Altcoins outperformed bitcoin on October 16 as several tokens posted significant gains while the largest cryptocurrency held relatively steady near $82,100.
Celestia (TIA) led the rally, jumping 16% to around $0.68, marking a 2026 high and representing a 59% advance over four weeks. The data-availability network token's gains coincided with Celestia Fibre reaching 3.07 terabits per second in a throughput benchmark and the introduction of a proposed economic upgrade called the Sustainable Blob Economy.
Injective (INJ) climbed 7.7% to about $9.19, with three pending U.S. exchange-traded fund applications tied to the token. LayerZero (ZRO) gained 7.3% to about $2.24, extending a rally linked to its ATLAS trading infrastructure, which routes most fees into buying and burning the token.
Bitcoin traded little changed near $82,100 after bouncing from a dip to $81,600. Ether added 0.5% near $2,450. More than two-thirds of CoinDesk 100 members finished higher, while the bitcoin-heavy CoinDesk 5 index held steady.
Broader market sentiment reflected uncertainty from Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh, who declined to signal the central bank's intentions for its meeting later in October during a speech at International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings in Bangkok. The odds of an October interest-rate increase fell to about 15% from roughly 30%, according to the CME Fedwatch tool.
Crypto derivatives markets showed signs of stabilization. Trading volume slid 20% over 24 hours to $200 billion, while liquidations dropped to $311 million from nearly $1 billion the previous day. Annualized perpetual funding rates for major tokens hovered between 5% and 10%, indicating a bias toward longs but nothing extreme.
Larger altcoins were mixed to higher, with Solana up 1.2% to about $107 and Monero up 2.9% to about $565. Starknet fell 9.6% to $0.08 after posting an 11% gain the previous day.
