The token fell as much as 3.2 percent to $66,604 on Tuesday before paring the decline. Bitcoin, which has traded as a high-beta technology proxy in recent months, mirrored an earlier decline in U.S. stocks but failed to keep pace as stocks moved higher.
“Sentiment is clearly gloomy in the crypto markets,” said Noelle Acheson, author of the Crypto is Macro Now newsletter. “There has been strong progress in adoption by traditional institutions, but this is not reflected in overall prices, further dampening sentiment.”
Traders are also weighing rising geopolitical tensions around Iran and renewed debate over whether artificial intelligence’s economic impact could ripple beyond the tech sector. The prospects for Federal Reserve rate cuts are also back in focus following last week’s inflation data.
Currents remain a headwind. US-listed Bitcoin exchange-traded funds recorded net outflows for the fourth week in a row, with $360 million withdrawn last week.
The sentiment is fragile. CryptoQuant’s Fear and Greed Index stood at 10 out of 100 on Monday, deep into “extreme fear” territory.
“Macro news has been closely correlated with the risk profile of crypto over the past 12 months,” said Paul Howard, senior director at market maker Wincent. He expects consolidation as Bitcoin looks for new sentiment drivers, adding that a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the rates due Friday could have more implications than routine Fed minutes or inflation prints.
Investors are also debating whether Bitcoin has reached a sustainable bottom. Many see $60,000 as a key support level, but that may not hold if risk appetite deteriorates further, said Robin Singh, CEO of crypto tax platform Koinly.
“One macro swing, a new wave of uncertainty or even a sustained decline into the mid-$60,000s could easily turn this into a sharper pullback towards the $50,000s. This doesn’t provide the same sense of complete capitulation that we’ve seen at real cycle bottoms in the past,” Singh said.
In the last quarter, Harvard University reduced its exposure to Bitcoin, according to a Bloomberg analysis of fourth-quarter filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The Boston-based school sold 1.5 million shares of the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (ticker IBIT). The position is still one of the largest positions – after Alphabet Inc. and gold – and Harvard also initiated a stake in the iShares Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHA), giving it its first exposure to the second-largest cryptocurrency. The Dartmouth College endowment, meanwhile, increased its Bitcoin and Ether stakes.
More stories like this are available at bloomberg.com
Published on February 18, 2026
#Bitcoin #falls #geopolitical #tension #adds #risky #mood