Bitcoin and ether markets have rebuilt much of their liquidity since the crypto market’s October 2025 flash crash, while smaller tokens and spot trading remain weaker, according to CoinDesk. The split recovery suggests that market-making capital has returned primarily to the largest digital assets rather than spreading across the broader market.
Major-token order books regain depth
The event remains one of the crypto market’s largest liquidation episodes. On Oct. 10, 2025, bitcoin was trading near $122,600 after reaching a record above $126,000 days earlier. It then dropped below $105,000, with much of the move taking place within minutes during thin Friday evening trading in the United States. More than $19 billion in leveraged positions were liquidated that day after President Donald Trump announced 100% tariffs on Chinese imports.
To assess how market liquidity has changed since then, CoinDesk Research compared order-book depth across major centralized exchanges on Jan. 1, 2025; Oct. 10, 2025; Jan. 1, 2026; and the week of the report. Order-book depth measures the dollar value of buy and sell orders positioned near the current market price. A deeper book can generally absorb a larger trade before the price moves significantly.
Bitcoin’s order book is now deeper than it was on the crash date and at either of the two January reference points. On Oct. 7, approximately $11.7 million in bitcoin orders sat within 1% of the market price. That was about 75% higher than the roughly $9 million recorded at the start of 2026 and above the approximately $6.9 million seen at the beginning of 2025.
The increase also appears to represent additional market-maker capital rather than simply the effect of changing prices. Bitcoin is about one-third cheaper than it was before the crash, meaning that a larger dollar value of orders reflects greater capital committed near the market price, not merely more units of a less valuable asset. At a distance of 5% from the price, however, bitcoin depth was around $24 million, broadly similar to its level in January 2025.
Ether’s improvement has been stronger in some parts of the order book. Depth within 0.5% of its price more than doubled from the crash date to approximately $4.2 million. At a 1% range, depth increased by about three-quarters to roughly $5.3 million, exceeding both January readings.
Altcoins remain under pressure
The recovery has not extended evenly across the market. CoinDesk Research’s basket of altcoins recorded its strongest dollar depth on Jan. 1, 2025, with liquidity lower on every subsequent comparison date.
At a distance of 5% from the current price, altcoin depth has fallen by about one-third since the start of 2025, to roughly $2 million. Within 1%, it has declined by about one-sixth. This means that trades in smaller tokens may encounter less nearby buying and selling interest than they did earlier in the period.
The picture looks less severe when liquidity is measured in token units. That measure peaked on Jan. 1, 2026 and has declined only modestly since. CoinDesk Research said the apparent resilience is largely explained by lower token prices, which can make the number of tokens available look healthier even as the dollar value of committed market-making capital falls.
The rebuilt liquidity in the major assets has already faced a fresh test. Between Oct. 7 and Oct. 8, bitcoin’s depth within 1% of its price decreased by about 12% during a market sell-off. Ether’s narrowest liquidity band also thinned slightly, although orders farther from its price increased.
Spot-market activity remains far below its peak
Trading activity in the spot market has recovered from its lowest point but remains well below the level reached during the crash week. CoinDesk Research calculated that weekly spot volume on centralized exchanges averaged approximately $279 billion over the four weeks ending Sept. 27.
That was nearly two-thirds below the $801 billion traded during the week of the October 2025 crash. Weekly volume reached a low of about $135 billion in August and has roughly doubled since then, but the rebound has not restored activity to the levels seen around the liquidation event.
The combination of deeper bitcoin and ether order books with lower overall spot volume points to a selective recovery. Market makers appear to be supplying more liquidity around the two largest assets, while activity and available depth across smaller tokens have continued to weaken.
Moneyiar market picture
Moneyiar data at 11:29 on Oct. 11, 2026, show bitcoin at $82,972.37, up 0.28% over 24 hours but down 2.74% over seven days. Ether stood at $2,499.10, gaining 0.26% in 24 hours and falling 7.56% over the week.
Among the additional assets tracked, Litecoin was priced at $63.44, down 0.24% over 24 hours and 10.50% over seven days. DeepBook Protocol was at $0.02143, with a 24-hour decline of 1.91% and a seven-day decline of 8.93%.
CoinDesk Research lead Joshua de Vos said market makers had returned to the major assets, while altcoin liquidity continued to trend lower as a whole. The report said this divergence could persist into next year, with institutional interest and trading volumes concentrated in bitcoin and ether rather than distributed broadly across the altcoin market.
