New York, Feb 20, 2026, 15:38 ET — Regular session
- Coinbase gained 2.7% in afternoon action, while bitcoin hovered roughly 1% higher.
- Coinbase reported it’s looking into a display glitch that’s impacting DEX token balances. The company said user funds remain safe.
- A broker trimmed its price target on Coinbase but stuck with a sell rating. Investors remain focused on trading volumes.
Coinbase Global climbed Friday, gaining $4.56 to $170.50, or 2.7%, boosted by a stronger bitcoin. The crypto exchange did, however, note a glitch affecting balances for decentralized-exchange tokens.
Timing’s a factor here. As Coinbase pushes to diversify beyond plain spot crypto trading, volatility is fading and trading volumes are drying up—meaning there’s little tolerance now for even minor operational slip-ups.
The company is pushing further into “onchain” activity — trades and transfers executed straight on blockchains — and here, customers don’t hesitate to pull funds at the first whiff of friction. Trust and uptime are back in focus as investment factors, not just the price action in crypto.
Coinbase flagged a problem with DEX token balances, telling users, “This is purely a display issue, and your funds are safe,” as it worked on a fix. The exchange’s status page also listed a Solana send-and-receive delay from earlier this day, later marked as resolved, plus a DEX trading performance snag dated Feb. 18, which Coinbase said wrapped up early Feb. 19. status.coinbase.com
Risk appetite pulled crypto stocks higher Friday, following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn President Donald Trump’s global tariffs. Equities caught a boost, despite December’s inflation data coming in hotter than expected.
Some skepticism lingers around Coinbase’s rally. Compass Point Research & Trading is sticking with its sell call, dropping its price target to $140 from $190, MarketScreener noted in its broker move summary.
Coinbase is still working through the aftermath of a tough quarter. The company unexpectedly reported a loss last week, after sluggish trading volumes dented transaction revenues, according to Reuters. “It’s all about the company’s diversification and ‘shock absorbers’,” said David Bartosiak, stock strategist at Zacks Investment Research, who singled out the rising role of stablecoins and subscriptions. Reuters
Management isn’t letting up on that theme. “The Everything Exchange is working,” CEO Brian Armstrong told shareholders, pointing to growth outside crypto and a slate of new products. The update also called out moves into other tradable assets. Business Wire
Coinbase, in its latest quarterly shareholder letter, reported it had pulled in roughly $420 million in transaction revenue through Feb. 10 for the first quarter. The company expects Q1 subscription and services revenue to land somewhere between $550 million and $630 million.
Peers showed no clear direction. Robinhood Markets ticked up 0.6%, and bitcoin-holder Strategy picked up close to 1%. But shares of miners Riot Platforms and Marathon Digital slipped.
The worry for Coinbase? If the display problem sticks around or starts to mess with performance, regular users could start drifting to competitors. And with fee revenue on the line, the company can’t afford that. If crypto trading stays slow, that’s another blow — lower volatility means fewer trades, and the pressure keeps building.
Traders are watching to see if the DEX-related issue remains isolated, while also waiting for new macro cues that could move risk assets. Coming up: January’s U.S. producer price index lands Feb. 27, and the Fed convenes for its next policy meeting March 17-18.
