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
The spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded four straight months of outflows, with hodlings down 85,000 BTC since October 2025. Is slowing institutional demand the death knell for BTC price?
Anthropic says Chinese AI firms are copying Claude, drawing online ridicule and scrutiny of AI training practices.
The Ethereum Foundation named former DELV CEO Charles St. Louis as DeFi Protocol Specialist and ivangbi as DeFi Coordinator.
Taylor Lindman, former deputy general counsel at Chainlink Labs joined the SEC's crypto task force on Monday.
Traders struggle to determine if the crypto market bottom is in, but liquidity fears, AI industry valuation worries, and BTC mining strength could send Bitcoin back to $75,000.
Marc Zeller makes the case for AAVE token holder rights amid the governance clash with Aave Labs over revenue and transparency.
Solana’s (SOL) latest price decline is unfolding against a broader period of weakness across the digital asset market, with traders increasingly shifting toward risk-off positioning. Related Reading: Ready For A 443% Dogecoin Move? The Meme Coin Just Touched A Historically Explosive Level After weeks of steady losses, SOL has slipped below key technical levels, raising questions about whether current support can hold or if another leg lower is approaching. Market data shows declining trader confidence, rising short positioning, and weakening on-chain profitability. According to data tracked on CoinMarketCap, Solana recently traded in the high-$70 range after failing to maintain momentum above $95 earlier in the year. The move extends a six-week losing streak and places the asset near critical support zones that analysts say will likely determine the next directional move. SOL's price trends to the downside on the daily chart. Source: SOLUSD on Tradingview Derivatives Markets Signal Growing Downside Risk Open interest in Solana futures fell roughly 2% to about $5.09 billion, even as trading volume surged sharply. This combination often indicates liquidations rather than fresh buying activity. Also, funding rates have turned negative, and the long-to-short ratio has dropped below 1, suggesting more traders are positioning for further dips. Short bias has also appeared among larger accounts despite retail traders maintaining leveraged long exposure on exchanges such as Binance and OKX. Analysts warn that this imbalance could increase the risk of additional volatility if support levels fail. Technically, Solana remains below major moving averages, while momentum indicators continue trending downward. RSI readings near oversold territory reflect sustained selling pressure rather than confirmed reversal signals. On-Chain Data Shows Weakening Holder Confidence On-chain metrics support the cautious outlook. Figures from Glassnode indicate that only about 20% of Solana addresses are currently in profit, the lowest level since late 2023. During previous market downturns, similar readings appeared closer to capitulation phases, suggesting downside risk may not yet be exhausted. Long-term holder accumulation, which strengthened earlier in the year, has slowed notably as the price dropped below $100. Analysts interpret this as declining conviction among investors who previously absorbed supply during pullbacks. Key Levels Traders Are Watching Chart data shows immediate support clustered between $75 and $67. A decisive break below this region could expose lower targets near $62 or even $60 if selling accelerates. On the upside, recovery attempts face resistance around $82–$83, where a bearish trend line has formed. Related Reading: Political Meme Coins Implode: TRUMP Down 92%, MELANIA Nearly Wiped Out Solana’s outlook hinges on whether buyers can defend the February lows. Without a sustained reclaim of higher resistance zones, market structure suggests the broader downtrend remains intact as crypto market uncertainty continues to weigh on sentiment. Cover image from ChatGPT, SOLUSD chart on Tradingview
The Strategy CEO downplayed quantum risks on Natalie Brunell’s Coin Stories podcast, saying any credible threat would prompt coordinated software upgrades across global digital systems.
Someone fine-tuned an AI on the Jeffrey Epstein email dump. We ran it locally. It called us "goyim" and invited us to a party.
Raullen Chai, IoTeX co-founder and CEO, told CoinDesk he would not press charges if the stolen assets or its equivalent is returned within 48 hours.
US President Donald Trump is reportedly coordinating efforts with Israeli officials and tech specialists to explore a stablecoin for the embattled region of Gaza. This recent development will be part of the broader objective of the Trump-led multinational organization, the Board of Peace (BoP), which seeks to restore peace and civility not only in Gaza …
Prediction market Kalshi is trying to dissuade insider trading and market manipulation.
