Crypto market drowns in red as bitcoin falls to $68,000

Markets

Share

Share this article

Copy linkX (Twitter)LinkedInFacebookEmail

Crypto market drowns in red as bitcoin falls to $68,000

Traders are bracing for a heavy week of macroeconomic events, including Fed minutes and the core PCE inflation report.

By Omkar Godbole

Feb 16, 2026, 6:48 a.m.

Make us preferred on Google

The crypto market is a sea of red. (Behnam Norouzi/Unsplash/Modified by CoinDesk)

What to know:

• Bitcoin wilts, pushing the broader market into the red.
• Losses have hit 85 out of the top 100 tokens.
• The sell-off comes despite weaker U.S. inflation data that strengthened expectations for at least two Federal Reserve rate cuts.
• Traders are bracing for a heavy week of macroeconomic events, including Fed minutes and the core PCE inflation report.

Crypto markets are deep red on Monday, with industry leader bitcoin sliding lower before a packed week of economic data.

At press time, bitcoin BTC$68,470.69 traded near $68,200, down nearly 3% over 24 hours, with XRP XRP$1.4745, ether ETH$1,967.90, DOGE$0.1025 registering much bigger losses. Losses hit 85 of the top 100 tokens by market cap, with privacy coins like monero XMR$319.55 and zcash ZEC$285.36 down 10% and 8%, respectively.

STORY CONTINUES BELOW

Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters

Sign me up

By signing up, you will receive emails about CoinDesk products and you agree to our terms & conditions and privacy policy.

Smart contract tokens bled too, with the CoinDesk Smart Contract Platform Select Capped Index down nearly 6%, pushing its year-to-date drop to 28%.

The market weakness looks particularly disappointing against the backdrop of the weak U.S. consumer price index data released last week that kept hopes of Fed rate cuts alive.

The CPI growth slowed to 2.4% year-on-year in January from 2.7% in December, the official data showed, reinforcing expectations for at least two 25 basis point rate cuts by the Fed this year. This resulted in the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield falling to 4.05%, the lowest since early December. Bitcoin rallied, rising from nearly $66,800 on friday to over $70,000 over the weekend, but failed to establish a foothold there.

Vikram Subburaj, CEO of the India-based regulated Giottus exchange, said selective demand is the reason why rallies struggle to hold.

"Risk appetite stayed selective and macro cross-currents kept traders defensive. In derivatives, the market continues to behave as if it is ‘de-leveraging first, asking questions later.’ Rallies have struggled to hold and dips are being bought only selectively near obvious levels," he said in an email to CoinDesk.

Macro heavy weak

A packed week of macro data lies ahead, with traders eyeing the minutes of the January Fed meeting and the release of the Fed's preferred inflation gauge, the core personal consumption expenditures price index (PCE), for fresh positioning signals.

"PCE inflation, the Fed’s preferred measure, will be closely monitored for confirmation that price pressures are moderating, particularly after CPI showed only gradual disinflation and inflation remains above the 2% target," Dessislava Laneva, Nexo dispatch analyst, said in an email.

"Markets will assess both the monthly momentum and year-on-year trend for implications for the policy path." Laneva added.

In traditional markets, Mark Nash of Jupiter Asset Management, a high-profile yen bear has flipped bullish, forecasting 8–9% yen appreciation, particularly against the Swiss franc.

The yen and bitcoin have hit a record positive correlation in recent months, which makes any yen strength a key catalyst for bitcoin bulls.

Bitcoin News

More For You

Accelerating Convergence Between Traditional and On-Chain Finance in 2026?

By CoinDesk

Jan 30, 2026

Commissioned bySociete Generale-FORGE

Read full story

More For You

BlackRock's digital assets head: Leverage-driven volatility threatens bitcoin’s narrative

By Helene Braun|Edited by Jesse Hamilton

17 hours ago

Rampant speculation on crypto derivatives platforms is fueling volatility and risking bitcoin’s image as a stable hedge, says BlackRock’s digital assets chief.

What to know:

• BlackRock digital-assets chief Robert Mitchnick warned that heavy use of leverage in bitcoin derivatives is undermining the cryptocurrency’s appeal as a stable institutional portfolio hedge.
• Mitchnick said bitcoin’s fundamentals as a scarce, decentralized monetary asset remain strong, but its trading increasingly resembles a "levered NASDAQ," raising the bar for conservative investors to adopt it.
• He argued that exchange-traded funds like BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin ETF are not the main source of volatility, pointing instead to perpetual futures platforms.

Read full story

Latest Crypto News

Wall Street giant Apollo deepens crypto push with Morpho token deal

10 hours ago

Hong Kong is trying to build up its crypto regulations: State of Crypto

12 hours ago

Prediction markets vs. insider trading: Founders admit blockchain transparency is the only defense

13 hours ago

BlackRock's digital assets head: Leverage-driven volatility threatens bitcoin’s narrative

17 hours ago

XRP outruns bitcoin, ether after investors piled into the recent crash

18 hours ago

Wall Street remains bullish on bitcoin while offshore traders retreat

19 hours ago

Top Stories

Elon Musk's X to launch crypto and stock trading in ‘couple weeks’

Feb 14, 2026

Crypto group counters Wall Street bankers with its own stablecoin principles for bill

Feb 13, 2026

Recapping Consensus Hong Kong

Feb 13, 2026

Trump-linked Truth Social seeks SEC approval for two crypto ETFs

Feb 13, 2026

Wall Street analysts slash Coinbase price targets after Q4 miss — but shares rally

Feb 13, 2026

Galaxy’s Steve Kurz sees ‘great convergence’ driving crypto’s long-term outlook

Feb 14, 2026