The third quarter of 2025 was a major one, posting substantial achievements, in accordance with the newest crypto business report by crypto knowledge aggregator CoinGecko. But, regardless of Bitcoin (BTC)’s surge to a recent ATH, main altcoins – notably Ethereum (ETH) – strongly outperformed.
The crypto market recorded its third consecutive rallying quarter in Q3 this 12 months. That is additionally the second consecutive quarter of “important capital appreciation,” the report famous.
Furthermore, it was the market’s second leg of restoration, powered by liquidity, a pointy restoration of buying and selling exercise, and renewed institutional inflows.
The full market capitalization elevated by 16.4% with $563.6 billion, hitting the $4 trillion mark. Notably, that is the very best stage since late 2021.

Furthermore, the common day by day buying and selling quantity noticed “a decisive reversal” in Q3, suggesting increased market participation. It went up almost 44% from Q2 to $155 billion, following two consecutive quarters (Q1 and Q2) of diminishing spot exercise.
On the identical time, Bitcoin dominance famous a major shift, dropping to 56.9%. This signaled “a fabric rotation into ETH and different large-cap altcoins” and “a fabric shift from the ‘flight to high quality’ pattern seen earlier within the 12 months,” CoinGecko famous.
The principle beneficiary was Ethereum, as will probably be mentioned beneath. Its market share rose to 12.5%, exhibiting a renewed curiosity and capital inflows into ETH.
Different main altcoins benefited as effectively, together with XRP (+0.5 proportion factors), BNB (+0.7 p.p.), and SOL (+0.4 p.p.).
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Altcoins In Focus, Bitcoin Lagging
Altcoins strongly outperformed in Q3 this 12 months, CoinGecko highlighted. BTC was “the notable laggard” within the prime 5 cash class, with a 6.4% appreciation.
On the identical time, ETH led the checklist with a 66.6% rise, outperforming main altcoins and even hitting a brand new all-time excessive of almost $5,000.
Notably, there was a transparent renewed curiosity in ETH, fueled by sturdy internet inflows into US Spot ETH exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and institutional purchase stress from treasury corporations similar to Tom Lee’s Bitmine Immersion and Joe Lubin’s SharpLink.
On the identical time, BNB went up 53.6%, SOL 34.7%, and XRP 27%. BNB exploded in Q3, additionally hitting an ATH, powered by nearer integration with Binance through Binance Alpha and the perp DEX Aster success, says the report.
Additionally, SOL reached a quarterly excessive of $248 with an inflow of treasury corporations. Nonetheless, it misplaced momentum amidst a late-September market pullback and ETF approval delay.
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Talking of ETFs…
CoinGecko highlighted that BTC’s early surge adopted steady retail and institutional accumulation, notably via Bitcoin ETFs.
Nonetheless, analysts additionally famous a reversal of the influx pattern on the finish of September. US spot BTC ETFs recorded outflows amidst a common market decline.
US Spot BTC ETFs internet inflows decreased from $12.8 billion in Q2 to $8.8 billion in Q3. Complete AUM grew by 16% from $143.4 billion to $166.3 billion.
On the identical time, US spot ETH ETFs famous $9.6 billion in internet inflows. This was “by far the biggest quarter and the primary time it has surpassed BTC ETFs,” the report says. Complete AUM reached $28.6 billion, marking a 177.4% bounce quarter-on-quarter.
Furthermore, crypto digital asset treasury corporations (DATCos) spent a minimum of $22.6 billion in new crypto acquisitions in Q3. This was “by far the biggest quarterly quantity to this point.” Of this, altcoin DATCos accounted for $10.8 billion (47.8%).
General, DATCos held some $138.2 billion price of crypto by the top of Q3.
Technique dominated with >50% share, whereas two ETH DATCos made the highest 5 checklist (Bitmine Immersion and Sharplink).
Stablecoin Market Cap Hits New ATH
Within the earlier quarter, the highest 20 stablecoin market cap surged by over 18%, with $44.5 billion, reaching a brand new ATH of $287.6 billion.
High gainers are:
- Ethena’s USDe: jumped by 177.8% or $9.4 billion in market cap, with the market share rising from 2% to five%, overtaking USDS because the third-largest stablecoin.
- Tether’s USDT: noticed the biggest absolute enhance, including $17 billion to its market cap, whereas its market share fell from 65% to 61% as a result of accelerated development of different stablecoins.
The market cap has continued to climb in early This autumn, surpassing $300 billion. On the time of writing in late October, it stands at $312 billion, per CoinGecko.
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DeFi Surges
DeFi Complete Worth Locked (TVL) was up 40.2% from $115 billion at the beginning of July to $161 billion on the finish of September. ETH’s “outsized appreciation and the continued stablecoin narrative” fueled this surge, CoinGecko says.
Furthermore, the DeFi sector’s market cap climbed to $133 billion shortly after ETH hit $3,000 in mid-July. In late September, it hit the Q3 peak of $181 billion following a value bounce of newly launched tokens from perpetual DEXes similar to Avantis (AVNT) and Aster (ASTER).
DeFi’s market share elevated from 3.3% in Q2 to 4% in Q3 2025.
CEX and DEX
In Q3, the highest centralized exchanges (CEXes) recorded $5.1 trillion in spot buying and selling quantity. It is a almost 32% enhance from Q2’s $3.9 trillion.
- Upbit was the biggest gainer, rising +40.5%, climbing to #9.
- Bybit rose by 38.4%, transferring from #6 to #3. Its month-to-month common quantity moved above $120 billion, the extent final seen in February earlier than the hack.
- Binance’s buying and selling quantity grew 40 QoQ for a cumulative $2.06 billion. Its market share elevated barely to 40%.
- Coinbase ranked #10 globally. Its quantity rose by 23.4% however was nonetheless “outpaced by its rivals.”
In the meantime, the buying and selling quantity of the highest 10 perpetual decentralized exchanges grew by +87% from $964.5 billion in Q2 to $1.81 trillion in Q3.
Aster, Lighter, and edgeX are difficult Hyperliquid for the place of the biggest Perp DEX. The latter had a 54.6% market share in Q3.
“From an OI perspective, Hyperliquid nonetheless retains a sizeable lead amongst perp DEXes, with 75% share of OI as at October 1. No different competitor had
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