While some big investors cash out, others double down: Crypto Daybook Americas

By Jacob Joseph (All times Eastern unless otherwise noted)

Bitcoin Bitcoin$67,408.90 Still within the tight $66,000 to $70,000 range we have seen over the past few days. As of the time of writing, BTC price is up approximately 1.04% in 24 hours. Ethereum changed hands at $2,020, up 1.43% on the day.

Institutional positioning remains a central theme.

Digital asset finance companies and public institutions were among the strongest sources of demand in mid-2025, helping drive prices to record highs. But with Bitcoin down more than 50% from its October peak, things have changed. Many financially focused companies are feeling the pinch right now. Metaplanet reported a net loss of $619 million earlier this week, while Harvard Management Co. cut its investment in a Bitcoin ETF.

Ethereum Finance is also recalibrating. ETHZilla revealed last night that tech billionaire Peter Thiel and affiliated Founders Fund entities have exited their entire 7.5% stake in the company. The company has also reduced its ether holdings through multiple sales since October.

Not everyone is holding back, though.

Michael Saylor’s strategy continues to build its Bitcoin position, adding 2,486 BTC earlier this week, bringing total holdings to 717,131 BTC. Meanwhile, two Abu Dhabi-based funds – Mubadala Investment Company and Al Warda Investments – disclosed yesterday that they collectively held more than $1 billion in the BlackRock Bitcoin ETF as of the end of last year.

BitMine Immersion Technologies announced yesterday that it will continue to increase its holdings, adding 45,759 ETH in the past week, bringing its total holdings to 4.4 million ETH. Approximately 3 million of these are currently staked, generating additional yields in addition to their core status.

Meanwhile, in another development disclosed yesterday, BlackRock advanced its plans to list an income-generating ether product in the United States. The revised S-1 filing indicates further progress for the iShares Staked Ethereum Trust ETF, with a BlackRock affiliate purchasing 4,000 seed shares at $25 per share, providing the trust with $100,000 in initial capital.

While these developments provide constructive long-term signals, it may be too early to call an end to the recent decline even as Bitcoin and Ethereum trade approximately 50% and 60% respectively below their all-time highs.

Meanwhile, the TradFi index is starting to show signs of weakness as AI-related capital spending continues to rise, exceeding previous expectations and putting increasing pressure on corporate cash flows. Stay alert!

Read more: For analysis of today’s altcoin and derivatives activity, see Today’s Cryptocurrency Market

What to see

For a more comprehensive list of this week’s events, see CoinDesk’s “Crypto Week Ahead.”

• cryptocurrency
  • February 18, 1 pm: Hedera will undergo a mainnet upgrade, which is expected to take approximately 40 minutes to complete.
• Macro
  • February 18, 8:30 a.m.: U.S. durable goods orders in December month-on-month (previous value 5.3%)
  • February 18, 9:15 am: U.S. industrial production in January is expected to be 0.3% month-on-month (previous value: 0.4%)
  • February 18, 2:00 pm: U.S. FOMC meeting minutes
• Earnings (estimates based on FactSet data)
  • February 18: Figma (FIG), post-listing, $0.45

Token event

For a more comprehensive list of this week’s events, see CoinDesk’s “Crypto Week Ahead.”

• Governance votes and calls
• Unlock
• Token issuance

Meeting

For a more comprehensive list of this week’s events, see CoinDesk’s “Crypto Week Ahead.”

market trend

• BTC is up 0.86% at $68,227.58 as of 4pm ET on Tuesday (24 hours: -0.09%)
• ETH rises 1.03% to $2,019.54 (+2.24%)
• CoinDesk 20 rose 0.55% to 1,994.39 (+0.54%)
• The comprehensive pledge rate of Ethereum CESR dropped by 3 basis points to 2.81%
• The BTC financing interest rate on Binance is 0.0018% (annualized 1.9425%)

• DXY rose 0.13% to 97.28
• Gold futures rose 0.58% to $4,934.20
• Silver futures rose 2.92% to $75.68
• The Nikkei 225 index closed up 1.02% at 57,143.84 points
• The Hang Seng Index closed up 0.52% to 26,705.94 points
• The FTSE rose 1.03% to 10,664.40
• Europe’s Stoxx 50 rose 0.93% to 6,077.76
• The Dow closed flat on Tuesday at 49,533.19 points
• The S&P 500 closed up 0.1% at 6,843.22 points
• The Nasdaq Composite Index closed up 0.14% at 22,578.38 points
• The S&P/TSX Composite Index closed down 0.54% at 32,896.55 points
• The S&P 40 Latin America Index closed down 0.62% at 3,694.06 points
• The U.S. 10-year Treasury bond rate rose 1.9 basis points to 4.073%
• E-mini S&P 500 futures rose 0.52% to 6,896.50
• E-mini Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.59% to 24,914.00
• E-mini Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 0.47% to 49,844.00

Bitcoin Statistics

• Bitcoin dominance: 58.56% (-0.01%)
• Ethereum-Bitcoin ratio: 0.02947 (-0.11%)
• Hash rate (seven-day moving average): 1,062 EH/s
• Hash price (spot): $34.12
• Total fee: 2.29 BTC / $155,681
• CME Futures Open Interest: 116,675 BTC
• BTC in gold: 13.7 ounces.
• Bitcoin and gold market capitalization: 4.5%

technical analysis

• This chart shows the weekly candle price of Bitcoin against the US Dollar.
• The latest reading shows prices remain below the 200-week exponential moving average (EMA).
• Historically, a break below the moving average has established a “bottom” in bear markets. Whether that is the case now remains to be seen.
• The lack of divergence on the RSI suggests that we are unlikely to see a sustained rally in the short term.

crypto stocks

• Coinbase Global (COIN): Closed Tuesday at $166.02 (+1.03%), after closing at $168.29 pre-market, +1.37%
• Circle Internet (CRCL): Closed at $61.62 (+2.63%), +2.21% at $62.98
• Galaxy Digital (GLXY): Closed at $21.30 (-1.66%), +0.80% at $21.47
• Bullish (BLSH): Closed at $32.00 (+0.85%), unchanged pre-market
• MARA Holdings (MARA): Closed at $7.51 (-5.18%), +1.33% at $7.61
• Riot Platforms (RIOT): Closed at $14.65 (-3.75%), +1.43% at $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 Miner ETF (WGMI): Closed at $40.00 (-3.24%)
• Exodus Movement (EXOD): Closed at $10.09 (-10.47%)

Cryptocurrency Treasury Corporation

• Strategy (MSTR): Closed at $128.67 (-3.89%), +1.27% at $130.30
• Strive (ASST): Closed at $8.18 (-1.80%), +0.86% Closed at $8.25
• SharpLink Gaming (SBET): Closed at $6.66 (-2.77%), +0.30% at $6.68
• Upexi (UPXI): Closed at $0.72 (-6.37%)
• Lite Strategies (LITS): Closed at $1.10 (-1.79%)

ETF flows

Spot BTC ETF

• Net daily traffic: -$104.9 million
• Cumulative net flow: $54.21 billion
• Total BTC holdings are approximately 1.27 million

Spot ETH ETF

• Daily net traffic: $48.6 million
• Cumulative net flow: $11.73 billion
• The total holdings of ETH are approximately 5.73 million

Source: Farside Investors

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