A year after the massive forced-liquidation event of Oct. 10, 2025, crypto market plumbing is telling two different stories. Order-book liquidity in bitcoin and ether has rebuilt to levels above the crash day and above the readings from the start of 2025 and 2026, while smaller-cap tokens and spot trading activity have not kept pace.
The article was written by Oliver Knight and translated by TechFlow. In its summary, TechFlow said CoinDesk Research compared order-book depth on major centralized exchanges at four points in time: Jan. 1, 2025; Oct. 10, 2025; Jan. 1, 2026; and this week. The conclusion was that the recovery in BTC and ETH dollar depth reflects real market-maker capital, not a cosmetic improvement caused by lower token prices.
The crash and the four comparison dates
After hitting an all-time high above $126,000 a few days earlier, bitcoin had already slipped to around $122,600 in early trading on Oct. 10, 2025. Within hours, it fell below $105,000. A large share of that move came during thin Friday evening trading hours in the U.S., when President Donald Trump announced a 100% tariff on imports from China. More than $19 billion in leveraged positions were liquidated in a single day.
To measure what happened after that, CoinDesk Research compared market depth across major centralized exchanges on Jan. 1, 2025; Oct. 10, 2025; Jan. 1, 2026; and this week. Depth refers to the value of bids and offers sitting close to the current market price. A deeper book means larger trades can be absorbed without moving the market as much.
Bitcoin books are now deeper than at any of those earlier points
CoinDesk Research found that bitcoin’s order book is now deeper than it was at any of the earlier comparison dates. On Oct. 7, there were about $11.7 million in orders within 1% of the market price. That was roughly 75% higher than on the crash day a year earlier, and also above the roughly $9 million seen at the start of 2026 and the roughly $6.9 million recorded at the start of 2025.
The report said this is not a simple price effect. With bitcoin now trading at about two-thirds of its pre-crash level, a deeper book in dollar terms means market makers have committed more capital, rather than benefiting from the token being "cheaper."
The improvement is concentrated near the market, where market makers quote most actively. Farther out, at 5% from price, depth stands at about $24 million, roughly back to the level seen in January 2025.
Ether shows an even stronger recovery on some measures
Ether’s rebound is stronger in some parts of the book. Depth within 0.5% of price has more than doubled since the crash day to about $4.2 million. At 1%, depth is up by about three-quarters to roughly $5.3 million, above both January readings.
"The deepening in majors is real capital, not a price effect," CoinDesk researcher Saksham Diwan said.
The rebuilt books also faced an early test this week. As the market sold off, bitcoin’s 1% depth fell by about 12% between Oct. 7 and Oct. 8. Ether’s tightest spread bands thinned slightly, though orders farther from the market increased.
Altcoins are moving the other way
For altcoins, the picture is the reverse. In CoinDesk Research’s altcoin basket, dollar depth was highest on Jan. 1, 2025, and lower at every measurement point after that.
At 5% from price, depth has fallen by about one-third since the start of 2025 to roughly $2 million. Closer to the market, at 1%, it is down by about one-sixth.
Measured in token units rather than dollars, altcoin depth looks healthier. That metric peaked on Jan. 1 this year and has only eased modestly since then. But analysts said the apparent recovery in token terms mostly reflects lower prices, masking an ongoing erosion in committed capital.
Spot trading is still well below the crash week
Spot activity has not recovered either. According to CoinDesk Research, average weekly spot volume on centralized exchanges was about $279 billion over the four weeks through Sept. 27, down nearly two-thirds from the $801 billion recorded in the crash week.
Activity bottomed in August, when weekly volume fell to about $135 billion. It has roughly doubled since then, but remains far below the levels seen before and around the sell-off.
What CoinDesk Research says this means
On Oct. 10, 2025, crypto liquidity evaporated within hours. At the time, it was unclear where capital would rotate once the dust settled. Joshua de Vos, head of research at CoinDesk, said: "A year ago, we wrote that liquidity was thin and fragmented, and it was unclear where capital would rotate once the dust settled. Now we have the answer: bitcoin and ether."
He added: "Market makers have returned to majors, with liquidity above pre-crash levels, while altcoin liquidity overall is still trending lower. Outside a handful of selected altcoins, I expect that split to continue into next year, as majors keep dominating institutional interest and trading volume."
