Bitcoin

Ethereum

Cardano

<h2 id="header-0">Key Facts</h2>
<ul>
 <li>The median top-100 altcoin fell 6.2% in the 24 hours to 10:10 a.m. ET Wednesday, against 3.4% for Bitcoin, and only 22 of 86 tokens did better, CoinMarketCap data show.</li>
 <li>Ethereum accounted for about $234 million of $690 million in crypto liquidations over 24 hours, more than Bitcoin's $179 million, while its open interest held near $34 billion.</li>
 <li>Over 30 days, 51 of the top 86 tokens still beat Bitcoin, and Glassnode's warning of a forced unwind depends on prices continuing to fall with positions open.</li>
</ul>
Fewer than three in ten altcoins beat Bitcoin (<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/bitcoin/">BTC</a>) last week, after about seven in ten did in each of the two weeks before, Glassnode found. Wednesday's overnight drop hit them harder, and the leverage traders built during the run has not cleared.&nbsp;
Bitcoin<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://coinmarketcap.com/academy/article/bitcoin-price-drops-oil-yields-longs-flushed"> slid</a> about 3% in the 24 hours to Wednesday morning, while the median top-100 token fell about 6%, CoinMarketCap data show. Glassnode says the share of large altcoins carrying heavy <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://coinmarketcap.com/academy/glossary/leverage">leverage</a> is the highest since the run-up to the October 2025 crash. If prices keep falling, the firm warns, those positions could be forced out. A break of Bitcoin's nearest large block of buy orders would also spread the selling, it says.
"That's a pretty clear shift in market structure," CryptoQuant contributor nocoffeenobrain <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://cryptoquant.com/insights/quicktake/6ac6122927367e1d6da52077-BTC-Holds-Alts-Cool-Off">wrote</a> on Wednesday.
<h2 id="header-1">Are Altcoins Losing Momentum? Most Now Trail Bitcoin</h2>
<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://coinmarketcap.com/academy/glossary/altcoin">Altcoins</a> <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://coinmarketcap.com/academy/article/altcoin-season-signal-crosses-altcoins-outrun-bitcoin">outran</a> Bitcoin through much of September and kept <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://coinmarketcap.com/academy/article/bitcoin-price-pulls-back-87k-altcoins-rally">climbing</a> late in the month as Bitcoin pulled back.
That lead is slipping. Over the past week, only about a quarter of the top tokens did better than Bitcoin, CoinMarketCap data show.
Forced selling overnight was heaviest outside Bitcoin. Ethereum (<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/ethereum/">ETH</a>) accounted for about $234 million of crypto <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://coinmarketcap.com/academy/glossary/liquidation">liquidations</a> over 24 hours, more than Bitcoin's $179 million, CoinGlass data show. Ethereum's market value is less than a fifth of Bitcoin's.<tweet-embed url="https://x.com/coinglass_com/status/2107830885978439943"></tweet-embed>
<h2 id="header-2">Why Did Altcoins Fall Harder? Leverage From the September Run</h2>
Traders added borrowed money as altcoins climbed. A growing share of large altcoins now carry heavy open interest, the value of outstanding <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://coinmarketcap.com/academy/glossary/futures">futures</a> bets, Glassnode found. The firm measures it against each coin's market value and its own past year, and falling prices with positions still open also push the reading up.
Cardano (<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/cardano/">ADA</a>) shows how it built up. Its open interest rose about 25% from Oct. 3 to Oct. 5 as its price climbed, Santiment found.
"The headline said squeeze, the open interest says leverage," the analytics firm <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://x.com/SantimentData/status/2107410147618209793">wrote</a> on X.<tweet-embed url="https://x.com/SantimentData/status/2107410147618209793"></tweet-embed>
Ethereum's leverage is also holding. Its open interest held steady through the overnight drop, CoinGlass data show.
<h2 id="header-3">Is the Rally Still Broad? Fewer Coins Are Joining In</h2>
The median altcoin is now trailing Bitcoin after amplifying its moves during the run, according to Glassnode.
Ethereum is also losing a steady buyer. Bitmine Immersion Technologies will stop buying once it holds 5% of ETH supply, chairman Tom Lee <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2026/10/07/ether-is-about-to-lose-a-steady-buyer-as-tom-lee-says-bitmine-will-stop-token-purchases">said</a> Wednesday, CoinDesk reported. US spot Ethereum <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://coinmarketcap.com/academy/glossary/exchange-traded-fund-etf">ETFs</a>, which have <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://coinmarketcap.com/academy/article/ethereum-price-stalls-mainnet-dex-share-falls">turned</a> sellers since late September, recorded $202 million of outflows on Tuesday, Farside <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://farside.co.uk/eth/">data</a> show.
The longer view still favors altcoins. Over the past month, most top tokens beat Bitcoin, and CoinMarketCap's Altcoin Season Index reads 60, short of the 75 that marks an altcoin season.
<h2 id="header-4">What Would Force an Unwind? Bitcoin Losing Its $81K Bids</h2>
Glassnode ties the next move to Bitcoin. A pickup in spot volume and fund buying, with a settled close above $85,500, would show the breakout has real support, the firm wrote.
Bitcoin is trading about $2,000 above the largest block of bids, which Glassnode places near $81,000.
"A break of the bids at $81K would bring the liquidation clusters below into play, and with altcoin leverage stretched, the wider market would feel it too," Glassnode's Frederik Theissen <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://research.glassnode.com/the-week-onchain-week-40-2026/">wrote</a> in the firm's weekly report.
Further Reading: <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://coinmarketcap.com/academy/article/bitcoin-price-drops-oil-yields-longs-flushed">Why Is Bitcoin Falling? Oil, Yields and a $487M Long Flush</a>

Is Altcoin Season Fading? Why Most Alts Now Trail Bitcoin

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