By Jacob Joseph (All times ET unless otherwise noted)
Bitcoin $BTC$67,491.25 remains within the tight $66,000-$70,000 range we’ve seen in recent days. At the time of writing, the $BTC The price was approximately 1.04% higher over 24 hours. Ether changed hands at $2,020, up 1.43% on the day.
Institutional positioning remains a central theme.
Digital asset treasury companies and public institutions were among the strongest sources of demand in mid-2025, helping to propel prices to record highs. But with bitcoin down more than 50% from its October high, the landscape has changed. Many treasure-focused businesses are now feeling the pressure. Metaplanet reported a net loss of $619 million earlier this week, while Harvard Management Company reduced its exposure to Bitcoin ETFs.
Aether Treasure Companies are also recalibrating. ETHZilla revealed last night that tech billionaire Peter Thiel and affiliated Founders Fund entities had relinquished their entire 7.5% stake in the company. The company has also reduced its ether holdings through multiple sales since October.
Yet not everyone is backing down.
Michael Saylor’s strategy continued to strengthen its position in Bitcoin, adding 2,486 $BTC earlier this week and bringing total holdings to 717,131 $BTC. Meanwhile, two Abu Dhabi-based funds – Mubadala Investment Company and Al Warda Investments – revealed yesterday that they collectively held more than $1 billion in BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF at the end of last year.
BitMine Immersion Technologies announced yesterday that it is continuing to build, adding 45,759 $ETH over the past week and bringing his total assets to 4.4 million $ETH. Around 3 million of this amount is currently staked, generating additional yield on top of its base position.
Meanwhile, in a separate development disclosed yesterday, BlackRock advanced plans for a US-listed yield-generating ether product. An amended S-1 filing signaled further progress toward the iShares Staked Ethereum Trust ETF, with a BlackRock affiliate purchasing 4,000 seed shares at $25 each, providing $100,000 in initial capital for the trust.
While these developments provide constructive long-term signals, it may be premature to end the recent decline, even though bitcoin and ether are trading approximately 50% and 60% below their all-time highs, respectively.
At the same time, TradFi indexes are starting to show signs of fatigue, as rising AI-related capital spending exceeds previous estimates and puts increasing pressure on companies’ cash flows. Stay vigilant!
Read more: For analysis of current altcoin and derivatives activity, see Crypto Markets Today
What to watch
For a more comprehensive list of this week’s events, check out CoinDesk’s “Crypto Week Ahead.”
- Cryptocurrency
- February 18, 1 p.m.: Hedera will undergo a mainnet upgrade that should take approximately 40 minutes.
- Macro
- February 18, 8:30 a.m.: U.S. durable goods orders for December (previous 5.3%)
- February 18, 9:15 a.m.: US industrial production in monthly terms for January est. 0.3% (previous 0.4%)
- February 18, 2:00 p.m.: US FOMC minutes
- Earnings (estimates based on FactSet data)
- February 18: Figma (FIG), post-market, $0.45
Token Events
For a more comprehensive list of this week’s events, check out CoinDesk’s “Crypto Week Ahead.”
- Votes and calls on governance
- February 18: VeChain will host its monthly VeChain Builders space.
- Unlocks
- Token Launches
Conferences
For a more comprehensive list of this week’s events, check out CoinDesk’s “Crypto Week Ahead.”
