Bitcoin at $81,425, Ether at $2,638: crypto prices today, September 19, 2026

Bitcoin traded at about $81,425 on Coinbase on Saturday afternoon, up 0.6% over the past 24 hours and 5.4% from a week ago. Ether was at $2,638, up 1% on the day. Every major coin we track is higher over seven days, and Avalanche's AVAX stood out with a 17.5% gain in 24 hours.

Prices at a glance

Coinbase Exchange prices at about 2:30 PM ET on September 19. The 24-hour change compares the latest trade with the price 24 hours earlier. The 7-day change compares it with the September 12 daily close (UTC).

What moved

Most of this week's gain came on Friday. Cointelegraph reported that Bitcoin pushed past $80,000 around the Wall Street open, and that roughly $250 million in short positions across crypto were liquidated over four hours, citing CoinGlass data. Saturday has been quieter, with Bitcoin holding a narrow range between about $80,820 and $81,925 over the past 24 hours on Coinbase. The rise came in the same week the Federal Reserve raised rates to a 3.75%-4% range.

AVAX was the outlier, climbing from about $8.21 to $9.64 in 24 hours. We did not find a news report in CoinDesk, Cointelegraph or official releases that explains the move, so treat it as a price move without a confirmed cause for now. Sharp single-day jumps in smaller coins can reverse just as fast.

Regulation in focus

Regulators are moving ahead after the Senate failed to advance the CLARITY Act on September 15. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission sent a crypto market rulemaking, titled "Regulation Crypto Asset Transactions and Regulation Crypto Asset Markets," to the White House for review. The filing is at the early "prerule" stage and its details are not public, Cointelegraph reported.

Separately, Coinbase filed with the CFTC on Friday to list perpetual futures on individual U.S. stocks, which would not expire and would trade 24 hours a day, five days a week, according to Cointelegraph. The contracts still need regulatory approval. Stablecoin firm Bastion also received conditional OCC approval for a national trust bank charter, Cointelegraph reported.

What traders are watching

• Treasury yields and oil: Friday's crypto rally came alongside rising long-term bond yields and oil supply worries.
• U.S. data next week: see the week ahead.
• Rulemaking: any detail on the CFTC's crypto market rules once they are formally proposed.

Sources: Coinbase Exchange price data; Cointelegraph. Crypto assets are volatile. This is market information, not investment advice.