Crypto's total market value jumped 39.6% in the third quarter to end three straight quarterly declines, with Ethereum (ETH) beating Bitcoin (BTC) even as trading volumes kept sliding.
Key Points:
- Total crypto market cap added $840.1 billion last quarter and closed September at $2.96 trillion.
- Ethereum gained 71% to $2,684, while average daily trading volume fell for a third straight quarter.
- Bitcoin has since slipped toward $80,000 as hot inflation data and Asian stock losses weighed on prices.
Ethereum Leads Rebound
CoinGecko published its third-quarter industry report last week, showing total market capitalization rose $840.1 billion to $2.96 trillion, though it remains 4% lower for the year. That was the best quarter since late 2024.
August did most of the work. Market cap grew 21.8%, or $489.8 billion, that month after the U.S. Treasury said it would at least double planned buybacks of long-dated bonds, while spot Bitcoin ETFs kept drawing net inflows. A failed Senate procedural vote on the CLARITY Act on Sept. 15 barely dented the climb.
Ethereum climbed 71% to $2,684 and outperformed every other major coin, helped by $3.1 billion in net inflows to U.S. spot Ether funds that erased all first-half outflows. Bitcoin reportedly rose 42.7% to $83,576 over the same stretch.
Also Read: No Preorder, No iPhone Duo? Apple Reportedly Braces Its Stores For Oct. 23
Crypto Volumes Lag
The quarter saw prices outpace participation, CoinGecko's analysts wrote. Average daily volume fell 8.6% from the second quarter to $73.3 billion, the third drop in a row, while spot volume at the top 10 centralized exchanges slid 14.2% to $1.65 trillion. Borrowed money told another story.
Open interest on the largest perpetual futures exchanges rose 40.6% and closed above $100 billion for the first time since the third quarter of 2025. Binance lifted its spot share to 42.7% from 38.7%, while open interest fell 41.2% at KuCoin and 18.9% at Deribit, a split the report called uneven rather than broad-based.
Glassnode Bitcoin Floor
Analysts at Glassnode said a wave of loss-selling as Bitcoin neared $80,000 on Oct. 15 could mark a local bottom if past patterns repeat. Similar episodes in August and September came before local lows.
The firm flagged the average cost basis of U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF holders, near $81,500, as a key level and sees resistance around $88,000.
Bitcoin hit a monthly low of $80,200 on Oct. 15 after hotter-than-expected inflation data and a slide in Asian stocks, and nearly $1 billion in leveraged positions, mostly longs, was wiped out that day. It traded near $81,000 on Oct. 18, roughly 35% below its October 2025 record near $126,200, while spot Bitcoin ETFs logged about $617 million in October net withdrawals through midmonth.
Read Next: Is AI's Black Box Cracking? Ex-OpenAI Researcher Says 90% Of Neurons Do One Job