The company is betting that the next big wave in crypto will come from its convergence with AI.
At NEARCON 2026, Dragonfly’s Haseeb Qureshi and Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi delivered a sharp debate over how soon those agents can be trusted with real money.
After a yearlong share slump, PayPal is fielding buyout approaches as rivals weigh asset sales and a possible full acquisition, according to Bloomberg.
World Liberty Financial (WLFI), the decentralized finance (DeFi) venture associated with President Donald Trump and his sons, said early Monday that it had been targeted in what it described as a “coordinated attack” involving its stablecoin, USD1. According to CoinGecko data, USD1 — which carries a market capitalization of nearly $4.8 billion — briefly lost its dollar peg before recovering to $1. The temporary dislocation drew immediate attention across crypto markets, particularly given the project’s political ties and growing profile within the digital asset sector. World Liberty Financial Addresses Incident In a statement posted on its official account on X (previously Twitter), the project alleged that multiple attack vectors were deployed simultaneously. “A coordinated attack was launched against USD1 this morning,” WLFI wrote. The team claimed that hackers compromised several cofounder accounts, paid influencers to spread fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD), and opened significant short positions in the WLFI token in an attempt to profit from market disruption. Related Reading: Why The XRP Price Bottom Could Be In, And A Jump Above $2 Is Coming A spokesperson for World Liberty told Bloomberg that the company’s engineering and security teams had successfully countered the incident. The spokesperson described the event as a multi‑pronged attempt to undermine confidence in the project, but said internal systems functioned as intended. Beyond the temporary depeg itself, online speculation quickly shifted toward another development that some community members believe could be connected. A social media user known as Chris Coffee suggested that the alleged attack might relate to a forthcoming insider trading investigation teased by on‑chain investigator ZachXBT. Insider Probe Speculation Grows ZachXBT announced on X that he plans to publish a report on February 26 detailing alleged insider trading by employees of “one of the most profitable crypto companies.” The timing has fueled conjecture. Some users pointed to reports that Eric Trump, who has been publicly supportive of WLFI, deleted several posts related to the project following the stablecoin’s volatility. He later posted again about WLFI, further drawing attention to the situation. In crypto circles, speculation intensified that World Liberty Financial could be the subject of the pending investigation, though no evidence has been presented to confirm such claims. Related Reading: Expert Crypto Trader Predicts The Exact Year Bitcoin Will Reach $250,000 The conversation has even extended to prediction markets. On Polymarket, bettors are placing odds on which company ZachXBT’s investigation might target. Current probabilities cited on the platform assign roughly a 20% chance to Pump.fun, 18% to World Liberty Financial, and 14% to Binance. For now, there is no confirmed link between Monday’s reported “coordinated attack” on USD1 and the investigation scheduled for release on February 26. Whether the two events are related or simply coincidental remains uncertain. As of this writing, the company’s native token, WLIF, is trading at $0.1121. This represents a 66% gap between the current trading price and the token’s all-time high of $0.33. Featured image from Sky, chart from TradingView.com
Bitcoin holds its range trend even as the funding rate turns negative and BTC open interest flatlines. Is the data leaning toward a short-squeeze back to $70,000?
A person familiar with the project reportedly said the stablecoin under preliminary discussion by the board would be established as “a means to allow Gazans to transact digitally.”
Artificial intelligence company Anthropic announced that its Claude platform can streamline COBOL code, a key profit center for IBM.
A $7.8 trillion cash pile sits in US money market funds, earning, rolling, waiting. The Federal Reserve began this easing cycle on Sept 18, 2024, and it's now been 522 days since that first cut. Looking at historical market movements, we're entering a window whereby funds have typically started to rotate back into riskier assets. […]
The post Bitcoin can rebound fast and hard as $7.7T in “sidelined funds” enter new opportunity window appeared first on CryptoSlate.
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
Bitcoin’s weekly candle closed before a key moving average, breaking a 30-month trend and possibly signalling that new price lows are pending.
