Market highlights
- Bitcoin declined to a 15-month low of US$60,001 on February 6.
- Bitcoin mining stocks IREN and CleanSpark reported Q4 earnings misses.
- Galaxy Digital reported a US$48.2 million net loss for its fourth quarter.
- Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin called for a new ETH roadmap beyond layer-2 scaling.
- Trump-linked crypto tokens sold off on an investigation into WLFI dealings with UAE officials.
- CME Group is exploring launching its own digital token and 24/7 crypto trading.
Macro market overview
Risk assets began the week with a sell off on macroeconomic uncertainty and declining investor sentiment, but they saw a bounce into the weekend as sentiment improved. Notably, popular momentum stocks, such as large U.S. technology companies declined throughout the week, with Wednesday, February 4 being the worst day for momentum stocks since 2022. In contrast, longstanding value stocks listed on the Dow Jones outperformed this week, with the index trading above 50,000 for the first time on February 6.
While the U.S. Government’s non-farm employment change data for January was delayed one week due to the partial government shutdown, the ADP non-farm employment change came in below forecast at 22,000, signalling the government report could also come in under forecast and impact sentiment. And in interest rates, the Bank of England left rates on hold at 3.75%, while the Reserve Bank of Australia raised rates 25 basis points to 3.85% due to persistent inflation largely driven by inadequate measures attempting to address housing affordability.
The sell off in precious metals continued this week, though gold saw some minor gains. Gold finished the week up 2.5%, while silver finished the week down 4.2% as the historic rally across these assets shows potential signs of slowing down. Confirming weakening investor sentiment was a fall in the U.S. 10-year yield on Thursday, February 5 to around 4.2%. The likelihood of a rate cut at the U.S. Federal Open Market Committee’s (FOMC) March 18 meeting has risen to 19.9%, according to CME’s Fed Watch tool.
Weekly performance: S&P 500 -0.1%, Dow Jones +2.5%, Nasdaq -1.84%.
Looking ahead:
- U.S. core retail sales - Tuesday, February 11
- U.S. non-farm employment change - Friday, February 13 (delayed)
- U.S. consumer price index - Friday, February 13
Crypto Market Performance
It was another week where all sectors saw declines as crypto market sentiment fell to its lowest level in 3.5 years, driven by declining prices across major assets and fears that a bear market has arrived. Staking services, privacy coins and file storage saw the largest losses.
Across February 4 and 5, total crypto liquidations reached US$650 million. Around 40% of these liquidations were bitcoin positions. The crypto fear and greed index dropped to 9 (Extreme Fear), which hasn’t been seen since the Terra Luna ecosystem collapsed in mid 2022. The crypto fear and greed index currently remains at 9.
Biggest loser
- Staking services: EigenCloud (-19.6%) declined, presumably due to broader bearish sentiment as market participants deleveraged and usage of staking services slowed throughout the sell off.
Bitcoin (BTC)
- Opened the week at US$76,895, and declined to a fifteen-month low of US$60,001 on Friday, February 6 as bearish sentiment persists across the crypto market. Price rebounded over the weekend as market participants anticipate key U.S. jobs and inflation data this week. Bitcoin is now trading around US$70,350 (-10.3% 7D).
- BTC dominance was unchanged this week, hovering between 59.9% and 59.4%.
- Bitcoin investment products saw outflows of US$264 million.
With the crypto sell-off continuing this week, market analysts are considering whether bitcoin is officially in a bear market. Price is now down 44% from the October 6 all-time high of US$126,296, while February 4 and 5 saw the largest BTC decline in over three years. A crypto bear market is typically defined by a decline of around 20% from the recent peak.
Bitcoin mining stocks IREN and CleanSpark saw their share prices fall sharply after companies reported Q4 earnings misses. IREN posted a US$155.4 million net loss, while CleanSpark reported a US$378.7 million net loss, intensifying sector pressure amid the current crypto sell-off. Other bitcoin miners are pivoting to artificial intelligence (AI) services, such as Cango, which sold 4,451 BTC, worth around US$305 million, to fund its pivot into providing computing power for AI.
