No Rush to Buy the Dip

DAILY MARKET OVERVIEW

Markets Stay Messy

👋 Hey, Crypto Enthusiasts! Let’s take a quick look at where the crypto market stands today.

Not much has changed in markets, and the overall setup for crypto still looks weak. Defensive assets and commodities are performing better, while macro conditions remain messy and uncertain. Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF flows are still negative, and despite some buying by large holders, there are still more sellers than buyers.

🐻 Positioning data and sentiment both look very bearish. That can sometimes happen near a bottom, but this doesn’t look like a good environment to go long yet. The charts for BTC, ETH, and SOL are still in downtrends, and there are no clear reversal signals.

🔻 Even Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has been selling. He has sold 10,723 ETH for about $21.7 million since Feb. 2, according to onchain data, following his plan to fund open-source software, hardware, and biotech projects.

On the macro side, the odds of a rate cut in March are very low on Polymarket. There also aren’t many big catalysts this week outside of Nvidia earnings and upcoming jobs data. Crypto is still trading like a risk asset, and if stocks keep weakening, crypto is unlikely to be spared.

🦥 At the same time, buying from Strategy’s Michael Saylor is still very slow. The company recently bought 592 BTC for about $39.8 million, which is small compared to the billions deployed during the last big bitcoin run-up.

This is not the time to be aggressive in crypto. The trend is still weak, sentiment is fragile, and patience makes more sense than chasing risk here.

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SOCIAL SENTIMENT

ZachXBT Teases Major Insider Trading Investigation

Crypto traders are closely watching the most popular onchain investigator ZachXBT after he said he will publish a major investigation on February 26 into one of the industry’s most profitable businesses.

ZachXBT said the report will focus on a company where multiple employees allegedly abused internal data to insider trade over a prolonged period of time. He did not name the company.

Speculation has spread quickly across X. Traders have pointed to a wide range of possible targets, including Hyperliquid, Lighter, Pump.fun, Meteora, World Liberty Financial, Ethena, and Polymarket. Some have also mentioned centralized exchanges such as Binance and MEXC.

• ZachXBT’s past investigations are widely followed in the crypto market. In several cases, his reporting has led to reputational damage, regulatory scrutiny, and pressure on token prices.

Attention has recently focused on World Liberty Financial after a series of events around the project. Its stablecoin, USD1, briefly depegged, with the team saying the move was the result of a coordinated attack. Eric Trump also deleted several posts related to the project, adding to speculation.

Even so, prediction markets point elsewhere. On Polymarket, traders currently assign the highest probability to Meteora the platform involved in many of the Solana celebrity memecoin launches such as Trump & Melania being the subject of the investigation.

For now, the market is waiting. But once the report is published, the project named is likely to face intense scrutiny.

NEWS OVERVIEW

The Latest Crypto Headlines 📰 

Crypto.com Wins Conditional OCC Approval for National Bank Charter
Crypto.com secured conditional approval from the OCC to pursue a national trust bank charter, positioning itself to offer custody and staking under federal supervision.

Chainlink Legal Executive Joins SEC Crypto Task Force
Former Chainlink deputy general counsel Taylor Lindman joined the SEC as chief counsel of its crypto task force, signaling deeper industry expertise in digital asset regulation.

Fed Moves to Eliminate ‘Reputation Risk’ From Bank Supervision
The Federal Reserve opened public comment on formally removing “reputation risk” from oversight, a move supporters say could curb crypto-related debanking.

Terraform Labs Sues Jane Street Over Terra Collapse Allegations
Terraform’s liquidation administrator filed a lawsuit accusing Jane Street of insider trading before TerraUSD’s 2022 collapse, reopening scrutiny of market activity during the crisis.

YOUTUBE INFLUENCER SUMMARY

Summary From The Top Influencers 📷️ 

Benjamin Cowen – Bitcoin: Dubious Speculation (24.02.2026 Summary)

Benjamin Cowen looks at Bitcoin’s recent weakness and warns against getting too optimistic too early. His focus is on midterm-year patterns and how Bitcoin typically behaves during bear markets. The main message: even if we get a bounce soon, that does not mean the bear market is over.

Key Points

• February weakness is common in midterm years. In 2014, 2018, and 2022, Bitcoin sold off into February, bounced in early March, then dropped again into April or May.

• A short-term move up in early March would not be unusual. Historically, the first week of March often marks a local top, not the final bottom.

• Bitcoin usually follows a familiar moving average path. It breaks below the 50-week, then the 100-week, and eventually tests the 200-week moving average. That pattern is playing out again.

• True bear market bottoms tend to happen below key on-chain levels. In prior cycles, Bitcoin bottomed after dropping below both realized price and balance price. So far, it has not clearly done that.

• Being 50% down in February does not automatically mean the low is in. In past cycles, deeper drawdowns often came later in the year.

• Potential timing for a real bottom could be May or even October, based on Bitcoin’s four-year cycle behavior.

Final Takeaway
Cowen’s view is cautious. A bounce into March would fit historical patterns, but it likely would not mark the end of the bear market. Until Bitcoin tests deeper support levels and more typical capitulation signals appear, he sees rallies as countertrend moves rather than confirmation of a new bull phase.

Paul Barron – Chaos Returns!🔥CLARITY Collapses!! (24.02.2026 Summary)

Paul Barron says chaos is back. Clarity momentum faded over the weekend, tariffs are stirring uncertainty again, and crypto is reacting hard to the macro noise.

Key Points

• Clarity odds collapsed after rising sharply. Barron believes something shifted behind closed doors, possibly bank pressure or political resistance.

• Tariff uncertainty is weighing on markets. Constant changes make it hard for businesses to plan, which keeps investors defensive.

• Risk-off behavior is clear. Crypto has erased trillions from peak levels, and money is rotating into gold and silver as safe havens.

• New lows are possible. With macro data, earnings, and policy headlines ahead, Barron says a Bitcoin retest of recent lows would not be surprising.

• Political tension adds fuel. Falling approval numbers, midterm pressure, and public clashes around crypto projects are increasing instability.

• Crypto tax reporting could create confusion. New 1099-DA forms may show proceeds without cost basis, causing stress for retail investors.

Final Takeaway
Barron’s view is that crypto is trading uncertainty, not fundamentals. Until Clarity stabilizes and macro noise cools down, volatility and downside risk remain elevated.

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