- Bittensor price rose to highs of $207 amid Upbit’s listing announcement.
- However, buyers retreated and saw TAO touch lows of $179.
- The daily chart signals a potential bullish move, and $300 could be the next target.
Bittensor (TAO) has retested the $200 mark, reaching intraday highs of $207 in early trading on Monday as top cryptocurrencies look to hold key levels.
While the TAO price made gains in early trading, it has fluctuated heavily in the past hours, with the volatility coming amid a major exchange listing and broader market weakness.
Bittensor pares gains as Upbit lists TAO pairs
At the time of writing, TAO traded around $185, slightly off intraday highs and about 2% down in the past 24 hours.
The latest uptick and subsequent sharp decline align with the listing announcement from South Korea’s leading cryptocurrency exchange, Upbit.
신규 디지털 자산 비트텐서(TAO) 거래지원 안내
✅ 지원 마켓: KRW, BTC, USDT 마켓
📅 거래지원 개시 시점 : 2026-02-16 16:00 KST 예정🔗공지 바로가기:https://t.co/2Zre01hLuM#Upbit #TAO@opentensor pic.twitter.com/3LsILJZxU5
— Upbit Korea (@Official_Upbit) February 16, 2026
The exchange has added TAO pairs on its spot trading platform, a development that sparked immediate price action.
According to Upbit, traders can now access TAO/KRW, TAO/BTC, and TAO/USDT trading pairs as of Feb.16, which is a notable move set to bolster accessibility for TAO across one of Asia’s largest crypto markets.
Localized demand has often seen tokens listed on Korean exchanges post sharp gains, and that’s what TAO experienced.
However, amid profit taking, which has coincided with a 51% uptick in daily volume, prices have revisited support at $179.
Can Bittensor hold onto momentum?
Beyond the Upbit catalyst, Bittensor’s recent price rally from lows of $145 ties closely to a recent pivotal leadership shift.
This is because Jacob Steeves, known as “const,” announced he had stepped down as CEO of the OpenTensor Foundation, marking a key transition to a “headless” protocol free from centralized control.
Steeves’ announcement amplified decentralization sentiment among investors, positioning Bittensor as a resilient AI infrastructure play.
With dynamic TAO upgrades and subnet competition already live, the protocol now operates as a self-sustaining ecosystem.
Grayscale has also highlighted potential institutional interest in the token, particularly with its TAO ETP filing.
Bittensor price prediction: more pain or $300 next?
The cryptocurrency market’s struggles have led to most altcoins tracking losses over the past several months.
Bittensor price mirrors this outlook, and with Bitcoin constrained around $70,000, sentiment remains largely bearish.
Despite this, can TAO break towards the $300 mark?
The daily chart paints a slightly bullish picture, given the RSI and MACD indicators.
Bulls can solidify control near $180 and look to reclaim the critical $200 level.
Such a breakout from the descending channel could allow buyers to target the 50-day moving average and swing highs of $240.
From here, the next target of $300 would come into view.
However, failure to successfully reclaim $200 risks a retest of demand zones seen in recent months.
The area around $144 could mark a key short-term support level.
