Bitcoin Wipes Out Gains, Sentiment Sinks To Historic Fear
Bitcoin’s latest wobble has merchants on edge, however the image isn’t all one-way. Stories word heavy losses for late patrons, and on-chain figures present actual cash altering palms as positions are pressured closed. Markets moved quick; the temper did too.
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Concern And Greed Plunges To Single Digits
Based on CoinGlass, greater than 144,839 merchants had been liquidated within the final 24 hours, with complete liquidations of over $508 million and about 92% tied to lengthy bets.
Stories from Different.me put the Crypto Fear and Greed Index at 5 out of 100 — a studying that has turned up solely thrice since 2018.
That stage screams panic. But panic usually clears out probably the most fragile holders and leaves room for steadier palms to step in.
Realized Losses And Capitulation Alerts
Primarily based on stories from Glassnode, latest buyers are nonetheless reserving losses at a excessive charge — the seven-day shifting common for internet realized losses was near $500 million per day.
That sort of promoting strain appears to be like brutal on a chart. On the identical time, promoting at scale can mark an finish to a pointy section of decline, as a result of it reduces the variety of folks left to promote when costs fall additional.
Bitcoin Value Motion
In the course of all this, value strikes matter. Bitcoin rose to roughly $68,600 on Saturday, nevertheless it slid again and touched the mid-$64,000s after a wave of exits.
Merchants are watching a variety that fashioned after the early-February drop to about $60,000. The coin stays roughly 48% beneath an October excessive of $126,000 and about 5.5% beneath the 2021 peak close to $69,000.
Information tied to US-Iran tension and normal risk-off buying and selling pushed some merchants towards safer belongings, which added gasoline to the pullback.
Sharpe Ratio Hits Uncommon Low
Analyst Michaël van de Poppe shared a chart displaying Bitcoin’s Sharpe Ratio at -38.4. That metric measures returns relative to threat; a quantity this low is uncommon.
It is a phenomenal chart.
It reveals the Sharpe Ratio for #Bitcoin within the brief time period.
The important thing takeaway: the Sharpe Ratio has dropped to -38.38, which traditionally has marked “Low Danger” accumulation zones. The purple circles spotlight each time the Sharpe Ratio dipped to comparable… pic.twitter.com/Nwp7SkfVP4
— Michaël van de Poppe (@CryptoMichNL) February 21, 2026
Traditionally, excessive destructive readings have generally lined up with moments when shopping for threat felt decrease, as a result of potential draw back had been squeezed out by large selloffs.
That doesn’t assure a rebound, nevertheless it modifications how buyers view the trade-off between reward and threat.
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The place This May Lead
Some technical watchers warn that extra assessments of assist may occur if uncertainty continues. Others level to the mixture of heavy liquidations, deep worry readings, and enormous realized losses as indicators {that a} base may be forming.
Pasts on-chain figures present that panic and steep losses usually precede quieter intervals the place patrons return slowly.
Featured picture from Unsplash, chart from TradingView
