Bitcoin started the day by dipping to a new local bottom around 62,500 dollars. A local bottom is a short time when prices stay low before moving up again. It is not a permanent low, just a temporary point where buyers and sellers meet.
From there, bitcoin moved up quickly. It climbed by more than 8,000 dollars and reached 70,000 dollars. At that level, selling pressure came in again and helped push the price down a bit.
Many other coins, called altcoins, had even bigger moves in the last 24 hours. Ethereum rose back above the 2,000 dollar mark. Cardano, which people often shorten to ADA, jumped by a large amount and got close to 0.30 dollars.
BTC tapped 70K
Last week, bitcoin was not able to stay above 70,000 dollars and fell for several days. It dropped to about 65,600 dollars last Thursday. The price then recovered a bit and moved toward 69,000 dollars over the weekend. This rise happened even though there was news about tariffs in the United States, which can affect markets by making some goods more expensive to import and export.
At first, bitcoin stayed relatively still. But when the legacy futures markets opened, the price fell sharply. In a little more than an hour, it dropped to 64,400 dollars and then bounced back up to 66,400 dollars.
The quick fall looked like a dead-cat bounce. A dead-cat bounce is a short rebound after a big drop that often does not last. After this move, bitcoin kept losing value again. It fell to a three-week low around 62,500 dollars.
Then the bulls — buyers who want prices higher — stepped in. They did not let prices fall further. Instead, bitcoin moved up sharply and jumped over 70,000 dollars for the first time in more than a week.
It could not stay above 70,000 dollars. Since that high, it has fallen by about 2,000 dollars. Even with this decline, the day is still positive for bitcoin, up roughly 4.5 percent. The overall market value of bitcoin, called the market cap, is back around 1.36 trillion dollars according to CoinGecko. Bitcoin’s share of the total crypto market, known as its dominance, is a little above 56 percent.
In charts, BTCUSD Feb 26. Source: TradingView.
Alts rocket
Ethereum, which some analysts think may have already found a bottom, climbed back above 2,000 dollars after an 8 percent daily rise. XRP recovered past 1.40 dollars after an about 5.5 percent gain. Other popular coins also rose: Solana (SOL), Dogecoin (DOGE), Chainlink (LINK), Binance Coin (BNB), and a token called HYPE moved higher, with Chainlink showing a solid 9 percent gain.
Cardano ADA outperformed many larger coins. It rose about 10 percent and moved toward 0.30 dollars. Polkadot DOT jumped the most among the big names, rising around 24 percent to roughly 1.60 dollars. Other notable movers included stablecoins, UNI (Uniswap), and NEAR, which also gained.
The total market value of all cryptocurrencies rose by about 120 billion dollars from a recent low. It is now around 2.425 trillion dollars, according to data from CoinGecko. This means the whole market has recovered some of the losses from the recent dip.
Overall, the market showed strength in this period. Bitcoin led the moves, with a strong day for many of the top coins. Traders watched closely to see if the 70,000 dollar level becomes a new support for bitcoin or if prices will move higher in the coming days.
Together, these moves show a period of high volatility. Prices can swing up or down quickly as traders react to news and changes in government policy, global markets, and technology updates in the crypto world.
For readers who are new to this space, it helps to remember a few basic ideas. When people say a market is highly volatile, it means prices can change a lot in a short time. Market cap means the total value of every unit of a coin in existence. Altcoins are other cryptocurrencies besides Bitcoin, and they often move more dramatically because they have smaller markets or different use cases.
As always, investors should do their own research before buying, because prices can rise and fall for many reasons, including news, regulatory changes, or changes in investor sentiment.
Definitions
Below are short explanations of some common terms used in crypto markets. You can read the full articles on Wikipedia by following the links:
- Bitcoin is the first decentralized cryptocurrency. It uses a peer-to-peer network and a public blockchain to record transactions. It is secured by cryptography and created through a process called proof-of-work.
- Ethereum is a decentralized blockchain platform. It allows smart contracts and decentralized applications. Its native cryptocurrency is Ether (ETH).
- Cardano (ADA) is a public decentralized blockchain platform. It uses the ADA cryptocurrency to help with transactions and to run smart contracts.
- Polkadot is a decentralized multi-chain blockchain platform. It uses a form of proof-of-stake and aims to connect different blockchains for interoperable smart contracts. Its token is DOT.
- Chainlink is a decentralized oracle network. It provides data from outside the blockchain to smart contracts. Its LINK token mainly runs on the Ethereum network.
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