BTC and ETH Rebuild Liquidity 1 Year After Crash

It has been exactly one year since the crypto market suffered its largest liquidation event in history. On October 10, 2025, market order books cleared out in a matter of hours, leaving traders wondering where capital would eventually flow once the dust settled.

Today, we finally have a clear answer. Market data shows that order book liquidity for Bitcoin (BTCBTC-0.34%) and Ether (ETHETH-0.14%) has rebuilt beyond pre-crash levels. However, smaller altcoins and overall spot trading activity continue to struggle.

Looking Back at the October 10 Flash Crash

To understand where the market stands today, it helps to look back at what triggered the collapse a year ago. Just days before the crash, Bitcoin had climbed to a record high above $126,000 before pulling back slightly to $122,600.

On the morning of Friday, October 10, 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump announced 100% tariffs on imports from China. The news hit during a quiet Friday evening trading window in the United States.

Within minutes, Bitcoin plunged below $105,000. The rapid price drop triggered a massive chain reaction, wiping out more than $19 billion in leveraged trading positions in a single day.

Past performance of digital assets is no guarantee of future returns. You can view historical and real-time market trends directly on bitkub.com/th/market/BTC.

Understanding Order Books and Market Depth

To measure how well the market has recovered, researchers at CoinDesk compared order book depth across major centralized exchanges on four specific dates: January 1, 2025, October 10, 2025 (crash day), January 1, 2026, and early October 2026.

Market depth refers to the total dollar value of buy and sell orders sitting close to the current market price. You can think of market depth like water in a swimming pool.

In a deep pool, a large splash hardly moves the water level. Similarly, a deep order book allows large trades to occur without causing drastic price swings.

Bitcoin and Ether Lead the Liquidity Comeback

The data reveals that Bitcoin order books are significantly deeper now than on any of the previous benchmark dates. On October 7, 2026, about $11.7 million in buy and sell orders sat within 1% of Bitcoin's price.

That represents a 75% increase compared to crash day a year ago. It is also a noticeable improvement from $9 million at the start of 2026 and $6.9 million at the start of 2025.

• January 1, 2025: ~$6.9 million in 1% price depth
• October 10, 2025 (Crash Day): ~$6.7 million in 1% price depth
• January 1, 2026: ~$9.0 million in 1% price depth
• October 7, 2026: ~$11.7 million in 1% price depth

Importantly, this recovery is not just a result of rising token values. Bitcoin is currently trading about one-third lower than its pre-crash peak. Measuring depth in dollars proves that institutional market makers are committing more actual capital to support order books.

Most of this liquidity improvement is concentrated close to the active market price. Further out, at 5% from the current price, Bitcoin depth sits around $24 million, which is roughly equal to its January 2025 level.

Ether has staged an even stronger liquidity rebound. Orders within 0.5% of Ether's price have more than doubled since the crash to roughly $4.2 million.

At the 1% price band, Ether depth has expanded by about three-quarters to $5.3 million. This places Ether liquidity comfortably above both its January 2025 and January 2026 benchmarks.

"The majors' deepening is real capital, not a price effect," noted CoinDesk Researcher Saksham Diwan.

Testing the Rebuilt Order Books

These rebuilt order books were put to the test recently during a brief market selloff. Between October 7 and October 8, 2026, Bitcoin's 1% depth dropped by approximately 12% as prices fluctuated.

Ether's tightest order band thinned slightly during the same selloff. However, buy and sell orders placed further away from the immediate market price actually increased, showing that liquidity providers remained active.

Altcoins Continue to Face Liquidity Drain

While major cryptocurrencies are recovering well, smaller tokens are moving in the opposite direction. Dollar-denominated liquidity across a broad basket of altcoins has declined steadily since early 2025.

At 5% away from the market price, altcoin depth has fallen by roughly one-third since the start of 2025, dropping down to around $2 million. Closer to the market price, at the 1% band, altcoin order depth has decreased by about one-sixth.

When measured in native token units rather than U.S. dollars, altcoin depth appears relatively stable. However, market analysts point out that this unit-based view is misleading.

Because token prices have dropped significantly over the past year, it takes more individual tokens to equal the same dollar amount. In reality, market makers have steadily withdrawn capital from altcoin trading books.

Spot Trading Volume Remains Subdued

Despite healthier order books for Bitcoin and Ether, overall spot trading volume across centralized exchanges remains quiet compared to last year's peak.

Over the four-week period leading up to September 27, 2026, weekly spot trading volume averaged roughly $279 billion. That figure is down nearly two-thirds from the $801 billion recorded during the week of the crash in October 2025.

Trading activity reached a low point in August 2026, when weekly volume dropped to $135 billion. Although trading volume has roughly doubled since that August bottom, spot market engagement is still subdued.

What This Divergence Means for Traders

The growing gap between major assets and altcoins shows where institutional interest and market-making capital are concentrated. Professional liquidity providers are prioritizing major assets like Bitcoin and Ether.

"A year ago, we wrote that liquidity was thin and fragmented, and that it was unclear where capital would rotate once the dust settled. We now have an answer: bitcoin and ether," stated Joshua de Vos, Research Lead at CoinDesk. "Market makers have returned to majors, with liquidity above pre-crash levels, whilst altcoin liquidity continues to trend down as a whole. Beyond a select few alts, I expect this divergence to persist into next year as majors continue to dominate institutional interest and volumes."

Summary of Key Findings

• Bitcoin and Ether order books hold more dollar liquidity today than before the October 2025 crash.
• Bitcoin 1% market depth reached ~$11.7 million on Oct 7, 2026, up 75% from crash day.
• Ether 0.5% market depth doubled since crash day to ~$4.2 million.
• Altcoin order depth in dollar terms has dropped by one-third since early 2025.
• Weekly spot trading volume averages ~$279 billion, down nearly two-thirds from crash week levels.

Past performance of digital assets or past market conditions do not guarantee future results. Investors should remain aware of market volatility when trading digital assets.