Crypto Market Slides: BTC, ETH, and Altcoins Hit by Liquidations and Whale Exits

I. Crypto Market Overview

Key Takeaways

Macro Environment

Federal Reserve signals aggressive rate cuts amid housing disinflation, boosting risk assets and crypto sentiment. The ongoing US government shutdown delays key economic data, increasing market uncertainty and volatility. The SEC shifts to a pro-innovation stance, while the EU's MiCA regulation enhances legal clarity and institutional participation.

Crypto Market

The crypto market saw broad declines over the past 12 hours, with Bitcoin down 4.6% to $105,101 and Ethereum falling 5.7% to $3,764, pressured by risk-off flows and weak spot demand. Altcoins underperformed, led by AAVE (-15.1%), ASTER (-17.4%), and SPX (-14.3%), driven by whale liquidations and sector-wide deleveraging. Solana dropped 6.9%, while JTO bucked the trend with a 0.8% gain, supported by recent institutional investment in the Solana ecosystem.

Today's Outlook

Today's major events include a 50.41 million token unlock for Wormhole and key AMAs with KuCoin and LAB, which may drive volatility in DeFi and cross-chain sectors. No major macroeconomic data releases are scheduled, but ongoing market stress and token unlocks could amplify price swings.

Fear and Greed Index

54.00% Annual Percentile

32 Fear

Total Crypto Market Cap

$3.58T

4.96%

Total Market Trading Volume

$276.25B

40.97%

Altcoin Season Index

0.00%

Quarterly Percentile

27 / 100

Total Futures Market Open Interest

3.36B

3.99%

Futures

1.01T

7.69%

Perpetuals

II. Industry Updates

Macro-economic Policies

Federal Reserve Governor Stephen Miran signaled readiness for aggressive interest rate cuts, citing significant disinflation in the housing sector. This dovish shift is expected to boost risk assets, increase DeFi liquidity, and support crypto valuations by lowering the opportunity cost of holding digital assets.

The ongoing U.S. government shutdown has delayed key economic data releases, forcing the Fed to rely on private sector estimates for its late-October policy meeting. This data blackout increases market uncertainty and could heighten volatility in Bitcoin and altcoin prices.

Initial U.S. jobless claims fell to an estimated 215,000 despite the shutdown, suggesting labor market resilience. Strong employment data may temper expectations for rapid Fed easing, potentially limiting short-term upside for crypto markets.

Sticky U.S. inflation near 3% and resilient economic growth have left the Fed in a cautious stance. Persistent inflation could delay further rate cuts, maintaining upward pressure on the U.S. dollar and temporarily restraining DeFi and NFT market activity.

President Trump announced plans to meet with China’s President Xi Jinping, calling current U.S. tariffs 'unsustainable.' Hints of a potential shift in trade policy could reduce macroeconomic risk, supporting crypto market sentiment and cross-border stablecoin flows.

Cryptocurrency Regulatory Trends

The U.S. SEC is shifting from enforcement to a pro-innovation regulatory framework, with plans to introduce an 'innovation exemption' for crypto products, aiming to attract digital asset firms and boost market confidence.

The EU's MiCA regulation is now fully in effect, with over 65% of crypto firms compliant; this harmonizes rules across 27 states, increasing institutional participation and legal certainty for NFTs and stablecoins.

Australia is tightening anti-money laundering controls on crypto ATMs, granting banks access to student visa data and empowering AUSTRAC to restrict high-risk digital asset products, which may reduce illicit flows but increase compliance costs.

Portugal has enacted new crypto regulations, aligning with EU MiCA and strengthening AML oversight; crypto service providers are now treated as financial entities, enhancing consumer protection and regulatory stability.

G20 finance ministers have agreed to advance global crypto regulatory frameworks, aiming to address regulatory gaps and promote financial stability, which could drive more consistent international standards for digital assets.

ASTER (ASTER): ASTER dropped 18% in 24h with $1.45B volume as whales and smart money exited amid a broader altcoin sell-off, despite recent APX-to-ASTER token conversion and high capital efficiency features.

AAVE (AAVE): AAVE fell 15% in 24h with $613M trading volume, driven by large whale liquidations totaling $1.45M and significant token dumps, reflecting risk-off sentiment and cascading liquidations in DeFi markets.

SPX6900 (SPX): SPX declined 14% in 24h with $64.7M volume, as part of a meme coin sector correction; high volatility and profit-taking by holders contributed to the sharp price drop from recent highs.

Smart Money Movements

Ripple completed a $1 billion acquisition of GTreasury, gaining access to the multi-trillion-dollar corporate treasury market and expanding its digital asset infrastructure for institutional clients.

CDT Equity acquired 9.256 BTC for $1,005,000 at an average price of $108,301.75 per Bitcoin, increasing its total Bitcoin holdings to 17.909 BTC as part of its treasury reserve strategy.

A crypto whale invested $65.34 million in Bitcoin, purchasing 566.9 BTC at an average price of $115,260, despite incurring a floating loss of $5.37 million due to recent price declines.

BlackRock's iShares ETFs reported $205 billion in net inflows for Q3, with $17 billion attributed to digital asset ETFs, bringing total crypto assets under management to nearly $104 billion.

The Seven Siblings wallets acquired 2,664 ETH at $3,754 each during a market dip, using a $20 million USDC loan, and now hold over $445 million staked on Aave, with 96% of reserves in ETH.

Events to Watch

Oct 21 (Tue)

Printr will launch 12,500,000 tokens via a multichain launchpad, marking a notable DeFi product release.

Oct 22 (Wed)

US Federal Reserve will hold a key meeting on monetary policy and interest rates; Momentum (MSafe) MMT IDO on Buidlpad targets $10M.

Oct 23 (Thu)

Meteora MET and FacilPay FACIL will both launch DeFi tokens, drawing attention to new payment and DeFi solutions.

Oct 24 (Fri)

US September CPI data will be released, a major macro event; DexToro DTR DeFi token sale with $268,000 funding goal.

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