Market movements
- $BTC is up 0.86% from 4 p.m. ET Tuesday at $68,227.58 (24 hours: -0.09%)
- $ETH is up 1.03% to $2,019.54 (+2.24%)
- CoinDesk 20 is up 0.55% at 1,994.39 (+0.54%)
- Ether CESR composite staking rate is down 3 basis points to 2.81%
- $BTC the funding rate is 0.0018% (1.9425% annualized) on Binance
- The DXY is up 0.13% at 97.28
- Gold futures are up 0.58% at $4,934.20
- Silver futures are up 2.92% at $75.68
- The Nikkei 225 closed up 1.02% at 57,143.84
- Hang Seng closed 0.52% higher at 26,705.94
- The FTSE is up 1.03% at 10,664.40
- The Euro Stoxx 50 is up 0.93% at 6,077.76
- DJIA closed Tuesday unchanged at 49,533.19
- The S&P 500 closed up 0.1% at 6,843.22
- The Nasdaq Composite closed up 0.14% at 22,578.38
- The S&P/TSX Composite Index closed down 0.54% at 32,896.55
- The S&P 40 Latin America closed down 0.62% at 3,694.06
- The 10-year US Treasury yield is up 1.9 bps to 4.073%
- E-mini S&P 500 futures are up 0.52% at 6,896.50
- E-mini Nasdaq-100 futures are up 0.59% at 24,914.00
- E-mini Dow Jones Industrial Average futures are up 0.47% at 49,844.00
Bitcoin Statistics
- $BTC Dominance: 58.56% (-0.01%)
- Ether-bitcoin ratio: 0.02947 (-0.11%)
- Hashrate (seven-day moving average): 1,062 EH/s
- Hash price (spot): $34.12
- Total fees: 2.29 $BTC / $155,681
- CME Futures Open Interest: 116,675 $BTC
- $BTC Gold price: 13.7 ounces.
- $BTC vs market capitalization of gold: 4.5%
Technical analysis
- The chart shows the price of Bitcoin against the dollar in one-week candles.
- The latest reading shows that the price remains below the 200-week exponential moving average (EMA).
- Historically, breaks below the EMA have established a “bottom” in a bear market. It remains to be seen whether this is the case today.
- The lack of divergence in the RSI suggests that we are unlikely to see a sustainable rebound in the near term.
CryptoActions
- Coinbase Global (COIN): Closed Tuesday at $166.02 (+1.03%), +1.37% to $168.29 in pre-market
- Circle Internet (CRCL): closed at $61.62 (+2.63%), +2.21% to $62.98
- Galaxy Digital (GLXY): closed at $21.30 (-1.66%), +0.80% to $21.47
- Bullish (BLSH): closed at $32.00 (+0.85%), unchanged in pre-market
- MARA Holdings (MARA): closed at $7.51 (-5.18%), +1.33% to $7.61
- Riot Platforms (RIOT): close at $14.65 (-3.75%), +1.43% to $14.86
- Core Scientific (CORZ): closed at $17.23 (-3.42%)
- CleanSpark (CLSK): closed at $9.28 (-5.79%), +0.86% at $9.36
- CoinShares Valkyrie Bitcoin Miners ETF (WGMI): Closed at $40.00 (-3.24%)
- Exodus Movement (EXOD): closed at $10.09 (-10.47%)
Crypto Cash Companies
- Strategy (MSTR): closed at $128.67 (-3.89%), +1.27% to $130.30
- Strive (ASST): closed at $8.18 (-1.80%), +0.86% at $8.25
- SharpLink Gaming (SBET): closed at $6.66 (-2.77%), +0.30% to $6.68
- Upexi (UPXI): closed at $0.72 (-6.37%)
- Lite Strategy (LITS): closed at $1.10 (-1.79%)
ETF Feed
Place $BTC ETFs
- Daily net flows: -$104.9 million
- Cumulative net flows: $54.21 billion
- Total $BTC assets ~1.27 million
Place $ETH ETFs
- Daily net flows: $48.6 million
- Cumulative net flows: $11.73 billion
- Total $ETH assets ~ 5.73 million
Source: Farside Investors
While you were sleeping
- Ukraine peace talks end in Geneva after Zelenskiy says Russia is at a standstill (Reuters): Peace talks between Ukraine and Russia in Geneva have ended after President Zelensky accused Russia of deliberately seeking to delay progress toward a deal to end the four-year-old war.
- Bitcoin ETFs Hold Billions Despite Falling Prices, But Resilience Masks Harsh Reality (CoinDesk): Bitcoin ETFs continue to hold billions in assets despite falling Bitcoin prices, but this sustainability is not necessarily the bullish signal many have come to believe.
- Microsoft says it is poised to invest $50 billion in ‘South’ AI (Reuters): Microsoft said it is poised to invest $50 billion by the end of the decade to help expand AI to countries in the ‘South’.
- UK inflation falls to 10-month low as BoE considers further cuts (Bloomberg): Consumer prices increased by 3% in January year-on-year, compared to 3.4% the previous month. Inflation is at its lowest since March 2025, strengthening the case for an interest rate cut by the Bank of England next month.
