The strong optimism that boosted the crypto markets in early 2026 has now faded.
A new one report from CoinShares shows that this trend is getting worse. Investment products for digital assets have seen money drained for four weeks in a row.
In the past week alone, investors withdrew $173 million. Over the past month, total outflows have reached $3.74 billion, showing that confidence in the market is declining.
This situation is not just caused by retail investors panicking. Large institutions consciously reduce their risk.
Source: CoinShares
Change in investor sentiment
First, trading activity has slowed sharply, indicating that investors have become more cautious.
At the start of the week, the market saw strong inflows of $575 million, but this quickly turned into a large outflow of $853 million as prices weakened.
A better-than-expected inflation report later in the week provided a brief bounce of $105 million, but did not change the overall trend. An important warning sign was the decline in trading volume.
Trading in crypto investment products fell to $27 billion last week, compared to $63 billion the week before. This shows that fewer people are actively trading.
Second, there was a clear difference between the way investors in the US and other regions behaved. The United States led last week’s recession, with $403 million disappearing from the market in just one week.
Other countries, on the other hand, were still putting money into crypto. Germany added $115 million, Canada $46.3 million and Switzerland $36.8 million.
In total, markets outside the US raised $230 million.
This suggests that while US investors reduced their risks due to economic uncertainty, many European and Canadian investors saw current prices as a good buying opportunity.
Winners and losers
Finally Bitcoin [BTC] faced the strongest selling pressure, while some altcoins held up better. Bitcoin saw an outflow of $133 million and it did trade nearly $68,939 after a 1.79% decline in the past day.
Ethereum [ETH] also faced strong selling pressure, with outflows of $85.1 million, trade about $1,977, after a decline of almost 4%. At the same time, some altcoins showed their strength.
Ripple [XRP] attracted $33.4 million in inflows, despite the price fell to $1.48. Solana [SOL] nevertheless earned $31 million in new investments trade almost $85.56.
Chain link [LINK] also saw small influx and was to cling weak around $8.78. This shows that while major cryptocurrencies are under pressure, some smaller projects are still attracting investor interest.
Is there a Bitcoin or altcoin season coming?
So while the crypto market is going through this mid-February slowdown, there is a clear gap between what people are saying online and what the data is actually showing.
On social media platforms like X, many traders are talking about an upcoming “altcoin season.”
But the numbers tell a different story. The CoinMarketCap Altcoin Season Index currently stands at 31 out of 100. This means the market is still in what is being called “Bitcoin Season.”
All in all, the market is not crashing, but it is not ready to rise either. For now it feels like a wait.
The next big move, whether led by Bitcoin or altcoins, will likely depend on larger economic events that have not yet occurred.
Final summary
- Declining trading volumes and low liquidity make prices more susceptible to small sell-offs.
- The US is leading the current sell-off, while parts of Europe and Canada are quietly building up.