions more in capital moving into the token — a shift that would likely need broad institutional flows and major regulatory clarity. Related Reading: Saylor Makes Bold $1M Bitcoin Call — “It’s Zero Or A Million” Geopolitics Adds Noise Geopolitical strain and trade frictions, amplified by speeches or decisions from leaders, can make markets jittery. US President Donald Trump has been named in debates over policy shifts and geopolitical risk, which in turn affect capital flows and safe-haven bids. When politics moves markets, technical fixes such as faster settlement can look more attractive on paper; adoption in practice is another matter. Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView

Stablecoin supply is crypto’s deployable cash. With a total stablecoin market cap of around $307.92 billion and down -1.13% in the past 30 days, the pool has stopped growing month over month. When supply stalls, price moves get sharper, and Bitcoin feels it first in thin depth and bigger wicks. Stablecoins sit in a strange […]
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Markets are quiet and uneasy. Bitcoin prices have pulled back, and big holders are keeping a cool face while the charts wobble. Reports note that one outspoken investor frames the market in stark terms: it either fails completely or becomes far more valuable than people now imagine. Related Reading: Bitcoin Market Bleeds $1 Trillion, Saylor Signals Strongest Crypto Conviction Yet Saylor’s Binary Bet According to Michael Saylor, Bitcoin has only two plausible final outcomes: worthless, or worth $1 million per coin. That is not a quick trading idea. It’s a long-running view about scarcity and demand. Saylor argues that a fixed supply paired with growing institutional buying and broader custody tools makes a future of massive price gains possible. He points to more banks, more spot ETFs and bigger corporate allocations as proof that demand has matured. If it’s not going to zero, it’s going to a million. $BTC — Michael Saylor (@saylor) February 20, 2026 A Warning From The Other Side Reports note that not everyone agrees. Mike McGlone of Bloomberg has sketched a darker path, one where price pressure and macro shocks could push values much lower — even toward $10,000. That view is rooted in history: markets can fall a long way before confidence returns. Short-term moves can be savage. Longer swings can be slower to recover. Both views are true on their own terms, because they answer different questions about time and risk. Balance Sheet And Funding Based on reports, the firm backing Saylor’s posture holds a very large stake: 717,131 BTC bought at an average cost of $76,027 a coin. That position is underwater for now. Still, financing choices matter. Strategy relies on equity, convertible notes, and preferred shares to meet cash needs. Arkham Intelligence has mapped out that preferred dividends are optional and redemptions are not automatic, which lowers the chance of forced sales right away. That setup buys time, though it does not erase exposure if prices stay low for a long stretch. SAYLOR IS UNDERWATER. BUT WILL HE SELL BTC? Saylor is over 10% underwater from his average purchase price. But what could actually force him to sell Bitcoin? Here’s an explainer of how, when and why Strategy might be forced to sell BTC. pic.twitter.com/uKbJ3ivO54 — Arkham (@arkham) February 20, 2026 Supply, Demand And The Big Numbers Saylor’s $1 million projection is driven by a supply argument: there are only 21 million coins. If enough institutions and treasuries keep buying, the math pushes the price up. He has said that with a particular share of total coins held by his firm, values could move into the millions, and he has sketched an even higher, $10 million possibility under stronger concentration scenarios. Related Reading: Bitcoin Enters Historic Buying Zone, Indicator Suggests Those are not forecasts you can treat like short-term targets. They are conditional models — possible only if adoption, regulation and market behavior all line up for years. The path forward is not easy. Bitcoin could crawl higher, stumble and trade in narrow ranges for years, or shoot up as new buyers enter. Politics, regulation and global liquidity will shape which route unfolds. Institutional entry has changed the market structure, but it has not removed the risk of big drawdowns. Featured image from Pixabay, chart from TradingView

