Ether steadies after $540 million sell wave to outperform wider crypto market

Markets Share Share this article Copy link X icon X (Twitter) LinkedIn Facebook Email Ether steadies after $540 million sell wave to outperform wider crypto market Crypto markets remain under pressure despite firmer U.S. equity futures, with ether rebounding toward $2,000 as heavy weekend selling eases as gold leads. By Oliver Knight , Omkar Godbole | Edited by Sheldon Reback Feb 16, 2026, 10:50 a.m. Make us preferred on Google ETH steadies as other altcoins lag (CoinDesk) What to know : ETH rose 0.43% after trader Garrett Jin moved $540 million to Binance, triggering oversold conditions and a modest rebound. HYPE, ZEC and XMR fell over 3%, DOGE is down 10% in 24 hours, and ZRO has slid 34% in five days. Gold trades at $5,000, down from January highs but outperforming silver and crypto; U.S. markets are closed for a holiday. The crypto market remains under pressure on Monday despite U.S. equity futures rising by around 0.25% since midnight UTC. Bitcoin BTC $ 68,836.95 trades at $68,710, having lost 0.1%. Altcoins such as HYPE, ZEC and XMR are down by more than 3%. 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 . Ether ETH $ 1,983.34 is one of Monday's outliers, rising by 0.43% since midnight as it claws its way back to $2,000 after a grueling weekend selloff was spurred by selling pressure from trader Garrett Jin. Onchain data shows a wallet attributed to Jin deposited more than $540 million worth of ether to Binance over the weekend, leading to a disproportionate rise in sell volume compared with other exchanges. That pressure translated into oversold conditions that ultimately set the scene for Monday's recovery. Gold is changing hands at $5,000 on Monday, down from its Jan. 29 peak of $5,600 but outperforming silver and crypto, which are down by 36% and 21% respectively over the same period. U.S. markets are closed on Monday due to a public holiday. Derivatives positioning The crypto futures market continues to see capital outflows, with notional open interest (OI), or the dollar value of total open or active contracts, dropping to $98 billion. De-risking is seen across the board, with OI falling 1% and 2.7% in bitcoin and ether futures, respectively, over 24 hours. XRP, DOGE, SUI and ADA saw declines of 6% or more. OI in futures tied to gold token XAUT rose 8% as traders continued to deploy capital in traditional assets. BTC and ETH's 30-day implied volatility has reversed the massive pop from annualized 50% to nearly 100% earlier this month, when prices crashed. The reversal indicates a massive pricing out of volatility risks, supporting the case for price recovery. The spread between ether and bitcoin implied volatility indexes is beginning to widen, indicating expectations for bigger swings in ether. Funding rates for several alternative tokens, such as XRP, TRX, DOGE and SOL, remain negative, indicating a trader preference for bearish, short positions. If the market remains resilient, these bears may feel compelled to square off their bets, potentially leading to a "short squeeze" higher. SOL futures on CME show an annualized premium near zero, a sign of buy-side pressure fading fast. BTC and ETH futures are trading with slight premiums. On Deribit, someone paid $3 million in premium for the $75,000 strike bitcoin call option. The massive flow likely represents a bullish bet on the market. Still, put options tied to BTC and ETH remain pricier than calls across all time frames, a sign of lingering downside concerns. Token talk The altcoin market experienced a familiar, low-liquidity drift lower on Sunday before a slight recovery on Monday morning. Popular memecoin DOGE $ 0.1031 is down by more than 10% in the past 24 hours but has steadied since midnight UTC, while XRP has risen by 1% by midnight despite losing 8% of its value since Sunday morning. Layer zero (ZRO) continues to lose momentum after its early February rally, falling by more than 34% over the past five days including a 10% drawdown in the past 24 hours. The plummet comes after the introduction of a native blockchain in collaboration with Wall Street veterans Citadel Securities and DTCC. The heavily bitcoin-weighted CoinDesk 5 (CD5) Index rose by 0.38% since midnight UTC while the altcoin-dominated CoinDesk 80 (CD80) lost 0.17% over the same period, demonstrating relative altcoin weakness. Crypto Markets Today Derivatives Markets Altcoins More For You Accelerating Convergence Between Traditional and On-Chain Finance in 2026? By CoinDesk Jan 30, 2026 Commissioned by Societe Generale-FORGE Read full story More For You Strategy says it can survive even if bitcoin drops to $8,000 and will 'equitize' debt By Omkar Godbole | Edited by Sheldon Reback 1 hour ago Strategy says it can withstand a bitcoin price drop to $8,000 and still cover its roughly $6 billion in net debt. What to know : Strategy, led by Michael Saylor, says it can withstand a bitcoin price drop to $8,000 and still cover its roughly $6 billion in debt with its 714,644-bitcoin treasury. The company plans to gradually convert its convertible debt into equity and avoid issuing more senior debt, a strategy critics warn could heavily dilute existing shareholders. Skeptics argue that a deep bitcoin downturn would leave Strategy sitting on tens of billions in paper losses, strain refinancing options, and forcing share issuance that they say effectively "dumps" risk onto retail investors. Read full story Latest Crypto News Strategy says it can survive even if bitcoin drops to $8,000 and will 'equitize' debt 1 hour ago Russia's daily crypto turnover is over $650 million, Ministry of Finance says 1 hour ago Binance's CZ echoes Consensus panelists on lack of privacy blocking crypto adoption 2 hours ago OKX snags European payments license for stablecoin and crypto card expansion 2 hours ago Crypto market drowns in red as bitcoin falls to $68,000 4 hours ago Wall Street giant Apollo deepens crypto push with Morpho token deal 13 hours ago Top Stories BlackRock's digital assets head: Leverage-driven volatility threatens bitcoin’s narrative 20 hours ago Wall Street remains bullish on bitcoin while offshore traders retreat 22 hours ago Galaxy’s Steve Kurz sees ‘great convergence’ driving crypto’s long-term outlook Feb 14, 2026 Recapping Consensus Hong Kong Feb 13, 2026 Trump-linked Truth Social seeks SEC approval for two crypto ETFs Feb 13, 2026 In this article BTC BTC $ 68,836.95 ◢ 2.29 % ETH ETH $ 1,983.34 ◢ 3.86 % DOGE DOGE $ 0.1031 ◢ 9.32 %