
Bitcoin has remained the focal point of the crypto market in recent weeks, with sharp price swings and shifting investor sentiment setting the tone for the broader sector. While volatility has picked up across major assets, select projects have shown relative strength, supported by improving fundamentals, favorable token dynamics, and fresh ecosystem developments.
Despite ongoing uncertainty and uneven price action, short-term opportunities are beginning to emerge for traders willing to navigate the volatility. In this article, we take a closer look at three cryptocurrencies—Bitcoin, Hyperliquid, and Sky—that stand out due to recent market behavior, structural improvements, and near-term catalysts that could support outperformance in the weeks ahead.
3 Coins with short-term potential in February 2026:
- Bitcoin – A decentralized, peer-to-peer cryptocurrency that enables trustless transactions through blockchain technology and a proof-of-work consensus mechanism. It remains the most widely adopted digital asset, often referred to as digital gold
- Hyperliquid – A layer-1 blockchain built for decentralized trading, offering low fees, minimal slippage, and an on-chain order book with a centralized exchange-like experience
- Sky – A decentralized finance protocol that issues USDS, an overcollateralized stablecoin pegged to the US dollar and governed by the SKY token
Exploring the coins with serious short-term potential
In the next sections, we will present our arguments for why the following three projects have strong potential for bullish short-term performance.
1. Bitcoin
Bitcoin is the first decentralized peer-to-peer cryptocurrency, introduced in 2008 by the pseudonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto and launched in 2009. It pioneered blockchain technology and established the foundation for all digital assets that followed. Using Proof-of-Work, Bitcoin provides strong resistance to censorship, double-spending, and transaction manipulation. Despite the growth of thousands of alternative cryptocurrencies, BTC remains the largest digital asset by market capitalization and is widely seen as a store-of-value asset.
Bitcoin saw a large crash in value last week, slipping from $79,000 to a low of $62,000 reached on February 5th. Since then, Bitcoin has rebounded slightly, but couldn’t break through $71,300, and is currently trading at $69,500 at the time of writing. As Bitcoin prices declined, some investors reduced their exposure to spot Bitcoin ETFs, which recorded around $318 million in net outflows last week.
That said, the picture wasn’t entirely bearish. After heavy outflows earlier in the week, Bitcoin ETFs attracted $371 million in net inflows on Friday (February 6), suggesting that many investors saw prices just above $60,000 as an attractive entry point.
In his latest report on cryptocurrency investment products, CoinShares head of research James Butterfill pointed to early signs of stabilization. He noted that the slowing pace of fund flows could mark an inflection point for the market and may indicate improving investor sentiment.
Looking ahead to this week, Strategy (MSTR), the largest publicly traded Bitcoin treasury company, announced another BTC purchase. The firm acquired 1,142 Bitcoin for $90 million, at an average price of $78,815 per coin.
Strategy has acquired 1,142 BTC for ~$90.0 million at ~$78,815 per bitcoin. As of 2/8/2026, we hodl 714,644 $BTC acquired for ~$54.35 billion at ~$76,056 per bitcoin. $MSTR $STRC https://t.co/4X2c81LQwm
— Michael Saylor (@saylor) February 9, 2026
Although Strategy began accumulating Bitcoin in 2020 when prices were near $11,600, its holdings are currently underwater. The company’s average purchase price stands at $76,056, while Bitcoin is trading around $69,050, roughly 9.2% lower.
2. Hyperliquid
Hyperliquid is a layer-1 blockchain built for decentralized trading, offering low fees, minimal slippage, and an on-chain order book that delivers a centralized exchange-like experience while handling up to 100,000 orders per second. The platform supports a wide range of crypto assets, offers up to 50x leverage on select pairs, and includes copy trading features. In November 2024, Hyperliquid launched its HYPE token through an airdrop to over 90,000 users, earning strong community support due to its broad distribution and lack of venture capital backing, with HYPE serving as both a utility and governance token capped at 1 billion supply and primarily allocated to users.
HYPE has been one of the few outperformers during the recent cryptocurrency market sell-off, recording gains of around 1.8% while Bitcoin and Ethereum both fell by nearly 12%.
