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On the morning of August 18, Bitcoin ($BTC) is trading around $64.3k, having been in a narrow range of $62–65k since early July. Ethereum ($ETH) is trading above $1.9k, remaining in the $1.83–1.95k range for the second week. The price of the leading cryptocurrency added over 1%, while the second one remained virtually unchanged over the past 24 hours.
In the catalogs of major online exchanger aggregators, offers to sell the stablecoin $USDT on the TRC20 standard for cash rubles or via SBP transfers start from 88.2 rubles per 1 $USDT.
The total cryptocurrency market capitalization is around $2.19 trillion. The Crypto Fear & Greed Index stands at 41 points (the "Fear" zone) out of 100 possible — this indicates that investors are still inclined to sell cryptocurrencies. The index rose by 10 points over the day.
Among the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization over the past 24 hours, Venice Token (VVV) — the native token of an artificial intelligence platform — showed the largest gain of 10%. The token of the Worldcoin (WLD) project, which is developing infrastructure for AI identification on the internet, fell the most during this time — an 11% drop.
Regarding capital inflows into Bitcoin-based exchange-traded funds (ETFs), inflows for the trading session on August 17 exceeded $137 million. $ETH-based funds recorded minimal inflows of almost $3 million.
Bitcoin News
On August 17, Bitcoin showed a slight increase, rising above $64.3k, becoming one of the few assets with positive dynamics in global markets — gold and major U.S. indices (S&P 500, NASDAQ) showed a slight decline of about 1%. The price of the leading cryptocurrency became more correlated with oil prices (an increase of about 1%) than with stocks or metals, as had happened before.
Analytical company Glassnode shared an observation: over the past three months, $BTC has shown better dynamics than the S&P 500 in about one-third of trading days. They also questioned whether this situation will persist or if it is "just another episode within statistics."
However, some experts do not expect significant positive shifts in the dynamics of the leading cryptocurrency's price in the near future, noting a higher probability of sideways movement in the $66–67k range. Arguments cited include the absence of positive macroeconomic factors and institutional capital inflows that accompanied the cryptocurrency's growth in the past.
Other experts are preparing for a "final" drop below $60k before the start of a new bull cycle in the coming months. Analysts from the Bitfinex cryptocurrency exchange noted that Bitcoin is showing signs of a "late-stage" bear market.
Cryptocurrency News
Regarding the altcoin market, the most significant news concerns the Ethereum blockchain, which is preparing for one of its largest updates in recent months. Developers warned that in the upcoming Glamsterdam update (late this year), many tools may stop working due to changes in fee collection settings in the network. This is also important because many popular blockchain networks and applications on the market borrow transaction operation settings from Ethereum. Developers cited examples of wallets, indexers, and transaction cost calculators that may stop working.
Simultaneously, the $ETH price continues to show positive dynamics relative to Bitcoin in recent weeks. Traditionally, the growth of $ETH relative to $BTC is seen as an indicator of investor interest in the altcoin market.
The head of Bitmine, the largest corporate holder of $ETH, Tom Lee, stated that he views such dynamics as a sign that investors are beginning to account for the growing demand for Ethereum from tokenization and applications using AI agents.
This statement comes against the backdrop of the company's continued accumulation of $ETH as a reserve — according to the report, they increased reserves by almost 10 thousand $ETH, continuing a series of weekly purchases that began in June 2025. The total balance reached 5.815 million $ETH or $11 billion at the rate of August 18.
