Trading

At a Tuesday panel in Washington, DC, CFTC Chair Michael Selig said the agency is working to authorize true perpetual futures contracts for cryptocurrencies in the United States within "the next month or so." He and SEC Chair Paul Atkins also discussed prediction markets and an evolving digital asset market structure bill in Congress, which could reshape how both regulators oversee crypto products.

According to CryptoQuant, 38% of altcoins are trading close to their all-time lows, highlighting persistent pressure on smaller market cap tokens. At the same time, institutional investors are directing capital toward U.S. spot Ethereum and Bitcoin ETFs, which saw net inflows of $38.7 million and over $458 million respectively. BlackRock's Ethereum ETF contributed about $26.5 million of the ETH inflows, while the broader market remains in a risk-off mood, with sentiment gauges still signaling fear.

NEAR Protocol rose about 12% in the last 24 hours, lifting its price to around $1.35 and market capitalization above $1.7 billion, placing it 44th among cryptocurrencies. The rally followed the launch of the Confidential Intents upgrade, which enables private DeFi transactions, and drew praise from several analysts who highlighted NEAR's AI and privacy-focused capabilities. Some traders see a bullish chart pattern forming, while others point to an overbought RSI above 70 that could signal a near-term pullback.

YZi Labs has pledged a $100 million strategic investment to Hash Global's BNB Holdings Fund as BNB trades around $629. The fund, launched in June 2025, has returned 32.5% since inception and aims to offer compliant yield exposure to BNB. This institutional backing arrives while broader crypto markets weaken and geopolitical tensions around the US, Israel and Iran weigh on risk assets.

Core Scientific has unloaded 1,924 BTC from its reserves, leaving just 613 BTC and pushing the miner to 59th place among corporate Bitcoin holders. MARA Holdings, which reported 53,822 BTC worth about $4.7 billion as of December 31, 2025, has revised its 2026 strategy to permit selling Bitcoin held on its balance sheet in addition to coins sold from daily output to cover costs.

Bitcoin is compressing within a tight range above a key $69,000 support level after weeks of sideways trading, with price respecting a major trendline and attracting steady buying interest. One analyst outlines upside targets at $90,000, $102,000 and $122,000, extending to about $155,000 if bullish momentum persists, while another warns that failure to reclaim the $71,000–$72,000 resistance zone could open a move back toward $61,000.

Ether’s price rally paused just above $2,000 after facing strong resistance, leaving the $1,800 support area as a critical level. Onchain and technical metrics suggest that a decisive break below this zone could trigger a deeper decline toward targets below $1,500 in the coming weeks.

Core Scientific plans to liquidate around 2,500 BTC from its treasury, with most of the sales expected in the first quarter of 2026, to fund capital expenditures for AI data centers. The miner, which reported a 57% drop in BTC production and lower revenue in Q4 2025, will also sell current block rewards and does not intend to rebuild its Bitcoin reserve.

OKB remains under pressure as OKX upgrades its OnchainOS infrastructure with a new AI toolkit designed for autonomous on-chain agents. The token trades near $75.88 with neutral momentum, well below its all-time high of $255.50 reached in August 2025. Key levels include support around $73.31–$72.62 and resistance zones near $76.77 and $82.47, with further upside targets at $93.50 and $104.84 if bullish volume returns.

As of March 1–2, 2026, Bitcoin's 365-day Sharpe Ratio is at -63 and the fast 180-day version at -287, while the MVRV Z-Score stands at 0.49, both below key averages. These readings indicate the market is not adequately compensating risk, with negative risk-adjusted returns and a neutral network valuation that does not yet qualify as a historical buy zone. Together, the two metrics describe a transitional regime where investors face uncertainty and must wait for clearer reversal signals.