New York, Feb 20, 2026, 18:29 EST — After-hours
- Bitcoin up about 1.6% near $68,000; ether up about 1%
- Traders weighed a U.S. tariff court ruling against hotter inflation data and shifting Fed rate-cut bets
- Spot bitcoin ETFs logged a net outflow on Feb. 19; the next inflation inputs include PPI on Feb. 27 and PCE on March 13
Bitcoin rose about 1.6% to $68,015 in late U.S. trading on Friday, recovering toward $68,000 after sliding earlier in the day. The world’s biggest cryptocurrency traded between $66,510 and $68,241, while ether was up about 1% at $1,967.
The bounce came as broader risk assets found a bid after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs, lifting U.S. stocks into the close. “Striking down of these tariffs will benefit corporate bottom lines, corporate earnings,” Tim Ghriskey, senior portfolio strategist at Ingalls & Snyder, said. (Reuters)
Inflation data, though, kept rates in the frame. The core personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index — the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge that strips out food and energy — rose 0.4% in December, taking the annual core rate to 3.0%, the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis said. Pooja Sriram, an economist at Barclays, flagged a jump in legal services prices but called it “a very volatile category, with very little forward-looking inference.” (Reuters)
Crypto-linked shares moved higher as well. Coinbase was up 3.3% in late trade and bitcoin holder Strategy gained 1.2%; BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF added about 0.9%.
ETF flow data pointed to uneven demand under the surface. U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs — exchange-traded funds that hold bitcoin — saw a net outflow of $165.8 million on Feb. 19, with about $164.1 million coming from IBIT, Farside Investors data showed. (Farside Investors)
Policy chatter also helped set the tone into the weekend. Barron’s reported that a White House meeting on the proposed crypto market-structure bill known as the Clarity Act drew a cautiously positive reaction from Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal, who wrote on X: “The dialogue was constructive and the tone cooperative. More to come.” (Barron’s)
For traders, the immediate push and pull is familiar. Softer inflation tends to revive rate-cut bets and support speculative assets, while sticky prices and higher yields usually do the opposite.
But the setup can flip quickly. Trump said after the tariff ruling that he would pursue a new 10% global tariff, and markets trimmed expectations for a June rate cut, according to CME’s FedWatch tool. (Reuters)
Next up is U.S. producer price data for January due on Feb. 27, a key input for inflation forecasts. The next monthly PCE release is scheduled for March 13. (Bureau of Labor Statistics)
Beyond the data, markets next week are braced for Nvidia’s quarterly results on Feb. 25 — a potential driver of broader risk appetite at a time when swings in tech have been spilling into crypto. (Reuters)
