New York, Feb 20, 2026, 18:29 EST — After-hours
- Bitcoin climbed roughly 1.6%, trading just under $68,000. Ether added close to 1%.
- Traders sized up a U.S. tariff court decision, even as hotter inflation numbers and shifting Fed rate-cut expectations competed for attention.
- On Feb. 19, spot bitcoin ETFs posted net outflows. Next up for inflation data: PPI lands Feb. 27, while PCE follows on March 13.
Bitcoin bounced back late Friday in the U.S., up roughly 1.6% to $68,015 after slipping earlier. The world’s largest cryptocurrency saw a range from $66,510 to $68,241. Ether tacked on nearly 1% and was last trading at $1,967.
Stocks caught a late lift as risk assets rallied on the U.S. Supreme Court’s move to overturn President Donald Trump’s broad tariffs, sending U.S. equities higher by the close. “Striking down of these tariffs will benefit corporate bottom lines, corporate earnings,” said Tim Ghriskey, senior portfolio strategist at Ingalls & Snyder. Reuters
Inflation’s shadow lingered over rate bets. The core personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index, which the Fed watches closely and excludes food and energy, climbed 0.4% in December, pushing the annual core figure to 3.0%, according to the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis. At Barclays, economist Pooja Sriram pointed to an uptick in legal services prices, but she described it as “a very volatile category, with very little forward-looking inference.” Reuters
Crypto-adjacent stocks caught a bid too. Coinbase jumped 3.3% in late trading, while bitcoin-heavy Strategy picked up 1.2%. BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF advanced roughly 0.9%.
ETF flows sent a mixed signal beneath the headline numbers. U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs recorded a net outflow of $165.8 million on Feb. 19, with nearly all of that—about $164.1 million—leaving IBIT, according to Farside Investors data.
Policy talk added color heading into the weekend. According to Barron’s, a White House sit-down on the Clarity Act—the proposed overhaul of crypto market rules—got a tentatively upbeat nod from Coinbase’s Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal. He posted on X: “The dialogue was constructive and the tone cooperative. More to come.” Barron’s
Traders know the drill: when inflation eases, bets on rate cuts heat up, giving speculative assets a leg up. But if prices stay stubborn and yields climb, the story flips—risk appetite fades fast.
But this setup doesn’t always last. After the tariff decision, Trump announced plans for a fresh 10% global tariff. Markets, reacting to the move, pared back bets on a June rate cut, data from CME’s FedWatch tool showed.
U.S. producer price figures for January land on Feb. 27—important for fine-tuning inflation calls. The next PCE monthly print drops March 13.
Nvidia’s quarterly numbers hit on Feb. 25, and markets are on edge. Some see it as a swing factor for broader risk appetite, especially with tech volatility bleeding into crypto lately.
