The cryptocurrency market ended October with a 10% decline, reducing total market capitalization from $3 trillion to $2.7 trillion. The downturn was driven by a broad sell‑off that intensified after a security breach at Binance.
Bitcoin performance
Bitcoin fell 3.3% in the final week of the month, extending its year‑to‑date loss to 11%. The cryptocurrency had previously approached its year‑opening price on October 6 but failed to sustain the rally. Prior to the Binance incident, Bitcoin had already slipped more than 7% after failing to break the $87,000 resistance level earlier in the month. October marked Bitcoin’s worst performance since 2014 and its first consecutive October loss since 2011‑2012.
Ethereum and other altcoins
Ethereum dropped to around $2,300 by October 29, ending the week slightly below $2,200 after a brief dip below $2,190. Over the past 30 days, Ethereum’s loss exceeded 15%. Solana and Cardano also posted weekly declines of 7% and 6.6%, respectively, while many other altcoins recorded losses of 3%‑4% over seven days.
Gainers amid the rout
Despite the overall market weakness, a few tokens posted gains. Hyperliquid’s HYPE token rose 13.6% after nearing its all‑time high on October 29. Zcash increased 0.6%, and LEO, Quant (QNT), and Uniswap (UNI) gained 4.6%, 2.5%, and 2.3%, respectively.
Market outlook
The combined impact of Bitcoin’s decline and losses across major altcoins pulled the total market cap from $2.8 trillion on October 25 to $2.7 trillion by November 1, raising concerns about continued pressure in November.
