5 Crypto Market Moves to Watch Before Traditional Markets Open on February 18, 2026

While Wall Street sleeps, digital assets never close. Here’s what’s moving the needle in the 24/7 markets before the opening bell.

1. The Overnight Narrative Shift

Forget yesterday’s headlines. Sentiment in decentralized forums and on-chain metrics have flipped overnight—bullish whispers are turning into coordinated buys. The ‘smart money’ in crypto operates on a different clock.

2. The Pre-Market Whale Watch

Five significant wallet movements have already signaled intent. Large, undisclosed transfers between cold wallets and into lending protocols often precede volatility. In traditional finance, this would be insider trading; here, it’s just a public ledger doing its job.

3. The Asia-Pacific Catalyst

The trading day began hours ago in Hong Kong and Singapore. Regulatory whispers from a major jurisdiction are pushing capital flows. Legacy markets will react to this news at 9:30 AM ET; crypto priced it in at 3:30 AM.

4. The Technical Pressure Cooker

Key logarithmic resistance levels on multiple major assets are being tested. A breakout here could trigger a cascade of algorithmic buys. The old market’s charts are drawn in pencil; crypto’s are etched in real-time by billions in liquidity.

5. The Macro Shadow

Futures are pointing to a flat open for the S&P. Crypto, however, is pricing in a different reality—one where monetary policy lag is a relic and digital bearer assets are the hedge. The divergence tells the real story.

The opening bell is just a ceremonial echo. The real action—and the real alpha—has been trading for hours. After all, waiting for a stock exchange to open to manage your wealth is like waiting for the bank manager to arrive to approve your own money.

Stocks Point Higher After Tuesday's Slight Gains

Stock futures are gaining ground this morning as investors digest a steady flow of earnings reports and disclosures from major investors. (see below). Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 were recently up 0.2% and 0.4%, respectively, while those linked to the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.5%. Each of the major indexes posted modest gains yesterday following the break on Monday for Presidents' Day. Stocks were coming off their biggest weekly losses of 2026. Gold futures were up 0.7% at $4,945 an ounce in recent trading, while WTI futures, the U.S. crude oil benchmark, jumped 2.7% to $64 per barrel. bitcoin was little changed at around $68,000 as the cryptocurrency's recent volatility looks to have settled, with prices ranging between $65,000 and $70,000 for the last week or so. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which affects interest rates on all sorts of loans, was at 4.07%, up from 4.05% at yesterday's close.

Berkshire Dumped Amazon Stock in Buffett's Last Quarter as CEO

Berkshire Hathaway's quarterly 13F report was released after the closing bell yesterday, revealing the changes in the company's investment portfolio in Warren Buffett's final quarter as CEO. The firm sold about 10.3 million shares, or 4%, of its longtime stake in Apple (AAPL), which it has been trimming often in recent years, along with 7.7 million shares, which amounts to 75% of its stake in Amazon (AMZN). Berkshire also again sold some of its stake in Bank of America (BAC), while initiating a stake in the New York Times Company (NYT) of just over 5 million shares, worth about $350 million.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Slides on Weak Forecast

Palo Alto Networks (PANW) shares are sinking this morning after the cybersecurity software provider's profit outlook disappointed. The company's fiscal second quarter revenue of $2.59 billion and adjusted earnings per share of $1.03 each came in just above what analysts had forecast. While the company lifted its outlook for its revenue and contract backlog for the full year, it also lowered its profit forecast. The outlook is affected by the impacts of integrating two recent acquisitions, which will boost sales but also increase costs. Shares of Palo Alto Networks were down more than 7% recently at their lowest level since last April, extending a recent slide as software stocks have had a rough start to the year.

A Pair of Chip Stocks Surge After Earnings Reports

Shares of chip design software firm Cadence Design Systems (CDNS) and chipmaker Analog Devices (ADI) surged Wednesday after the companies beat estimates in their latest quarterly earnings. Cadence reported revenue of $1.44 billion and adjusted EPS of $1.99, each up year-over-year and above what analysts had forecast. Cadence's outlook for 2026 also came in largely above expectations. Analog Devices also beat estimates with revenue of $3.16 billion and adjusted earnings of $2.46 per share. Shares of each company were up about 6% in recent premarket trading.

Applied Digital, Recursion Sink as Nvidia Discloses Sale of Stakes

Another 13F report released yesterday was from Nvidia (NVDA), the AI chip giant whose investments in other AI companies have boosted a number of stocks in recent years. In its latest filing, Nvidia disclosed that in the fourth quarter of 2025 it sold its stakes in Applied Digital (APLD), Arm Holdings (ARM), Recursion Pharmaceuticals (RXRX) and WeRide (WRD). Shares of Applied Digital, Recursion, and WeRide each fell Wednesday morning. Nvidia kept its stakes in CoreWeave (CRWV) and the Nebius Group (NBIS) unchanged, while opening stakes in Nokia (NOK) and Synopsys (SNPS) worth about $1.08 billion and $2.26 billion, respectively, in the quarter.