Crypto DeMark Sentiment Index — 2026-02-18

Core-Brief February 18, 2026

Source

Crypto Sentiment — 2026-02-18

Current tone: negative

Latest score: 7.4/100

Cross-coin dispersion: 43.0 pts

Crypto market tone is evolving as leadership rotates. Scan the Forward return playbook for context, then the Coin map for leaders (TRON, Ethereum) and laggards (Avalanche, Litecoin).

Scan the Forward return playbook for context, then the Coin map for leadership and laggards.

Forward return playbook (BTC)

Historical medians and hit ratios from past dates that looked similar to today (same regime + tight score band).

Horizon	Median BTC	Hit Ratio	N
1M	6.0%	63.3%	60
3M	3.5%	56.7%	60
6M	-8.2%	38.3%	60

Coin map (0=cold, 100=hot)

Leading / Hot

TRON: 43.1/100
Ethereum: 11.3/100
Toncoin: 10.5/100
BNB: 8.3/100

Lagging / Cold

Avalanche: 0.1/100
Litecoin: 0.2/100
Polkadot: 1.8/100
Chainlink: 1.8/100

Neutral

Bitcoin: 4.9/100
XRP: 4.0/100
Dogecoin: 3.8/100
Cardano: 3.8/100
Solana: 1.8/100

Read-through

Higher dispersion often means selection matters more than beta.
Use the playbook as a bias check, then size risk around the coin map (leaders vs laggards).