The post Bitcoin, ether little changed before U.S. inflation report: Crypto Markets Today appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.

Bitcoin BTC$68,669.09 rose to test $67,000 early Friday and was quickly rebuffed, though it remains about 1% higher since midnight UTC with ether ETH$2,034.65 rising half as much. The derivatives market, too, is showing signs of positivity. The CoinDesk 20 Index (CD20) is little changed, up just 0.7% in the period. While the gains mark a recovery from yesterday’s U.S. trading, which saw the cryptocurrency market fall back toward last week’s lows, bitcoin is still on track for a fourth straight week of declines. That’s the longest falling streak since mid-November. Meantime, a slowdown in trading and fading volatility are weighing on volumes. It’s likely that traders are looking to the U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) print coming later today for hints on direction. A higher-than-forecast reading could lift bond yields and the dollar, putting additional pressure on risk assets. A lower reading might signal the easier conditions that are more conducive to risk-taking. Even so, it will take quite a jump to push the bitcoin price to $85,000, a level that Deribiti’s chief commercial officer, Jean-David Péquignot, said would signal the largest cryptocurrency’s long-term rally is no longer “broken.” Derivatives The market is showing signs of renewed life as open interest (OI) dropped to $15.5 billion, suggesting a cleanup of late-cycle leverage. Perpetual funding rates have flipped neutral to positive across all venues, now ranging between 0% and 8%. This broader optimism is being mirrored by institutions, as the three-month annualized basis spiked to just over 3%, signaling the first real uptick in professional conviction. The bitcoin options market shows returning call volume at 65%, even as the one-week 25-delta skew eased to 17.9%. Despite this “bottom-fishing” activity, the implied volatility (IV) term structure remains in short-term backwardation, confirming that traders are still paying a high “panic premium” for…

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Filed under: News - @ February 13, 2026 3:30 pm