Bitcoin stalls below $70,000 while DOT, UNI lead altcoin surge

Markets Share Share this article Copy link X icon X (Twitter) LinkedIn Facebook Email Bitcoin stalls below $70,000 while DOT, UNI lead altcoin surge BTC traded within a well-defined range as polkadot and uniswap rallied, cosmos slid. By Oliver Knight , Omkar Godbole | Edited by Sheldon Reback Feb 26, 2026, 11:30 a.m. Make us preferred on Google BTC stalls near $70,000 (Jametlene Reskp/Unsplash modified by CoinDesk) What to know : BTC remains range-bound between $62,500 and $71,100 after testing $70,000. DOT jumped 21% ahead of March’s 50% reward cut. UNI rose 15% on a governance vote to boost revenue capture. ATOM dropped over 6%, underscoring the liquidity fragility in altcoins. Bitcoin BTC $ 68,237.37 cooled off in Asia hours on Thursday, trading at $68,600 after testing $70,000 during a ferocious U.S. session on Wednesday. As February draws toward a close, the largest cryptocurrency remains in a trading range that has persisted since early in the month, having tested $62,500 on Tuesday and $71,100 to the upside on Feb. 15. It's worth noting that bitcoin broke a similar trading range to the upside in January, trapping breakout traders before the price tumbled from $98,000 to $60,000 over the subsequent three weeks, forming a lower high in this recent bearish cycle. A few tokens outshone the broader altcoin market. HYPE is up 4.3% since midnight UTC as it moves back toward $30, while privacy token decred (DCR) rose to its highest since November after adding 4%. U.S. stock index futures are little changed, with NVIDIA's earnings report failing to generate sustained upside amid lingering concerns that AI valuation is overdone. Derivatives positioning Total crypto futures market open interest (OI) has increased by over 6.6% to nearly $100 billion. This is bigger than the increase in the total crypto market cap, indicating there's been an influx of fresh capital into the market. ADA and ETH futures stand out with OI increases of 21% and 15%, respectively. Several other altcoins have seen increases of 9%. Bitcoin's OI growth of over 3% appears largely due to the spot price gain. BTC and ETH's 30-day implied volatility indices, BVIV and EVIV, remain near weekly lows, indicating market calm and supporting continued price gains. Annualized perpetual funding rates for most tokens, including bitcoin and ether, have stabilized to slightly above zero, indicating a renewed bias for bullish, long bets. On Deribit, bitcoin's price bounce triggered demand for call options at strikes ranging from $85,000 to $90,000. However, the overall options market continues to show a bias for puts, a sign that downside reservations still linger. The $60,000 put option remains the most popular bet, with a notional open interest of over $1.4 billion. Token talk Layer-1 token DOT $ 1.5868 posted a 21% gain over the past 24 hours. While the move petered out in European hours, investors are showing appetite ahead of the network's reward halving coming in March. Uniswap's governance token (UNI) also jumped, adding 15%. The move can be attributed to a new governance vote that proposes increasing the protocol’s revenue capture across several layer-2 networks. One token that particularly underperformed was ATOM $ 1.9212 , which lost more than 6%, with the selloff continuing into European hours. There is no clear bearish catalyst for the move, which reflects persistent altcoin vulnerability due to a lack of liquidity. Crypto majors ADA $ 0.2908 and ether (ETH) rose by around 8.5% since Wednesday morning. The moves were intriguing because open interest for both assets increased, suggesting they was backed by leverage as opposed to spot buying, according to Coinalyze . Crypto Markets Today Derivatives Altcoins Markets More For You Three companies add Strategy's STRC to treasury as shares return to par By James Van Straten | Edited by Oliver Knight 42 minutes ago Strategy’s preferred equity trades back at $100 as corporate adoption expands at Strategy World 2026. What to know : Prevalon Energy, Anchorage Digital, and OranjeBTC disclosed allocations to STRC. STRC briefly touched its $100 par value on Wednesday. While 21Shares is bringing STRC exposure to Europe through the Strategy Yield ETP on Euronext Amsterdam. Read full story Latest Crypto News Three companies add Strategy's STRC to treasury as shares return to par 42 minutes ago Bitcoin touches $70,000 before fading as altcoins lead the strongest bounce in weeks 5 hours ago Uniswap’s UNI jumps 15% as governance vote to expand fee switch gains momentum 6 hours ago Bitcoin snaps back near $69,000 but analysts warn the market may not be out of the woods yet 13 hours ago Nvidia earnings smashed expectations as the world’s largest company CEO says AI is only getting better 13 hours ago Solo bitcoin miner turns $75 of rented hashrate into a $200,000 block reward 16 hours ago Top Stories MrBeast editor nabbed by prediction market firm Kalshi for alleged insider trading 16 hours ago A $100 million crypto campaign fund with a pro-Trump vibe so far failed to show up 18 hours ago Endowment funds eye crypto allocations amid tougher return outlook for traditional investments 20 hours ago The chief of the SEC is headlining an event sponsored by a crypto firm at war with it 21 hours ago Circle shares surge by record 35% as USDC issuance drives estimate-busting earnings 23 hours ago Vitalik Buterin sold 17,000 ETH this month as ether fell 37% Feb 25, 2026 In this article BTC BTC $ 68,237.37 ◢ 4.26 % DOT DOT $ 1.5868 ◢ 14.64 % ATOM ATOM $ 1.9212 ◢ 7.42 %