Why Crypto Markets Are Under Pressure Today: Understanding the Digital Asset Selloff

Digital assets experienced significant selling pressure on February 12, 2026, with major cryptocurrencies retreating across the board. Bitcoin (BTC) is trading at $67,450 with a 24-hour decline of 1.37%, while Ethereum (ETH) has fallen 2.50% over the same period. BNB dropped 0.59%, Solana (SOL) declined 3.75%, and XRP retreated 2.20%. The broader market decline signals that today’s crypto crashing isn’t driven by a single headline, but rather stems from a confluence of technical and sentiment factors that have been building for weeks.

The Liquidation Cascade Pushing Markets Lower

The current crypto market selloff is fundamentally driven by the forced closure of leveraged positions. As Bitcoin weakness accelerated, long positions faced mounting pressure, triggering margin calls and automatic liquidations. Over the past 24 hours alone, approximately $237 million worth of BTC long positions were closed out. This represents a continuation of a much larger unwind: weekly liquidations have totaled around $2.16 billion, while monthly figures exceed $4.4 billion. These numbers reveal that today’s decline is not an isolated event, but rather the latest chapter in an ongoing deleveraging cycle.

When positions are liquidated, they transform into market sell orders that push prices lower. This triggers additional liquidations, creating a self-reinforcing downward spiral. Because Bitcoin dominates the derivatives market ecosystem, this cascade of forced selling ripples through altcoin markets as traders simultaneously reduce exposure across all risk assets.

Weeks of Leverage Unwinding Accelerate

The derivatives market is experiencing rapid deleveraging as leverage clears from the system. Over the past 24 hours, open interest in perpetual futures contracts fell 4.4%, wiping approximately $26 billion in derivative exposure off the books. Examining the broader monthly trend reveals even more significant deleveraging: total open interest has declined roughly 34% over the past four weeks. This indicates that the recent price weakness is not an anomaly, but rather the acceleration phase of a prolonged risk reduction process.

The rapid leverage clearing demonstrates that market participants—particularly those with leveraged positions—have been moving defensively for an extended period. Today’s decline appears to have triggered a cascading effect among traders who were already positioned cautiously or waiting for a defined breaking point.

Broader Risk-Off Mood Adds Pressure

The crypto market decline reflects broader market dynamics beyond the digital asset space. Weakness has spread through European equity markets, and concerns surrounding tighter monetary policy have fostered a risk-averse environment globally. This shift toward risk aversion has intensified pressure on alternative asset classes like cryptocurrencies.

Additionally, large cryptocurrency holders have experienced significant unrealized losses. The Strategy team alone faces approximately $900 million in unrealized losses on Bitcoin positions, which has sparked concerns about potential selling pressure. In a market already displaying extreme fear sentiment, these large unrealized losses have heightened nervousness and contributed to the defensive positioning across altcoins.

Critical Price Levels and Market Outlook

For Bitcoin’s near-term trajectory, the $75,000 level represents the key technical floor. Holding above this support could allow risk appetite to stabilize and reduce forced liquidation pressure. A decisive break below this level would likely bring $70,000 into focus as the next major support zone.

For the broader market recovery, two conditions are essential: Bitcoin must stabilize at critical support levels, and the pace of liquidations must slow. Until these conditions materialize, volatility will likely remain elevated and any attempted recoveries may struggle to gain traction. Understanding why crypto is crashing today requires recognizing that this is not panic-driven chaos, but rather the visible phase of systematic leverage clearing that has been gradually building throughout the past month. Market stabilization depends primarily on Bitcoin’s ability to establish and defend support while liquidation pressure continues to ease.