South Korean lawmakers are ramping up pressure on financial regulators after a system failure at Bithumb, the country’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, led to the accidental distribution of more than $43 billion worth of Bitcoin (BTC) earlier this month. The February 6 incident has triggered political scrutiny of both the exchange itself and the agencies responsible for overseeing the virtual asset market.  Behind The Bithumb Massive Bitcoin Mishap According to local reporting by The Korea Times, members of the National Assembly are questioning how such a massive error could slip through despite repeated regulatory inspections. Rep. Kang Min-guk of the main opposition People Power Party disclosed that the country’s Financial Services Commission (FSC) reviewed Bithumb three times between 2022 and 2025.  Over the same period, the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) conducted three separate inspections. Yet regulators failed to detect what has now been described as a critical structural weakness in the exchange’s system. Related Reading: ‘Sell Bitcoin Now,’ Peter Schiff Warns, Predicts $20,000 Target On Breakdown Kang argued that existing oversight mechanisms were inadequate. He pointed out that safeguards were insufficient to prevent a situation in which a single employee could initiate massive coin transfers. Kang said: The episode is not merely a technical mishap but a case that lays bare deeper structural weaknesses in the virtual asset market, including complacent supervision and gaps in regulation. Instead of crediting users with Bitcoin worth 2,000 won — approximately $1.38 — the system mistakenly credited 2,000 Bitcoin per user. In total, 620,000 Bitcoin were incorrectly distributed.  Rep. Han Chang-min of the minor Social Democratic Party also criticized regulators, questioning whether supervisory authorities had meaningfully evaluated the exchange’s internal systems. “Authorities appeared to be shifting responsibility onto Bithumb despite their supervisory role,” Han said. Broader Crypto Oversight  In response to the incident, the FSS extended the deadline for its formal investigation from Feb. 13 to the end of the month, citing the need for additional time.  An eight-member inspection team is now intensifying its review, focusing on possible violations related to investor protection and anti-money laundering (AML) compliance.  Particular attention is being given to the system architecture that allowed coins not actually held by the exchange to be credited to users. Regulators have not ruled out the possibility that further erroneous distributions could be uncovered. Related Reading: House Democrats Urge Treasury Probe Into Trump Family’s Crypto Venture Separately, financial authorities have reportedly formed an emergency response team in coordination with the Digital Asset eXchange Alliance (DAXA), a self-regulatory body representing domestic exchanges.  The team has begun inspections of asset verification and internal control systems at four other platforms — Upbit, Coinone, Korbit, and GOPAX. Any deficiencies are expected to be incorporated into DAXA’s self-regulatory guidelines and could influence the next phase of cryptocurrency legislation in South Korea. At the time of writing, Bitcoin was trading at $67,763, marking a 2% decline over the past seven days and showing minimal change since Thursday’s trading session.  Featured image from OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com 

Data shows the Bitcoin Fear & Greed Index continues to be inside the extreme fear zone as the cryptocurrency market continues to struggle. Bitcoin Fear & Greed Index Is Still Pointing At ‘Extreme Fear’ The “Fear & Greed Index” refers to an indicator created by Alternative that tells us about the average sentiment present among traders in the Bitcoin and wider cryptocurrency markets. The index uses the data of the following five factors to determine the market mentality: trading volume, market cap dominance, volatility, social media sentiment, and Google Trends. Related Reading: Bitcoin Big-Money Exits: Large-Holder Supply Hits Lowest Since May 2025 When the value of the metric is greater than 53, it means the sentiment shared by the majority of the investors is that of greed. On the other hand, the indicator being under 47 suggests the investors are fearful. Naturally, values lying between the two thresholds indicate the presence of a net neutral mentality. Besides these three main zones, there are also two ‘extreme’ areas called the extreme fear (25 and under) and extreme greed (above 75). Recently, the market has been inside the former of the two. Here is how the latest value of the Bitcoin Fear & Greed Index looks: As is visible above, the Bitcoin Fear & Greed Index has a value of 7, which is pretty deep into the extreme fear zone. In fact, this level of despair is something that the traders have rarely held historically. The Fear & Greed Index has consistently been at similarly low levels during the last couple of weeks, as the below chart shows. Overall, the indicator has been stuck inside the extreme fear territory for 22 straight days now. The recent bad market sentiment is a result of the drawdown that the Bitcoin price has faced. In the past, cryptocurrency markets have often tended to move in the direction that goes contrary to the expectations of the majority. The probability of a contrarian move occurring has generally been the strongest in the extreme sentiment zones as that’s where the crowd is the most sure about the market’s outcome. Given this, the recent extreme fear mentality could help the sector bottom out. The lowest that the metric has gone this cycle is 5, which is similar to the lowest point of the previous bear market. In that bear market, however, the market consolidated and spent more time inside the extreme fear zone even after the low in the Fear & Greed Index, before a bottom was eventually reached. Related Reading: XRP Social Sentiment Hits 5-Week High—BTC, ETH Mood Still Off It now remains to be seen how long Bitcoin and others will take to hit a cyclical low this time around. BTC Price Bitcoin has been unable to make much recovery since its bounce from the $60,000 level as its price continues to trade around $67,700. Featured image from Dall-E, chart from TradingView.com

