On February 23, 2026, crypto trades lower alongside broader risk assets. Bitcoin changes hands near $65.6K, down about 3.4% on the day, while Ethereum trades near $1.88K, down about 4.5%. Live pricing also shows BTC dipping below $65K during the move before bouncing, which is typical of a liquidation-driven flush.
The key detail is not only that price is down. It is that volume rises into the decline, which often means a mix of forced selling, hedging, and positioning resets rather than a slow drift lower.
The main headline driver today is a new burst of trade policy uncertainty. Markets react negatively after a Supreme Court decision related to earlier tariff actions and a subsequent announcement of a new 15% global tariff, which pushes investors toward safer assets like gold and away from higher-volatility assets. In that environment, crypto often trades like high beta tech, meaning it sells off when investors reduce risk.
Several market recaps tie Bitcoin’s dip below $65K directly to this macro risk-off move, with the selloff appearing alongside weaker equity futures and broader volatility.
Even when prices fall, markets can stabilize if fresh buying power shows up quickly. Stablecoins often act as the fastest “dry powder” because they are already on exchanges and can convert into spot bids without banking friction.
Recent on-chain and exchange-flow analysis highlights the opposite setup. CryptoQuant’s stablecoin exchange flow tracking USDT net inflows shrinking sharply versus late 2025, including periods of net outflow. If stablecoin net inflows stay muted while sellers become active, dip bids can be shallower, and price can travel further before it finds demand.
This does not mean there are no buyers. It means there is less incremental liquidity arriving at the venues where most price discovery happens.
Another ingredient is who is depositing to exchanges. CryptoQuant defines the exchange whale ratio as the total BTC amount in the top 10 inflow transactions divided by the total BTC amount flowing into exchanges. When this ratio rises, a larger share of exchange inflows comes from very large deposits.
Market notes today cite a whale ratio reading around 0.64, implying a heavy concentration of inflows from top deposit addresses. That does not prove whales are selling immediately, but it raises the probability of large spot sells, large hedge flows, or collateral moves that can pressure price, especially when stablecoin bid support is not expanding.
Leverage is the usual accelerator. When price slides through levels where many traders are margined, forced liquidations add market sells into an already falling tape.
Liquidation trackers show a meaningful wipeout across the last 24 hours, with reporting pointing to roughly the mid-$400M range in total liquidations and longs representing the majority of the damage. Other summaries of the same window cite similar totals and note that long liquidations dominate, which is consistent with a market that was positioned for a bounce and got squeezed lower instead.
This matters because liquidation selling is not discretionary. It hits the book immediately, often during low-liquidity moments, which explains why BTC can pierce below $65K and rebound quickly.
The combination is what makes today’s drawdown feel sharp.
Macro uncertainty pushes investors to reduce risk. Stablecoin net inflows are not rebuilding the same way they did during stronger dip-buying periods. Whale-heavy exchange inflows increase the chance that large supply, large hedges, or collateral shifts show up at the worst time. Then leverage turns a down move into a cascade.
That is also why dispersion shows up. In defensive tapes, a few tokens can still pump on idiosyncratic catalysts, but majors and high-beta names often sink together when liquidity is the dominant force.
If those signals improve while macro headlines calm down, crypto often finds a base. If stablecoin inflows stay weak and macro risk stays elevated, rallies can remain fragile and volatility can persist.
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