A key driver behind HYPE’s resilience is a recent update to its tokenomics. Only 140,000 HYPE tokens are scheduled to be unlocked in February, down sharply from 1.2 million tokens unlocked in January. This reduction has likely eased selling pressure, helping HYPE hold up better than most major cryptocurrencies.
At the same time, Hyperliquid continues to expand its platform. The HIP-3 upgrade introduced new market types, including commodities and equities, while the upcoming HIP-4 upgrade is set to add outcome trading. This feature will enable prediction markets and other bounded, options-style products built on Hyperliquid.
Outcome markets are fully collateralized contracts that settle within predefined ranges, making them a flexible foundation for use cases such as prediction markets and structured derivatives.
Hyperliquid, meet Ripple Prime: https://t.co/RZWdbRfHoe
We’re now enabling institutions to access onchain derivatives liquidity through @HyperliquidX in a streamlined and secure way. Customers can also efficiently cross-margin crypto with all asset classes supported by our prime…
— Ripple (@Ripple) February 4, 2026
The Hyperliquid ecosystem also received an unexpected boost after fintech firm Ripple announced that its Ripple Prime institutional prime brokerage now supports Hyperliquid. Through the integration, Ripple Prime clients can access on-chain liquidity sourced directly from Hyperliquid.
In an official statement, Ripple said the move aligns with its goal of connecting traditional finance with decentralized markets, allowing institutions to tap into DeFi liquidity while benefiting from centralized risk management, consolidated margin, and a single counterparty relationship.
3. Sky
Sky is a decentralized finance protocol that issues and manages USDS, an overcollateralized stablecoin pegged to the US dollar, allowing users to mint USDS by locking supported assets such as ETH into smart contracts while participating in governance through the SKY token. Originally founded as Maker in 2014, the protocol launched its stablecoin as Dai in 2017 and expanded beyond ETH-only collateral with the introduction of Multi-Collateral Dai in 2019, with USDS now backed by a diverse range of assets.
SKY has emerged as another standout performer, gaining 10% over the past week while most major cryptocurrencies posted double-digit losses. The strength reflects the positive momentum across the Sky decentralized ecosystem, which delivered strong results throughout 2025.
.@SkyEcosystem Q4 Update and 2026 Outlook
The full report 🧵⤵️ pic.twitter.com/RdC6Wb6guH
— Sky Ecosystem Insights (@SkyEcoInsights) February 3, 2026
Sky DeFi recorded breakout growth in 2025 while becoming significantly more efficient. Protocol revenue reached $338 million, driven by rapid expansion of the USDS stablecoin, whose supply increased 74% year over year to $9.2 billion, far outpacing overall stablecoin market growth.
At the same time, Sky sharply reduced costs, with core operating expenses falling 63% year over year to just $8.8 million in Q4. Growth initiatives were delegated to autonomous Sky Agents, allowing the core protocol to remain lean. With one-off rebranding transformation costs now behind it, the Sky ecosystem enters 2026 in a structurally stronger and more efficient position.
USDS also strengthened its role as a capital-efficient stablecoin for institutional use. Sky maintained more than $4 billion in instant redemption liquidity through the Peg Stability Module, while zero-slippage USDC to USDS swaps reinforced USDS as a low-friction settlement and liquidity asset.
Adoption remained resilient despite a lower-yield environment. Even as DeFi rates declined and the Sky Savings Rate fell from 12.5% to 4%, USDS continued to attract users. The number of holders increased from 509,000 to 582,000, while supply grew from $5.3 billion to $9.2 billion.
The bottom line
The coins included in this article possess unique characteristics that could help them rally in the coming weeks. Still, you should keep in mind that investing in these coins is still inherently risky and that you shouldn’t approach any kind of investing with a conviction that the investment’s value is guaranteed to increase.
To offset some of the risks, you could consider investing in cryptocurrencies that are best suitable for the long term. If you want a middle-of-the-road approach, you can also check out our list of the best cryptocurrencies to buy right now, which is updated weekly and features a healthy mix of smaller projects with high potential and well-established cryptocurrencies.