Bitcoin (BTC) is currently holding below the key $70,000 level. Still, a new report from data and research firm Ecoinometrics suggests that the market may not be building a base for recovery.  Instead, the firm argues that the cryptocurrency remains vulnerable to another downward move, driven by three overlapping forces: weakening equity momentum, structural changes in Bitcoin’s volatility profile, and a Federal Reserve (Fed) that is steady but not supportive. Structural Headwinds For Bitcoin According to the report, Bitcoin no longer trades in isolation. It has become increasingly linked to equity markets, capital flows, and broader macroeconomic conditions. At the moment, that linkage is not working in its favor.  Bitcoin is already showing signs of weakness, equity markets are losing steam, and the Federal Reserve is maintaining a neutral stance that offers little additional liquidity support. Together, those factors keep downside risks elevated. Related Reading: ‘Sell Bitcoin Now,’ Peter Schiff Warns, Predicts $20,000 Target On Breakdown While Bitcoin has attempted to stabilize in recent weeks, Ecoinometrics cautions that this does not resemble a clear bottoming pattern. Rather, it looks more like a pause within an ongoing bear phase.  Structural headwinds are already in place, as highlighted by the firm, including continued outflows from Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and a broader “risk-off” environment in financial markets. The report noted that Bitcoin is trading below its long-term trend, with its 200-day moving average (currently above $100,000) turning downward and rallies repeatedly failing beneath that level — a classic sign of a bearish structure.  By contrast, the Nasdaq 100 has stalled for roughly three months, but its 200-day moving average is still rising. That suggests equities are slowing but have not yet entered a confirmed structural downturn. The distinction is important. When Bitcoin weakens on its own, declines can unfold gradually. However, history shows that when equities roll over decisively, Bitcoin tends to fall sharply alongside them.  Lower Volatility, Higher Correlation Beyond price action, the firm highlights a deeper structural shift in Bitcoin’s behavior: a marked compression in volatility. In prior cycles, 12-month realized volatility surged dramatically during both bull markets and subsequent crashes.  This time, even after a full bear-bull-bear sequence since 2022, volatility has not returned to those previous extremes. In fact, peak volatility in the current cycle has been materially lower.  This change reflects who is driving demand. ETF flows now play a dominant role in shaping trends. These flows are typically larger, steadier, and more systematic than the retail-driven surges that characterized earlier cycles.  Bitcoin, in other words, has become embedded within institutional portfolios, often sitting alongside technology and growth stocks. That shift brings advantages, including lower volatility and more predictable flow patterns. It may also strengthen Bitcoin’s long-term durability.  However, it comes with a trade-off: deeper sensitivity to equity market drawdowns. Ecoinometrics asserts that as BTC becomes more integrated into the broader risk-on complex, it behaves more like a component of that system rather than a detached speculative asset. Downside Risks Grow On the policy front, Ecoinometrics suggests the Fed’s posture remains largely unchanged: inflation has improved but is not fully contained, and the labor market remains resilient.  Related Reading: House Democrats Urge Treasury Probe Into Trump Family’s Crypto Venture As a result, rate cuts are not urgent, and rate hikes are not imminent. The communications index sits well below the tightening peak seen in 2022 and far above the crisis-level dovishness of 2020, placing current policy in the middle ground. For Bitcoin, that steady stance removes the risk of a sudden policy shock, but it does not provide a tailwind. The firm said in a fragile market, stability may be preferable to tightening, yet it offers little support if risk assets begin to slide. Featured image from OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com 

Reports say a popular risk metric has fallen into territory that, in the past, lined up with major buying opportunities for Bitcoin. Related Reading: Bitcoin Market Bleeds $1 Trillion, Saylor Signals Strongest Crypto Conviction Yet The short-term Sharpe Ratio has plunged to about -38.38, a level that markets rarely see. Traders who follow on-chain and statistical signals point out that similar extremes showed up around the lows of 2015, 2019, and late 2022 — moments that later saw sizable recoveries, CryptoQuant verified author Moreno said. Sharpe Ratio Hits Unusual Low The Sharpe Ratio measures returns against volatility. When it drops far below zero over short stretches, it means investors have been taking heavy losses relative to how wildly the market is moving. A -38.38 reading is extreme. Reports note this kind of reading has happened only four times in Bitcoin’s history, and each time followed a stretch of high stress and weak sentiment. That pattern suggests selling can exhaust itself even when the charts look bleak. Bitcoin’s Short-Term Sharpe Ratio Hit a Level Historically Reserved For Generational Buying Zones “The arrows in the chart illustrate this clearly: each prior extreme negative reading was followed by violent recoveries to new highs.” – By @MorenoDV_ pic.twitter.com/nxFBUgHxi9 — CryptoQuant.com (@cryptoquant_com) February 19, 2026 Historical Lows And Recoveries Past cycles give one way to read the signal. Around $287 in 2015, and near $4,100 in early 2019, and again around $15,000 in late 2022, risk measures and mood were at their worst before money flowed back in. Based on reports from on-chain analysts, those moments shared common traits: many traders had capitulated, volume was thin, and volatility spiked. Yet those conditions later coincided with multi-month rallies that erased large parts of the prior losses. Bitcoin Price Action Bitcoin’s price has been sensitive to headlines lately. It slid under psychological levels as risk assets weakened, and trading has been muted. Markets reacted to diplomatic rows and conflict-related stories, causing bigger moves in thin markets. Sometimes BTC held up and brushed off sharp risk-off flows. Other times it fell further, especially when liquidity dried up. That stop-and-start behavior has left short-term traders cautious, while longer-term holders watch for signs that selling momentum is fading. Related Reading: Bitcoin’s Record Red Month May Be Setting Up A Reversal: Analysts Clear Coast Ahead? Based on reports and the data, this signal is not a magic ticket. External forces — such as tightening liquidity or a macro shock — can keep downward pressure longer than statistical patterns alone would predict. The recent 50% fall from an all-time high near $126,200 in October 2025 to about $65,700 shows much of the move is already behind us, but it does not rule out more pain. Risk management matters. Position sizing and clear entry plans will help anyone who decides to act around these levels. Featured image from Anne Connelly – Medium, chart from TradingView