Liquidity Returns to Bitcoin and Ethereum as Altcoins Lag: Could the Wait Last Longer?
A year after the major crash on October 10, 2025, liquidity has returned to Bitcoin and Ethereum order books, but altcoins have not managed the same recovery.
A comparison of centralized exchanges by CoinDesk Research shows that market makers have once again concentrated in Bitcoin and Ethereum. The study examined order books from January 1, 2025, October 10, 2025, January 1, 2026, and this week.
In the crash at the start of the comparison, Bitcoin was trading at around $122,600 on the morning of October 10, 2025, before falling below $105,000 during the day. As sell-offs accelerated following U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement of a 100% tariff on Chinese imports, more than $19 billion in leveraged positions were liquidated in a single day.
Liquidity returns to Bitcoin and Ethereum
Order book depth shows the value of buy and sell orders waiting near the current price. The stronger these orders are, the easier it is to fill large trades without causing sharp price movements.
As of October 7, the value of orders within 1% of Bitcoin’s price reached $11.7 million. That amount is about 75% higher than on the crash day and significantly above the roughly $9 million level at the start of the year.
For Ethereum, depth within 0.5% of the price more than doubled from the crash day, reaching $4.2 million. Depth within the 1% range rose by about 75% to $5.3 million.
Despite Bitcoin trading at a price about one-third below its pre-crash level, the increase in dollar-denominated depth shows that the recovery did not stem from a price increase. Researchers attribute this to market makers allocating more capital to order books.
Why aren’t altcoins seeing the same recovery?
In the altcoin basket covered by the study, dollar-denominated order book depth within 5% of the price fell by about one-third from the start of 2025, to around $2 million. The picture looks stronger when measured in tokens, but analysts say this is largely due to falling prices.
In a chart comparing 1% depth and setting January 1, 2025, at 100, Bitcoin stood at 170, Ethereum at 139, and the altcoin basket at 87 as of October 7, 2026.
Analyst: Divergence could continue next year
Research lead Joshua de Vos expects this divergence to continue next year, with the exception of a handful of selected altcoins. According to de Vos, Bitcoin and Ethereum continue to dominate institutional interest and trading activity, while altcoin liquidity is generally continuing to weaken.
However, the order books of major coins are not entirely immune to selling pressure. Bitcoin’s depth within a 1% price range fell by about 12% during the October 7–8 sell-off.
Spot trading volumes have also not returned to previous levels. The weekly average volume on centralized exchanges was $279 billion in the four weeks ending September 27, about one-third of the $801 billion recorded during the crash week. Although volume has recovered from the $135 billion level in August, the strengthening of resting orders has not been matched by a similar increase in trading activity.