Bitcoin and ether have regained substantial order-book liquidity since the October 2025 market crash, with available buy and sell orders now exceeding previous levels. Altcoins, however, continue to experience declining liquidity, and spot trading volumes remain significantly below their peak during the crash week.
One year after crypto’s largest liquidation event, market conditions reveal a growing divide between major cryptocurrencies and smaller tokens. Bitcoin and ether have rebuilt their order books, attracting more capital near current prices than they had on the crash date or at the beginning of 2026. Altcoin markets and spot trading activity have shown a much weaker recovery.
On the morning of Oct. 10, 2025, bitcoin traded near $122,600 after recently reaching an all-time high above $126,000. Hours later, the price plunged below $105,000, with a substantial portion of the decline unfolding within minutes during thin U.S. evening trading. The drop followed President Donald Trump’s announcement of 100% tariffs on Chinese imports and triggered more than $19 billion in leveraged liquidations in a single day.
CoinDesk Research evaluated liquidity across major centralized exchanges using data from Jan. 1, 2025, Oct. 10, 2025, Jan. 1, 2026, and the current week. Market depth represents the value of buy and sell orders positioned close to an asset’s prevailing price. A deeper order book generally allows larger trades to execute with less price disruption.
Bitcoin’s order-book depth has improved across all the comparison dates. On Oct. 7, approximately $11.7 million in buy and sell orders was available within 1% of its market price. This was about 75% higher than the level recorded on the crash date, compared with roughly $9 million at the start of 2026 and $6.9 million in early 2025.
The increase reflects more than price changes. Bitcoin now trades roughly one-third below its pre-crash level, so the greater dollar value of nearby orders suggests that market makers have committed additional capital to supporting liquidity.
Most of the gains are concentrated close to the current price, where market makers are most active. At a 5% distance from the price, bitcoin’s order-book depth stands at around $24 million, approximately matching its level in January 2025.
Ether has recorded an even more pronounced recovery in certain trading ranges. Liquidity within 0.5% of its price has more than doubled since the crash to approximately $4.2 million. Within 1%, depth has climbed around 75% to roughly $5.3 million, surpassing the levels recorded at the beginning of both 2025 and 2026.
CoinDesk Researcher Saksham Diwan said the increased liquidity in bitcoin and ether represents additional capital rather than an effect caused by price movements.
The recovery has already faced renewed pressure. During this week’s market sell-off, bitcoin’s order-book depth within 1% of its price fell approximately 12% between Oct. 7 and Oct. 8. Ether’s liquidity declined slightly in its narrowest price range, although available orders farther from the market price increased.
Smaller cryptocurrencies have experienced a different trend. Data from CoinDesk Research’s altcoin basket show that dollar-denominated order-book depth was highest on Jan. 1, 2025, and has declined at every subsequent measurement point.
Altcoin depth within 5% of market prices has dropped by approximately one-third since early 2025 to around $2 million. Within 1% of prices, liquidity has decreased by roughly one-sixth.
Measured by the number of tokens rather than their dollar value, altcoin depth appears comparatively stable. It peaked at the beginning of 2026 and has declined only slightly since. Analysts cautioned, however, that lower token prices largely explain this appearance, masking the ongoing reduction in capital available to support trading.
Spot market activity has also struggled to regain its previous strength. Weekly spot trading volume on centralized exchanges averaged approximately $279 billion over the four weeks ending Sept. 27, according to CoinDesk Research. That figure is nearly two-thirds below the $801 billion recorded during the week of the October 2025 crash.
Volumes fell to approximately $135 billion per week in August before recovering to nearly twice that level. Even so, spot trading remains well below the activity recorded around the crash.
The sudden disappearance of liquidity during the October 2025 sell-off raised questions about where market capital would return. One year later, the recovery has largely favored bitcoin and ether.
Joshua de Vos, CoinDesk’s head of research, said market makers have returned to the two largest cryptocurrencies, lifting their liquidity above pre-crash levels, while liquidity across altcoins continues to deteriorate overall.
De Vos expects this divergence to continue into next year, with only a small number of altcoins potentially bucking the trend. He attributed the outlook to institutional investors’ continued preference for bitcoin and ether, which are attracting a greater share of institutional interest and trading volume.
