How Ethereum reacted to the Personal Consumption Expenditures on 20 February 2026

Measured by Clometrix

Ethereum's volatility ratio was 3.68x, against 1.77x for a typical PCE release since 2021. Its volume ratio was 4.17x, against a typical 2.11x. That is more than twice what this release usually does. Both compare the quarter hour of the release with an ordinary quarter hour that same day, where 1.00x is no change: volatility is how far the price ranged, volume how much traded.

How Ethereum moved

Ethereum was at $1,946.71 when the figure came out. Fifteen minutes later it was 0.94% lower, and an hour later 0.34% lower. Its high-to-low range in the hour after was 1.23% of its price, against 0.67% in the hour before.

The release

Released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis on 20 February 2026 at 8:30 AM EST. The Personal Consumption Expenditures came in at 0.3% for December 2025, against 0.2% in October 2025. Prices are rising faster than before.

It arrived at the same moment as Gross Domestic Product Report, Personal Income and Outlays and Core Personal Consumption Expenditures, so the reaction measured on this page belongs to all of them together.

What made it matter

Since 2021, PCE releases in the two weeks before a Fed decision have moved Ethereum about as much as those at other times: a median volatility ratio of 1.86x across 18, against 1.72x across 52. This one was not within two weeks of a Fed decision. Its own ratio of 3.68x compares with 1.72x for those, so it moved the price more than its circumstances alone would suggest.

Its record

Across 70 PCE releases since 2021, Ethereum's median volatility ratio is 1.79x.

What it means

Ethereum recorded an exceptional reaction to the data cluster that included the December PCE release. Volatility reached 3.68x its typical quarter-hour level, more than double the 1.80x median across 69 PCE releases since 2021. Volume expanded to 4.17x against a usual 2.15x.

It fell 0.94% within fifteen minutes and 0.34% after one hour, while the high-low range widened to 1.23% from 0.67% in the prior hour. The release arrived alongside GDP, personal income and core PCE prints.

This move exceeded what the timing alone would indicate. PCE releases within two weeks of a Federal Reserve decision have shown a median volatility ratio of 1.86x, nearly identical to the 1.77x median outside that window. The current release occurred 25 days before the March policy meeting. Traders may note that an individual release can still produce outsized volatility even when removed from the immediate pre-Fed period, as this instance demonstrates against the event's longer record.

What is the Personal Consumption Expenditures?

Every PCE release for Ethereum