Bitcoin volatile, but flat, while crypto stocks bounce amid cooling AI fears

Markets Share Share this article Copy link X icon X (Twitter) LinkedIn Facebook Email Bitcoin volatile, but flat, while crypto stocks bounce amid cooling AI fears Coinbase, Circle, Galaxy, IREN and Riot led the early morning rebound among crypto-related stocks as the battered software sector found some relief. By Krisztian Sandor | Edited by Stephen Alpher Feb 18, 2026, 4:35 p.m. Make us preferred on Google (Raphaël Biscaldi/Unsplash) What to know : Despite a small handful of thousand-dollar swings, bitcoin remains in the $67,000 area in late-morning U.S. trade. Gold reclaimed $5,000, and oil jumped as Polymarket odds of U.S. strikes on Iran before mid-March topped 50%. Crypto stocks bounced, outperforming stagnant cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin BTC $ 67,108.51 can't seem to pick a direction, wildly swinging in the early hours of the Wednesday U.S. session with dips quickly bought and bounces erased just as fast. Losing its overnight push above $68,500, BTC dumped below $67,000 at the start of U.S. trading. Buyers quickly stepped in, driving a sharp rebound to $68,300, but the bounce proved fleeting with prices quickly falling back to $67,000. Ether (ETH) followed a similar path, dipping back below $2,000 and down roughly 1% over the past 24 hours. 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 . Part of the crosscurrents came from traditional markets. On one hand, a steadier tone in risk assets came as concerns around artificial intelligence disruption in the tech sector cooled. The iShares Expanded Tech-Software ETF (IGV), a proxy for the software sector that had been under pressure over the past weeks, bounced 1.9% in morning trading, suggesting some relief. The broader Nasdaq was higher by 1.3% and the S&P 500 by 0.85%> On the other hand, geopolitical jitters are back as traders increasingly brace for potential escalation between the U.S. and Iran. Traders on the prediction market Polymarket now assign more than 50% odds that the U.S. will launch strikes against Iran before March 15, up from about 30% just a day ago. Gold climbed 2.5% to reclaim the $5,000 level, while silver surged 6%. U.S. crude oil jumped more than 3% to above $64 a barrel, underscoring heightened supply risks. Despite the choppy crypto price action, crypto-related equities were bouncing. Exchange giant Coinbase (COIN), stablecoin issuer Circle (CRCL) and digital asset investment firm Galaxy (GLXY) were all 3%-5% higher. Miners and AI-linked data center plays such as Riot Platforms (RIOT) and IREN (IREN) outperformed further, with each posting gains of 5.5%. Market Wrap Bitcoin News More For You Zoomex: Precise Systems of Fairness and Transparency by Design By CoinDesk Jan 31, 2026 Commissioned by Zoomex Read full story More For You Goldman Sachs' David Solomon says he owns 'very little' bitcoin but watching it closely By Helene Braun | Edited by Nikhilesh De 14 minutes ago “I’m an observer of bitcoin,” Solomon said at the World Liberty Forum on Wednesday, saying he's still trying to understand how it moves. What to know : Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon said he owns only a small amount of bitcoin but is closely watching the cryptocurrency as part of a broader shift in financial technology. Solomon argued that traditional finance and crypto are part of a single evolving system, with tokenization poised to play a central role in future market infrastructure. He said Goldman’s limited crypto involvement has been driven largely by what he called prohibitive regulation, warning that excessive rules can drain capital from the financial system even as he urged a thoughtful approach. 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