Autonomous AI agents are set to transform economic systems and redefine labor in the coming years.
The post Jansen Teng: AI agents will become autonomous economic actors, teleoperation can cut costs by 60%, and tokenization is key for robotics innovation | Unchained appeared first on Crypto Briefing.
Anthropic accuses DeepSeek, Moonshot and MiniMax of using fraudulent accounts to distill Claude capabilities across 16 million exchanges.
The post Anthropic alleges industrial-scale Claude attacks by DeepSeek and other Chinese AI rivals appeared first on Crypto Briefing.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman went to India with a bold new defense of AI energy use: Humans are less efficient than data centers, when you really think about it.
PIPPIN price is beginning to show real signs of strength after successfully flipping a former resistance zone into solid support, a shift that often signals a continuation of bullish momentum. Over the past 24 hours, the token has climbed nearly 15% to $0.7232, clearly outperforming the broader market, including the Bitcoin price, which remains under …
Bitcoin and altcoins sold-off as US stock markets digested US President Donald Trump’s fresh 15% global tariff. Are new 2026 lows in store?
A recent technical breakdown shared by crypto analyst Trader Tardigrade added a notable outlook to the discussion of how fast Ethereum can enter into a bull run or if there’s more consolidation ahead. In his post on X, he compared Ethereum against the US Dollar Index and then consulted Perplexity AI for a data-backed explanation of the relationship. The result was a match of DXY peaks and Ethereum bottoms, pointing to a recurring inverse pattern that may now be coming back into play. Ethereum’s Volatility Tied To The Dollar Index The technical analysis from Trader Tardigrade focuses on the inverse relationship between Ethereum and the US Dollar Index (DXY). Ethereum’s monthly candlestick price chart shows that the price structure is layered against DXY movements, with four major phases where peaks in the dollar coincided with Ethereum cycle bottoms and the reverse dynamic played out as well. Related Reading: Dogecoin’s Third Time Breakout Could Send Price On 2,000% Rally To $2 A quick look at the chart shows that downtrends in the DXY have, more often than not, coincided with uptrends in the Ethereum price. According to explanations by Perplexity AI, ETH has one of the clearest inverse relationships to DXY in the crypto market, in some cases even more pronounced than Bitcoin. Whenever the dollar is strengthening, capital rotates to perceived safe assets, and risk assets such as Ethereum face selling pressure. On the other hand, when DXY weakens, liquidity conditions ease, and this encourages inflows into cryptocurrencies like Ethereum. According to the analyst, DXY has now broken down from long-term support and looks ready for further declines. The DXY is currently at 97.8 and weakening. That could spark a major rally in crypto in the coming weeks, especially ETH. Chart Image From X. Source: @TATrader_Alan On X AI Breakdown: How Much Of ETH’s Moves Does DXY Explain? In the AI-backed explanation, Perplexity pointed out that the inverse correlation between ETH and DXY can account for roughly 40% to 60% of Ethereum’s volatility, particularly during periods of changes in monetary policy. That figure is always more significant during rate hikes and news events, although there are lags of days to months depending on the catalyst. Related Reading: Mapping Out XRP’s Path To $1,200: Analyst Shares Insights The historical table referenced in the analysis linked specific DXY highs to ETH turning points. For example, during the March 2020 dollar spike, Ethereum bottomed before staging a multi-month rally as the DXY continued to fall to 89. Another alignment was observed in 2022 when the dollar topped at a multi-year high during a broader risk-asset capitulation phase. This, in turn, led to Ethereum creating a bear market low. If the current DXY breakdown extends, then it could begin to favor inflows into Ethereum again. The green projection arcs on the chart suggest that a sustained dollar decline may open the door to another expansion phase in ETH, where the price expands above $10,000. In order for Ethereum to rise above $3,000 again, there would need to be confirmation of sustained dollar weakness with improving on-chain and derivatives metrics. Featured image created with Dall.E, chart from Tradingview.com
Banks and credit unions on the Jack Henry Fintech Integration Network can add tokenized deposits, crypto lending and 24/7 payment rails through the partnership.