Altcoin Boom 'May Never Come Back' as Crypto Trading Shifts Toward Stocks and Commodities
The $19 billion liquidation event on October 10 last year had a lasting impact on retail crypto trading behavior. The market was over-leveraged, and roughly $19 billion in positions were liquidated within 24 hours, with Bitcoin falling from above $120,000 to around $105,000.
The crash showed how different spot and futures trading are. Spot traders took a hit but still held onto their coins, waiting for prices to recover. Perpetual futures traders, however, likely had nothing left.
Since the event, on-chain perpetual volumes have fallen for five straight months from $1.36 trillion to under $700 billion with no bounce in between. The median altcoin trades roughly 79% below its cycle peak, and an estimated 38% of altcoins now sit near all-time lows.
Hyperliquid, a crypto business with real cash flow, held up during the market crash and set a new all-time high near $77 in June on the back of more than $650 million in annual revenue. It has a market cap above $12 billion.
Meme coin traders came through the October 10 crash relatively intact because their game never ran on leverage. In fact, many meme coins die, and it's all part of the design. Traders study holder counts, wallet concentration, supply distribution, and how fast attention is spreading.