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Economist Timothy Peterson said 50% of Bitcoin's past 24 months were positive and argued this implies an 88% chance the asset will be above its current level by December. BTC traded at $68,173 at publication, while Polymarket odds put November at 18% and December at 17% for 2026's best month, and the Fear & Greed Index registered 9.

On 20 February, Bitcoin rose 1.52% but still failed to clear $70k after a Supreme Court tariff ruling and a hotter PCE reading. Roughly 10 minutes before the U.S. Q4 GDP release, a whale-linked wallet moved $335 million in BTC; the print came at 1.4%, spotlighting fragile support.

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.

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.

Bitcoin's price has hovered near $68,000 resistance in recent days, trading around $67,960 with no notable 24-hour change. Whales recently realized more than $208 million in profits, the seventh such spike in the past two years. This pattern has often preceded short-term turbulence and, after supply absorption, local bottoms or stabilization.

On Saturday, Feb. 21, CoinGlass data indicated a bullish turn in XRP derivatives, with open interest up 2.56% and about 1,660,000,000 XRP tied to unsettled contracts. Over the past 24 hours, XRP's spot price advanced 2.45%, briefly reclaiming its weekly high near $1.45, while XRP-focused ETFs reported zero inflows and outflows in their last session.

According to Finbold, Solana and Tron are viewed as two cryptocurrencies that could each approach a $100 billion market capitalization by the close of 2026. Solana currently trades near $86 with a market cap of about $49 billion, while Tron changes hands around $0.28 with a valuation close to $27 billion. Analysts cite factors such as protocol upgrades, institutional involvement, and increased on-chain usage as possible drivers of further gains.

On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court curtailed President Donald Trump’s IEEPA tariff authority, and he later announced a new 10% global tariff. Lawmakers and analysts argued the measures function as taxes on families and small businesses, while Bitcoin rose about 3% and broader crypto gauges showed little movement after the announcement.

Bitcoin is trading in a tight range where liquidity is being cleared on both sides, leaving price direction uncertain. Market observers note that after nearly three months of subdued activity, a key demand gauge has moved back above zero to around +1,200 BTC, suggesting selling pressure is easing and long-term accumulation may be returning.

In the first 50 days of 2026, Bitcoin fell 23% from about $88,700 to near $68,000, while market capitalization slid 24% from roughly $1.76 trillion to $1.34 trillion. ETF products saw $2.9 billion in outflows as leverage unwound. Binance's Open Interest dropped from roughly $16 billion to near $ 6 billion, amplifying cross-exchange volatility.