Market Returns to Four-Trillion Territory
A liquidity-fuelled rebound pushed the combined crypto market value above $4 trillion in the third quarter, according to the latest CoinGecko industry report. Capitalisation climbed 16.4 %—a $563.6 billion jump that locked in a third straight green quarter and the highest headline figure since late 2021.
Activity broadened alongside the rally. Average daily spot turnover reversed two quarters of malaise, surging 44 % to $155 billion and signalling that sidelined traders have re-entered the arena. Bitcoin, however, ceded ground: its market share slid to 56.9 % as investors rotated into higher-beta assets. Ethereum absorbed the bulk of that flow, lifting its slice of the pie to 12.5 %, while large-cap peers such as XRP, BNB and Solana each captured several tenths of a percentage point.
The structural shift suggests that the “flight-to-quality” mentality which dominated early-year price action has given way to a broader risk appetite—an inflection reinforced by rising treasury allocations, growing derivatives open interest and a resurgence in decentralised-finance (DeFi) usage metrics.
Ethereum-Led Altcoin Surge Rewrites the Leaderboard
Bitcoin managed only a 6.4 % gain over the quarter—respectable, yet dwarfed by Ethereum’s 66.6 % run to a new all-time high near $5 000. Spot ETH exchange-traded funds absorbed roughly $9.6 billion in net subscriptions, overtaking BTC products for the first time, while corporate treasuries such as Bitmine Immersion and SharpLink added eight- and nine-figure ETH tranches to their balance sheets.
Binance Coin followed close behind with a 53.6 % lift, buoyed by deeper integration between the token’s ecosystem and Binance’s newly launched Alpha programme, as well as a breakout performance by the Aster perpetual DEX. Solana rallied 34.7 %, spiking to $248 before stalling amid late-September profit-taking and an ETF-approval delay. Ripple’s XRP rounded out the top-five leaderboard with a 27 % advance driven by incremental regulatory clarity and growing adoption in cross-border settlement pilots.
The outperformance of these majors re-ignited retail sentiment toward mid- and small-cap names, creating a feedback loop that lifted the total altcoin share of market capitalisation to levels not seen since the 2021 mania.
Institutional Capital and Infrastructure Gains
While BTC spot ETF inflows cooled to $8.8 billion—down from $12.8 billion in the previous quarter—aggregate assets under management still grew 16 % to $166.3 billion. ETH vehicles, by contrast, drew record demand: assets ballooned 177 % to $28.6 billion on the back of the aforementioned net subscriptions, underscoring a decisive shift in institutional preference.
Stablecoins mirrored the broader uptrend. The top-20 cohort expanded 18 % to an all-time high of $287.6 billion, then crossed the $300 billion threshold in early October. Tether added $17 billion yet saw its dominance slip to 61 % as new entrants—most notably Ethena’s USDe, whose capitalisation exploded 178 %—captured market share. A swelling stablecoin base provided ample dry powder for leverage, catalysing a 40 % jump in DeFi total value locked to $161 billion and pushing DeFi’s market-cap share to 4 %.
Centralised exchanges processed $5.1 trillion in spot volume, a 32 % quarter-on-quarter increase. Upbit and Bybit logged the sharpest percentage gains, whereas Binance retained a commanding 40 % slice of global turnover. Decentralised venues grew even faster: perpetual-swap DEX volume vaulted 87 % to $1.81 trillion, with Hyperliquid defending a slim majority share against rising challengers Aster, Lighter and edgeX. Together, these data points illustrate a maturing market architecture in which centralised and decentralised rails coexist and compete for flow—a dynamic likely to shape pricing and liquidity through the rest of the cycle.
