Over the past several weeks, XRP, Shiba Inu and Bitcoin have faced furious bearish pressure on the market: XRP, for example, struggled at key moving averages; Shiba Inu attempted to break free from a prolonged triangle formation; and Bitcoin tried to find grounds for a recovery — all without much success. However, the selling pressure is winding down, and sentiment can shift at any given moment.

XRP bears giving up?

Over the past few weeks, XRP has been consistently under bearish pressure, with sellers holding sway after the asset was unable to recover the $3 psychological level. Right now, XRP is trading at about $2.081, just above the 100-day EMA, which has served as a crucial support line. Investors now need to determine if the bears have more fuel in their tanks or if exhaustion is starting to set in.

An extended pullback after the July peak near $3.70 is visible on the chart:

• XRP has not crashed, as some had anticipated, despite market pressure from lower highs and persistent selling. Rather, buyers appear willing to defend in the $2.75-$2.85 range, where price action has stabilized. This consolidation might indicate that bears are losing ground.

• This outlook is supported by volume data. The declining trading activity suggests a significant slowdown in selling interest. Volume usually rises during breakdowns on bear markets, but the limited participation during XRP’s most recent declines suggests that sellers are losing faith.

Technically, the RSI is at 44, which indicates a slight bearishness but is still well below oversold extremes. This implies that, while there is still potential for a decline, the circumstances for a disastrous plunge are not always present. A more dramatic sell-off below the 200-day EMA seems unlikely in the absence of a significant catalyst, but a decline toward the 200-day EMA at $2.50 is still possible if overall market sentiment deteriorates.

Bitcoin’s comeback

Following a decline below $110,000 earlier in the week, Bitcoin has made an unexpected comeback, regaining the $112,000 level. On the surface, such a move might seem bullish, but it is also among the riskiest and least convincing recoveries the asset has displayed in recent months.

With the 50-day EMA close to $115,000 serving as a ceiling, Bitcoin is currently trading between $110,900 and $112,600, just below important resistance levels. It is challenging to categorize this rebound as a strong one because it occurred with a low trading volume. Low-volume recoveries close to crucial price thresholds have a history of losing momentum and resuming downward drift.

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Technical indicators draw attention to the degree of uncertainty. However, it does not show much buying enthusiasm, the RSI stays neutral at 45, allowing Bitcoin to rise. In the meantime, the 200-day EMA is at $104,000, which could act as a downside magnet if buyers are unable to hold $110,000. From a psychological standpoint, both bulls and bears now find $112,000 to be an uncomfortable pivot zone.

Although history demonstrates that volatility is frequently preceded by sharp low-volume recoveries, investors may view this as a short-term opportunity. If Bitcoin is unable to break through the $115,000 barrier, it may swiftly return to the $108,000-$106,000 level.

Traders need to exercise caution. Although there is some respite from the recent rebound, it lacks the volume and structural support that usually validates long-term improvements. It might be better for long-term investors to hold off on reevaluating bullish positions until consolidation occurs above $115,000.

To put it briefly, Bitcoin’s $112,000 comeback is surprising but precarious. In the absence of increased volume and momentum, the digital gold could revert, reminding investors that the current market cycle is still dominated by volatility.

Shiba Inu: Cautious optimism

Shiba Inu has spent a large portion of the year in a protracted downward trend, failing to make significant progress as other assets tried to recover. But, at last, a significant positive indication might be showing up on the charts, giving SHIB holders cause for cautious optimism.

SHIB is now trading close to $0.0000122 and has been following a symmetrical triangle pattern that is getting smaller. Significantly, recent candles indicate that sellers might be losing ground as SHIB tries to turn upward from the triangle’s lower boundary. Following weeks of consolidation and numerous setbacks at higher resistance levels, this is the first genuine indication of bullish strength.

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The moving averages are starting to come into play as well. SHIB has repeatedly tested the 50-day EMA without breaking sharply lower, indicating that buyers are likely protecting this region. Should momentum persist, SHIB may move in the direction of the 100-day EMA at $0.0000130 and then attempt to break through the 200-day EMA at $0.0000139, a crucial level that would validate a longer-term reversal.

The relative strength index (RSI), which has leveled off at 46 and is suggesting that it may rise, is another positive indication. That permits upward momentum without running the risk of running out of energy right away.

For investors, this suggests that SHIB might be about to enter a transitional phase, where the downward momentum is waning, but it does not ensure a complete breakout. If SHIB closes above the 100-day EMA and stays there, there may be a significant increase in confidence in a short-term recovery.

Although bearish influence has not fully disappeared, the downside momentum across XRP, SHIB and Bitcoin is showing signs of exhaustion. Buyers are defending key levels, but without stronger volume and bullish support, any potential rallies risk losing steam. Until structural support and sustained breakouts above major resistance levels materialize, the market’s current state remains fragile.

BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes is providing his end-of-2025 price targets for the top two crypto assets by market cap.

In a new blog post, Hayes predicts that in less than six months Bitcoin (BTC) will soar by more than 111% its current value, while Ethereum (ETH) will increase by more than 179% its current value.

“My year-end targets:

Bitcoin = $250,000.

Ether = $10,000.”

Hayes also says that Ethereum is primed for an explosive breakout, in part, due to growing adoption by traditional finance, adding that the current holdings of his family office, Maelstrom Fund, are heavily invested in the top altcoin by market cap.

“It’s pretty simple: Maelstrom is fully invested. Because we are degens (degenerates), the shitcoin space offers amazing opportunities to outperform Bitcoin, the crypto reserve asset. The coming Ether bull run is about to tear the market a new a**hole. Ever since Solana rose from the FTX ashes from $7 to $280, Ether has been the most hated large-cap crypto. No more; the Western institutional investor class, whose chief cheerleader is [Fundstrat co-founder] Tom Lee, loves Ether.

Buy first, ask questions later. Or don’t and be that sourpuss in the corner sippin’ on a piss-like tasting light beer at the clerb while a gaggle of humans you rate as less than intelligent burn their money on bubbly water at the table over yonder. This ain’t financial advice, so do you. Maelstrom is doing all things Ethereum, all things DeFi (decentralized finance), all things degen powered by ERC-20 shitcoins.”

Bitcoin is trading for $117,982 at time of writing, down 1.5% in the last 24 hours. Meanwhile, Ethereum is trading for $3,572 at time of writing, down 3.6% on the day.

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Disclaimer: Opinions expressed at The Daily Hodl are not investment advice. Investors should do their due diligence before making any high-risk investments in Bitcoin, cryptocurrency or digital assets. Please be advised that your transfers and trades are at your own risk, and any losses you may incur are your responsibility. The Daily Hodl does not recommend the buying or selling of any cryptocurrencies or digital assets, nor is The Daily Hodl an investment advisor. Please note that The Daily Hodl participates in affiliate marketing.

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Ethereum’s upcoming Pectra upgrade faced an unexpected challenge on Feb. 24 that impacted its testing on the Holesky testnet.

On Feb. 27, Tim Beiko, Ethereum Foundation Protocol Support Lead, explained that the failure resulted from execution clients—Geth, Nethermind, and Besu—using incorrect deposit contract addresses.

This misconfiguration triggered an execution layer (EL) bug, leading to chain splits. As a result, a minority chain remained valid, degrading the network’s overall health.

The issue has sparked discussions about the resilience of Ethereum’s upgrade process, mainly since Pectra will introduce significant changes to the blockchain network. The upgrade has been described as Ethereum’s most ambitious hard fork and was split into two phases focusing on enhancing developer and user experiences.

Christine Kim of Galaxy Digital pointed out that losing Holesky as a reliable test environment complicates Ethereum’s upgrade process.

She wrote:

“It’s clear the community has lost some major testing capabilities with the loss of holesky. there isn’t a testnet comparable to holesky now that dapp develops can test pectra on.”

What next?

Ethereum core developers have already begun efforts to patch the issue, and they will initiate a mass validator slashing event on Feb. 28 at 15:00 UTC.

Beiko outlined key steps for validators, which included:

• Updating and syncing their nodes.
• Disabling slashing protection shortly before slot 3,737,760.

He stated that the goal was simultaneously bringing enough Holesky validators online to finalize a block on the correct chain. Any validator that previously attested to the invalid chain would be slashed. This would enable consensus layer (CL) clients to locate peers and sync with the valid network.

However, despite these efforts, Holesky will experience another period of non-finality for up to three weeks. During this time, slashed validators will exit, reducing their stake below the required 33%. Once this threshold is reached, the remaining validators can finalize the chain properly.

Beiko acknowledged that while this recovery method works for a testnet, it wouldn’t be viable on Ethereum’s mainnet. Developers are already exploring ways to ensure that nodes can be redirected to a minority chain more efficiently in future scenarios.

Will this affect Pectra’s timeline?

Beiko’s update did not answer whether the Holesky setback would impact the Pectra upgrade timeline.

According to him:

“We’ll need to discuss what other testing we were hoping to get out of Holesky and the best way to do that before moving forward with scheduling a mainnet fork date. We’ll discuss this on next week’s ACDC, but it’s unlikely we’ll be setting a mainnet fork date right then.”

Despite this uncertainty, Beiko noted that the developers remain committed to launching Pectra’s next testnet upgrade on Sepolia on March 5.

Unlike Holesky or mainnet, Sepolia operates with a permissioned validator set controlled by client and testing teams. This structure allows for faster coordination and reduces the risk of similar disruptions.

He added:

“Forking Sepolia sooner will give us a longer testing window for Pectra.”

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