The global crypto market rose to $2.4 trillion on Feb. 21, up 0.8% over the past 24 hours, while total trading volume reached $114.9 billion. Prices moved slightly higher, but market sentiment remained weak, with the Crypto Fear & Greed Index holding at 8, still deep in extreme fear territory.
Bitcoin and Ethereum posted modest gains
Bitcoin traded at $67,861.75, up 0.9% in 24 hours, with volume of $46.86 billion and a market capitalization of $1.35 trillion. BTC dominance stood at 56.5%. Ethereum changed hands at $1,964.12, up 0.35%, with trading volume of $21.23 billion and market cap near $237 billion. ETH dominance was 9.86%.
Among other large-cap tokens, XRP rose to $1.42, up 0.69%. Solana climbed to $84.56, gaining 2.06%, while Cardano advanced to $0.2824, up 3.11%. The move higher was visible across several majors, though not across the entire market.
MORPHO and ZRO topped gainers while AAVE led losses
MORPHO led the 24-hour gainers, trading at $1.59 after a 13.82% jump, with trading activity of $51.64 million. LayerZero’s ZRO followed at $1.70, up 13.63%, on volume of $104.83 million. INJ rose to $3.45, gaining 7.03%.
On the losing side, AAVE fell to $114.87, down 8.65%, with trading activity around $475.47 million. CHZ dropped to $0.03594, losing 6.96%, while NIGHT slipped to $0.06061, down 3.55%. The split between strong gainers and sharp decliners showed that capital remained concentrated in selected names.
Stablecoins and DeFi both expanded
The stablecoin segment posted a 0.2% increase over the past 24 hours, reaching a market capitalization of $309.99 billion with trading volume of $96 billion. The DeFi market gained 1.7% to $50 billion, while trading volume stood at $3.8 billion. DeFi dominance was reported at 2.1%.
Extreme fear persisted as policy and macro headlines stayed in focus
The Fear & Greed Index was 8 on the day, compared with 7 a day earlier, 9 a week earlier, and 20 a month earlier. The reading improved slightly from the prior day, but remained firmly in the extreme fear range.
Markets were also digesting several policy and macro updates. U.S. President Donald Trump said on Truth Social that he had signed a White House policy imposing a 10% global baseline tariff, effective almost immediately. In U.S. economic data, core PCE for December 2025 rose 3.0% year over year and 0.4% month over month, while headline PCE came in at 2.9%. Personal income increased 0.3% and spending rose 0.4%. Separately, Russia’s central bank said foreign crypto exchanges could operate locally by registering subsidiaries, though digital currencies would remain banned for domestic payments.
Compared with Feb. 20, the crypto market cap increased from $2.38 trillion to $2.4 trillion, while the daily gain widened from 0.3% to 0.8%. Trading volume climbed from $87.5 billion to $114.9 billion. Activity picked up. Sentiment did not.