New York, Feb 23, 2026, 12:58 EST — Regular session
- bitcoin slid roughly 4.4%, hovering near $64,400 after dropping below $65,000
- Trump has bumped the temporary global tariff up to 15%, injecting a new dose of macro uncertainty.
- CoinShares reports a fifth consecutive week of outflows from crypto funds, with traders eyeing the $60,000 level and U.S. jobs data due March 6.
Bitcoin tumbled over 4% Monday, sinking under the $65,000 mark as tariff worries rattled risk sentiment and sent most digital assets reeling. The token slipped as much as 4.4% to $64,376, following a drop to $64,283 earlier. Ether was off almost 4%, with Solana down roughly 6%.
U.S. President Donald Trump moved to bump the temporary tariff on American imports from 10% up to 15% after the Supreme Court tossed out a major portion of his existing tariffs. European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde flagged the potential for “disruptions” to businesses amid the fallout. reuters.com
Crypto markets faced more selling pressure, compounding difficulties in attracting new capital. Digital-asset investment products saw $288 million pulled out over the week—marking the fifth consecutive week of outflows. According to CoinShares, total redemptions now stand at $4.0 billion.
“The crypto market’s still looking shaky, with traders hoping the US$60,000 level holds,” said Caroline Mauron, co-founder at Orbit Markets. Prices, she noted, are feeling the pressure from macro uncertainty, ranging from shifting U.S. tariffs to geopolitical tensions. businesstimes.com.sg
Crypto-connected stocks moved down with the token in New York. Coinbase lost roughly 6%. Strategy slipped over 5%, Robinhood shed nearly 5%. Shares of miners Marathon Digital and Riot Platforms stayed negative as well.
Defensiveness wasn’t limited to crypto. The Nasdaq-100 tracker QQQ dropped around 1.4%. SPDR Gold Shares, meanwhile, climbed close to 2%.
Pressure isn’t just headline-driven. CryptoQuant figures point to a pickup in bitcoin transfers from so-called “whales”—big private holders—onto exchanges, Investing.com noted. That kind of flow usually means sellers are prepping to offload coins. investing.com
Trade policy is tangled once again. U.S. Customs and Border Protection plans to stop collecting tariffs set under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act starting at 12:01 a.m. EST on Tuesday. That comes as Trump rolls out a new 15% global tariff, but this time using a separate legal authority.
Still, bitcoin’s direction may depend more on forced selling than broader macro factors. “For now, BTC might test the $60,000 levels before a rebound,” said Akshat Siddhant, lead quant analyst at Mudrex, in a note to ETMarkets.com. He pegged immediate resistance at $68,500. m.economictimes.com
Tariffs aren’t the main focus for traders right now; attention is shifting to the next move from the Fed. Fed Governor Christopher Waller flagged February’s jobs data, set for release March 6, as a key input before the March 17–18 policy meeting. Markets will use those dates to recalibrate expectations around rate changes.
