Bitcoin Holds Near $69,000 as Near-Term Backdrop ‘Remains Fragile’

Crypto markets slumped slightly on Tuesday morning, Feb. 10, with prices stabilizing among large-caps but conviction still thin as total market capitalization sank 2% to $2.43 trillion.
Bitcoin (BTC) is trading near $69,300 at press time, down about 1% over the past 24 hours, with weekly losses at 9%.

Ethereum (ETH) is holding out just above $2,000, slipping 3.3% on the day and down about 10% on the week. Price action across other large-cap altcoins were mixed, with most flat or slightly down today. Hyperliquid’s HYPE saw the biggest losses among the top-20 assets, down 7% on the day and over 15% on the week.

Groundwork for Stronger Returns

On-chain analytics firm Keyrock said in an update on Monday, Feb. 9, that investors remain cautious, with a liquidity-driven risk reset still underway and little sign the market is nearing a sustained recovery.

As speculative liquidity continues to retreat, crypto prices have become more sensitive to shifts in macro conditions and spot demand. And even though Bitcoin has stabilized above recent lows, the analysts say the broader backdrop remains fragile.

“While the near-term backdrop remains fragile, periods marked by pessimism, compressed liquidity, and elevated volatility have historically laid the groundwork for stronger long-term returns once expectations reset and macro clarity improves,” the Keyrock analysts said.

James Harris, chief executive of European crypto firm Tesseract Group, told The Defiant in commentary that macro conditions “are mixed but leaning supportive,” noting that the dollar has weakened over the past year and “rate markets are pricing cuts for later in 2026, though near term policy uncertainty remains.”

As for the on-chain perspective, Harris said exchange outflows and accumulation by larger holders “support the idea of inventory moving from weak hands to stronger hands.”

According to the Crypto Fear & Greed Index, investor sentiment still remains in the “extreme fear” zone, despite flatter markets.

Big Movers and Liquidations

Looking at the top-100 assets by market cap, Aster (ASTER) outperformed the broader market, jumping nearly 8%, while Quant (QNT) and MemeCore (M) rose about 5% and 3%, respectively.

On the downside, decentralized perpetual futures exchange MYX Finance (MYX) was today’s biggest loser, down 4.5%, followed by centralized exchange tokens KuCoin (KCS) and Bitget (BGB), also down about 4%.

As for liquidations, CoinGlass data shows that roughly $260 million in positions were liquidated over the past 24 hours. Bitcoin accounted for about $95.5 million in liquidations, followed by Ethereum at roughly $82.7 million.

ETFs and Macro Conditions

On Monday, Feb. 9, spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $145 million in net inflows, lifting cumulative inflows to $54.83 billion, according to SoSoValue data. Total value traded reached $4.48 billion, with total net assets at $90.05 billion.

Spot Ethereum ETFs flows were also in the green with $57 million in net inflows yesterday, pushing cumulative inflows to $11.87 billion, despite recent price weakness.

In macro markets, fresh U.S. data reinforced concerns about slowing consumer momentum.

Retail sales were flat in December, missing expectations for a 0.4% increase, according to Commerce Department data published today. Annual retail sales growth slowed to 2.4%, down from 3.3% in November.