In bitcoin buying news:
- Strategy bought 1,142 bitcoin, bringing its total holdings to 714, 644 BTC at an average purchase price of US$76,056 per bitcoin. The firm’s bitcoin losses are currently US$9.2 billion.
Ethereum (ETH)
- Opened the week at US$2,268, and sold off to a low of US$1,742 on bearish sentiment. Ethereum is now trading around US$2,120 to start the new week (-9.7% 7D).
- Ethereum dominance hovered around 10.7% this week.
- Ethereum-focused funds saw inflows of US$5.3 million.
Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum’s co-founder, transferred 29 million ETH, worth around US$50 billion, out of long-held addresses into newer wallets. The move came as Buterin called for a new network roadmap that moves beyond a previously L2-centric scaling focus. He argues that the ecosystem needs broader solutions to long-standing data availability and composability challenges.
In Ethereum buying news:
- Bitmine bought 40,613 ETH, bringing its total holdings to over 4.3 million (almost 3.6% of ETH’s supply), worth over US$8.8 billion. The firm’s losses on its ETH stockpile are over US$8.8 billion.
Altcoins
The altcoin season index is currently 24, which is bitcoin season.
Trump card
- OFFICIAL TRUMP (TRUMP) fell 20.5% and World Liberty Financial (WLFI) declined by 15.6%. The Trump-linked cryptocurrencies sold off as Democrats announced an investigation into a business deal with the UAE’s Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan and World Liberty Financial before President Trump’s inauguration. Representative Ro Khanna (D-CA-17) launched the investigation, and is formally seeking records on the transaction. The TRUMP memecoin has fallen 95% from its high of US$37.43 in January 2025.
To Jupiter
- Jupiter declined by 19.2%. The decentralised exchange led losses throughout the week as bitcoin sold off toward US$60,000. Deleveraging and heightened selling activity presumably accelerated the declines as price broke down out of a consolidation range.
Ripple x HYPE
- XRP declined by 10.8%. Ripple, the company that created and issues XRP, announced its integration with Hyperliquid to provide institutional DeFi access for XRP and RLUSD, enabling margin trading and deep liquidity via Hyperliquid’s order books.
Crypto ETF News
Digital asset investment products saw outflows of US$187 million this week, while assets under management declined to US$129.8 million — the lowest since March 2025. Trading volumes across exchange-traded products reached a record US$63.1 billion.
Altcoins saw a minor turnaround this week with XRP and Solana seeing US$63.1 million and US$8.2 million of inflows, respectively. Throughout the year-to-date, XRP has seen the most success, with US$109 million of inflows.
Other crypto news
- Fidelity’s U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin Fidelity Digital Dollar (FIDD) has officially launched and is now tradable on select crypto markets. Issued by Fidelity Digital Assets’ national trust bank, FIDD can be redeemed 1:1 for USD and is backed by fully reserved deposits. The coin aims to support institutional settlement and cash-like on-chain liquidity.
- Galaxy Digital reported a US$48.2 million net loss for its fourth quarter, driven by mark-to-market declines in digital asset holdings and weaker trading revenue. The company also saw reduced institutional client activity and lower asset management fees, leading to a drop in quarterly earnings compared with prior periods. Galaxy Digital shares fell 16% on the news.
- Chinese regulators officially banned yuan-pegged stablecoins and real-world asset tokenisation, tightening its stance on digital assets. The new rules prohibit issuance and trading of RMB-linked tokens while reaffirming that only the central bank’s digital currency (e-CNY) is legal digital cash.
- CME Group is exploring launching its own digital token on a decentralised network and plans to move its crypto products to 24/7 trading, pending regulatory approval. The initiative emerged during CME’s Q4 earnings call as the exchange responded to increased crypto volumes and discussed tokenised cash projects with partners.
from Caleb & Brown Cryptocurrency Brokerage.
