The cryptocurrency market lost around $360 billion in October as Bitcoin and major altcoins ended the month lower. Total market cap fell from $2.94 trillion on October 1 to $2.58 trillion on October 31, with Solana and Ethereum recording some of the major losses. 

Meanwhile, heavy liquidations and weaker Bitcoin ETF inflows added to the market pressure.

Crypto Market Cap Drops 12% as $360 Billion Wiped Out

The overall crypto market experienced a difficult October, with its total value falling by around 12.2%. It dropped to $2.52 trillion on October 30, wiping out about $420 billion from the start of the month, before recovering slightly to $2.58 trillion.

Pioneer cryptocurrency Bitcoin also fell during the month. Its price dropped from $87,220 on October 1 to around $77,300 on October 31, marking an 11.37% loss. This is Bitcoin’s second October loss in a row, following a 3.9% decline in October 2025. 

The last time Bitcoin had two losing Octobers back-to-back was in 2011 and 2012. This is unusual because October has usually been a strong month for Bitcoin. Its average return for the month is around 12.9%, and it has ended October higher in about 69% of recorded years.

Pressure was also visible in spot Bitcoin ETF toward the end of October. Daily ETF data showed strong net inflows of $526.7 million on October 19 and $524.8 million on October 21, showing continued institutional demand

However, the trend reversed on October 30, when U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $643.2 million in net outflows, seeing the largest daily outflow in the last four months.

Ethereum and Solana Lead Major Altcoin Losses

Ethereum dropped 21.71%, falling from $2,773 to $2,171. Solana recorded the largest decline among the major assets, losing 25.81% as its price dropped from $124 to $92. XRP also fell 16.96%, declining from $1.445 to $1.20.

The deeper losses suggest that altcoins faced greater selling pressure than Bitcoin during October.

$1.54 Billion in Liquidations Adds to the Market Decline

As crypto prices fell, leveraged traders came under growing pressure, especially on October 30. According to CoinGlass, crypto liquidations reached $1.54 billion over 24 hours, with long traders suffering the biggest losses at $1.29 billion.

The market was also dealing with uncertainty following a Binance security incident with an estimated $6.3 billion impact.