Market Depth Recovery: Why Is Liquidity Not Returning Evenly?

One year after the broad correction of October 2025, liquidity in the crypto market is concentrated mainly in the order books of Bitcoin and Ethereum. Although total spot trading volumes remain below last year’s levels, market depth in the two largest assets has reached higher levels than before the decline at that time. However, this development is not broad-based, as market makers are concentrating capital primarily in the main crypto assets, while smaller projects continue to face reduced liquidity.

The October 2025 Market Sell-Off and Its Consequences

The price decline of October 10, 2025, was initiated by the U.S. administration’s announcement of 100% tariffs on Chinese imports, which triggered a chain reaction across financial markets. Before the announcement, Bitcoin was trading near USD 122,600, but within several hours and in an environment of reduced weekend liquidity, it fell below USD 105,000.

Within a single day, leveraged positions worth more than USD 19 billion were liquidated, representing the largest deleveraging event in the history of the market. The event highlighted the sensitivity of market infrastructure and led to a temporary withdrawal of capital by key market makers.

Development of Market Depth in Bitcoin and Ethereum

According to CoinDesk Research analytical data from October 7, 2026, Bitcoin’s market depth within 1% of the current price reached USD 11.7 million. This represents an increase of approximately 75% compared with levels recorded immediately after the October 2025 sell-off. For comparison, 1% depth stood at USD 9 million at the beginning of 2026 and approximately USD 6.9 million at the beginning of 2025.

This increase in dollar-denominated market depth is particularly important given that Bitcoin is currently trading approximately one-third lower than a year ago. The increase in the dollar value held in order books indicates that market makers have actually allocated more capital to price bands close to the current market price. Ether shows a similar development, with market depth within 0.5% of the market price rising to USD 4.2 million, more than double the level seen during last year’s decline.

Persistent Liquidity Compression in Altcoins

Unlike the two largest crypto assets, smaller projects are showing a different trend. In the monitored basket of altcoins, market depth within 5% of the price declined to approximately USD 2 million, representing a one-third decrease compared with the beginning of 2025. Within the 1% range, a decline of 16% to 17% was recorded.

This development highlights a methodological difference in assessing liquidity. Although the number of tokens in the order books may appear stable, this is largely a consequence of the decline in their unit prices. Because the nominal value of the tokens has fallen, a larger number of coins can be quoted for the same dollar amount, while the actual amount of allocated dollar capital has declined.

A Two-Speed Market as the New Reality

The recovery of liquidity in order books alongside lower overall spot trading volumes suggests that the market has undergone a structural transformation since last year’s decline. Institutional capital and market makers are taking a more selective approach and concentrating their resources almost exclusively in the two main assets. For investors and market participants, this means that while Bitcoin and Ether have sufficient depth to absorb larger trading orders, the altcoin segment remains exposed to the risk of higher volatility due to limited liquidity.

Warning: The content of this article is intended solely for informational and analytical purposes and does not constitute investment advice, a financial recommendation or a proposal to buy or sell any digital assets or securities.