In brief
- Leading altcoins extended losses Wednesday, with analysts attributing the sell-off to low liquidity driven by capital rotation into gold and cascading whale liquidations.
- Sustained Bitcoin ETF outflows and hawkish Federal Reserve signals are compounding liquidity pressures.
- Experts see near-term volatility with Bitcoin range-bound, but a potential rebound in late 2026 hinges on institutional capital returning.
Altcoins continued to extend losses on Wednesday as the February selloff intensified, with Solana, XRP, BNB, and other major tokens shedding between 4% and 6% over 24 hours, according to CoinGecko data.
Zcash is the largest loser among the top 30 altcoins, dropping 6.5% in the past 24 hours, per CoinGecko data. BNB, Sui, Hyperliquid and XRP followed, with losses of 6.1%, 5.8%, 4.3% and 4.2% respectively.
The downtrend that began after Bitcoin’s October peak gained momentum in early February, triggering multiple liquidation events. Even as Bitcoin attempts to stabilize around the $60,000 psychological level, altcoins appear weak, reflecting fearful investor sentiment.
“The reason for the downtrend stems from persistently low market liquidity [and] subdued retail enthusiasm for speculative altcoin plays,” Ryan Lee, chief analyst at Bitget, told Decrypt.
Users on prediction market Myriad, owned by Decrypt’s parent company Dastan, remain bearish on altcoins, putting the chance of an “alt season” in the first quarter at under 10%—the lowest level since the market launched.
Lee attributed the low crypto market liquidity to a capital rotation into traditional safe-haven assets like gold, driven by a macro risk-off environment.
He highlighted that “heavy whale stop-loss triggers and subsequent cascading liquidations have amplified the sell-off, draining overall flows and increasing downward pressure across Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, Solana, and beyond.”
While Eva Sever, CMO at SwapSpace, largely agrees with Lee’s take, she pointed to additional headwinds. “Liquidity concerns are also a result of hawkish Fed signals and sustained Bitcoin exchange-traded fund outflows amid investors’ risk-averse outlook, which have impacted Bitcoin’s recent price action,” Sever told Decrypt.
Looking ahead
Both analysts agreed that the next step would see a broad-based consolidation in the crypto markets, with next week’s inflation reports and consumer confidence readings set to be a make or break moment.
Despite near-term market conditions, Lee expects a rebound in the second half of 2026, provided the fundamentals remain intact, fueled by the reemergence of institutional capital and interest.
Sever, on the other hand, cited ETF inflows and Fed easing as two key catalysts that could move the crypto markets. Without these, “markets are likely to remain volatile, with Bitcoin hovering between $65,000 and $75,000,” the SwapSpace analyst said.
“Altcoins are likely to be more volatile and suffer 5% to 15% drawdowns in this phase,” she added.
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