On Feb. 27, about 115,500 Bitcoin options worth roughly $7.8 billion and 477,000 Ethereum contracts with a $963 million notional are due to expire. Coinglass places Bitcoin's max pain near $75,000, while Deribit notes call open interest dominance and a put/call ratio of 0.76 for BTC and 0.77 for ETH. The combined expiries approach $9 billion as spot markets weaken.

Crypto market capitalization rose 3.7% by roughly $120 billion to $2.43 trillion as BTC approached $70,000 before sliding to $68,000. On February 25, 2026, Santiment flagged renewed FOMO, while analysts debated a bull trap versus a relief rally, citing a Binance Fund Flow Ratio of 0.012.

On Tuesday, CryptoQuant analyst "Darkfost" said Bitcoin is nearing the long-term holder cost basis around $38,900, with LTH profits averaging about 74% and narrowing. Glassnode also noted the 90-day Realized Profit/Loss Ratio dropped below 1, while early Wednesday in Asia BTC briefly rebounded $2,000 to $66,000 amid broader bearish signals.

About 30,600 Bitcoin options with roughly $2 billion notional are expiring on Friday, Feb. 20. Coinglass places max pain near $70,000 and Deribit cites a 0.59 put/call ratio; another 212,000 Ethereum contracts worth about $404 million also roll off. Spot markets remain range-bound, with Bitcoin near $67,290 after a $65,700 weekly low.

On Wednesday, Glassnode reported that Bitcoin has slipped below its True Market Mean and is now moving toward the Realized Price of about $54,900, with spot and ETF demand remaining weak. The firm said the asset is in a controlled consolidation phase, while the Accumulation Trend Score and negative Spot CVD show sellers dominate order flow. Bitcoin briefly dipped under $66,000 in late Wednesday trading and failed to hold $67,000 on Thursday in Asia, reinforcing a bearish outlook.

On Wednesday, on-chain analytics provider Santiment reported that Ethereum’s proof-of-stake contract address now accounts for just over half of all ETH ever issued, even though only about 37 million ETH, or roughly 30% of the 121.4 million total supply, are currently staked. Santiment likened the address to a one-way vault that accumulates coins over time, while staking demand and validator queues have climbed to record levels as Ether trades near bear market lows around $1,970 to $2,000.

On Tuesday, Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan argued that the current crypto bear market is far less severe than the downturns of 2018 and 2022, noting stronger fundamentals such as ETFs, DeFi infrastructure and improving tokenomics. Total crypto market capitalization has fallen about 49% from an October peak near $4.4 trillion to a low of $2.23 trillion on Feb. 6, compared with drawdowns of 88% in 2018 and roughly 73% in 2022. Despite recent volatility that pushed Bitcoin down to around $60,000 on Feb. 6 before recovering to about $68,000, on-chain data suggests many long-term holders remain in profit.

Bitcoin and broader crypto markets are facing renewed selling pressure as traders await key US macroeconomic data and Federal Reserve minutes in the week of the President's Day holiday. Inflation gauges including January CPI and the upcoming December PCE report, together with GDP figures and multiple Fed speaker appearances, are expected to influence risk appetite. Meanwhile, Bitcoin has slipped back toward $68,300 and total crypto market capitalization has retreated to about $2.41 trillion as volatility returns.

Around 38,000 BTC options worth about $2.5B and 217,000 ETH contracts totaling $406M are scheduled to expire at 08:00 UTC on Feb. 13, bringing notional to roughly $2.9B. Coinglass places BTC max pain near $75,000 with a 0.76 put/call, while spot prices hover near $66,000 for BTC and under $2,000 for ETH.