At the beginning of February, Bitcoin's price slid to its lowest level since Donald Trump was elected US president in November 2024, a move linked to heavy leverage in the BTC market. Over the past week, on-chain data shows a substantial deleveraging on Binance, with the Estimated Leverage Ratio falling by about 28% from roughly 0.1980 to 0.1414. Bitcoin now trades near $67,950, up almost 2% in 24 hours but still slightly lower on the weekly chart, as analysts say the market needs fresh spot demand to rebuild a durable uptrend.

On February 21, 2026, economist Nouriel Roubini labeled the GENIUS Act reckless and warned that uninsured stablecoins without a lender of last resort could face runs. On Wednesday, Bitcoin traded around 67,400 dollars, down 45 percent from its late-October high, as he dismissed it as a pseudo-asset and not an inflation hedge.

On February 21, 2026, President Donald Trump signed an executive order establishing a 10% global tariff on imports from all countries, according to market reports. Several hours later, the administration increased this new universal rate to 15%, placing it on top of existing standard tariffs and moving forward without congressional or Supreme Court approval. The measure was described as taking effect immediately and aimed at generating substantial federal revenue.

Onchain analytics firm CryptoQuant reported that bitcoin exchange inflows have become increasingly dominated by large holders, with the exchange whale ratio climbing to 0.64, the highest level since October 2015. The firm also highlighted that average bitcoin inflows per transaction rose in February while stablecoin and altcoin flow patterns point to reduced buying power and persistent selling pressure.

Lighter LIT dominance in DeFi perpetuals neared 60% in mid-December 2025, then slid to about 8.1% by mid-February as incentives faded and speculative activity cooled. Daily perps volume moved toward $15–20 billion with roughly a 30% year-over-year decline, while Hyperliquid’s share approached 40–50% amid liquidity rotation.

According to Bank of America, institutional investors offloaded $8.3 billion of U.S. equities last week, marking the second-largest weekly sale on record. Retail buyers purchased $1.0 billion and hedge funds added $1.2 billion, while equity ETFs drew $2.2 billion and single-name outflows totaled $8.3 billion; outflows occurred in 13 of the past 15 weeks, reaching $52.0 billion.

Ethereum is showing relative strength on an inverted price chart, but an analyst known as Mizer still views the higher time frame trend as bearish until a key parabolic curve is broken. He outlines two possible outcomes from the current consolidation and sets downside targets near $1,700 and $1,400, warning that losing a crucial flip zone on the inverted chart would invalidate the setup and imply a broader trend shift.

BNP Paribas Asset Management is piloting a tokenised share class of a French money market fund on Ethereum using the ERC-3643 standard, with regulated access for pre-approved investors. In parallel, the bank is helping lead Qivalis, a Euro stablecoin backed by segregated reserves and targeting a commercial rollout in the second half of 2026 across Ethereum, Polygon, and Base.