Altcoin momentum has improved, yet multiple market signals indicate a broad altcoin season has not started. BTC dominance remains under a key threshold while ETH/BTC’s rebound has not shifted the larger trend, and recent exchange activity indicates capital still leans toward Bitcoin rather than Ethereum and other large-cap networks.

On Thursday, Bitdeer Technologies Group's stock fell 17.38% to $7.94 after the Bitcoin mining and AI infrastructure firm unveiled a $300 million convertible senior note offering with an additional $45 million purchase option. This is Bitdeer's second such issuance after a $150 million offering in April 2024, and its shares are now down 29% year-to-date and nearly 70% below the January 2025 all-time high of about $26.

The energy markets are on a knife-edge. On February 20, 2026, crude oil benchmarks are surging toward levels not seen in half a year. As geopolitical chess pieces move across the Middle East and U.S. inventory data defies every analyst’s prediction, the question for every trader is simple: Is $70 oil inevitable, or are we at a massive bull trap?

XRP extended its decline below $1.40 and is now trading under $1.420 and the 100-hourly Simple Moving Average while it consolidates recent losses. The price faces immediate resistance around $1.4320 and $1.450, with a key bearish trend line near $1.4620 capping recovery attempts. If XRP fails to clear this zone, support levels at $1.3980, $1.3850 and $1.3620 could come into play on another move lower.

BTCC has introduced BTCC TradFi, enabling users to trade forex, commodities, indices, and stocks alongside tokenized metals, all margined and settled in USDT. The rollout follows strong 2025 performance in tokenized metals, including $5.72 billion in gold volume and a peak daily silver volume of $301 million, with 25+ instruments and leverage up to 500x available.

On Feb. 18, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse avoided giving a direct answer on whether the company plans to buy a bank, instead reiterating Ripple's focus on serving institutional clients and collaborating with existing financial players. He highlighted the growth of Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin, its New York trust license and conditional OCC charter, and argued that clearer US legislation has already boosted demand for stablecoins and XRP Ledger-based payments.

Blockchain analytics firm TRM Labs reported that illicit entities received roughly $141 billion in stablecoins in 2025, the highest level in five years, driven mainly by sanctions-linked networks and large-scale money laundering. Sanctions-related activity made up 86% of all illicit crypto flows, with around $72 billion tied to the Russian ruble-pegged A7A5 token, while overall illicit use represented about 1% of an estimated $12 trillion in annual stablecoin transactions.

MemeCore fell 9.5% in the past 24 hours, with sentiment leaning bearish and its CoinMarketCap ranking under pressure. Spot volume shifted just 0.3% to roughly $5.82 million and holder counts dipped from 6,710 to 6,700, according to CoinMarketCap. CoinGlass flagged a 14.7% capital outflow and funding near neutral.