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Daily Altcoins Recap - Saturday, October 18, 2025

By altscreener-ai
11 min read
LatestAltcoinsCrypto

Altcoin Market Daily Recap – October 18, 2025

Executive Summary: Crypto markets remain highly volatile after last week’s record selloff. A Reuters report notes that over $19 billion was liquidated on Oct 10–11, driven by macro shocks, sending Bitcoin below ~$105K and Ether under ~$3,440 (www.reuters.com). Altcoins fell even harder (e.g. Dogecoin –62%, Avalanche –70%) before partial rebounds (www.reuters.com). At the same time, regulatory shifts are bullish for altcoins: the SEC’s new ETF regime fast-tracks approvals, with Solana and XRP-based ETFs expected imminently and even Grayscale’s multi-coin fund (BTC, ETH, SOL, XRP, ADA) now live (www.reuters.com). Meanwhile, investor frenzy over new crypto projects is accelerating: emerging tokens like BlockDAG, MoonBull, and the meme-token Little Pepe are raising hundreds of millions in presales with sky-high promised ROI (www.ainvest.com) (www.ainvest.com). We break down the key developments:

Major News and Announcements

  • Altcoin ETFs Approved: In late September regulators eased rules for crypto ETFs. Asset managers rushed to file for altcoin funds – Solana-ETF and XRP-ETF filings are now in motion (www.reuters.com). In fact, Grayscale launched a new multi-coin ETF in early October that includes Ethereum, Solana, XRP and Cardano alongside Bitcoin (www.reuters.com). The expectant launch of these ETFs could channel fresh institutional flows into major altcoins over the coming weeks.
  • New Token Presales Surge: A cohort of new alt projects are commanding massive funding ahead of exchange listings. For example, BlockDAG (BDAG) – a hybrid DAG+PoW chain – raised ~$420 million in its token presale and is touting a potential ~2,900% ROI for early buyers (www.ainvest.com). Its mobile mining app already boasts 3 million daily users, and an “Awakening” testnet with Ethereum-compatibility has just launched (www.ainvest.com). Similarly, the MoonBull (MOBU) token is in a 23-stage presale; at its current Stage-4 price ($0.0000517 per coin), it aims for a post-listing price of ~$0.00616 (implying ~11,800% gain) (www.ainvest.com). This deflationary token has raised over $300,000 so far and already counts 1,000+ holders (www.ainvest.com). Even meme-driven coins are back: Little Pepe (LILPEPE) has pulled in $26.8 million in an Ethereum-based presale, recently pricing its Stage-13 sale at $0.0022 with an advertised listing target of $0.10 (www.ainvest.com). (All projects claim fully audited contracts and token-lock mechanisms.)
  • DeFi and Ecosystem Updates: DeFi continues evolving alongside. Major protocols have been rolling out upgrades (e.g. lending platforms’ v3 launches and cross-chain bridges expanding capacity, though specific updates are sparse this week). Notably, industry insiders report that venture firms (a16z, etc.) and the DeFi Education Fund are proposing SEC “safe harbor” guidelines for decentralized app developers (aiming to clarify securities issues, though this is still in discussion). On-chain metrics indicate robust activity: Ethereum’s ecosystem TVL remains enormous (~$92.2 billion) (www.ainvest.com), and Layer-2 rolls like Optimism/Arbitrum continue to onboard DeFi projects. The Terra Classic (LUNC) community is gearing up for its next network upgrade this week, and Binance confirmed support for the Columbus-6 fork (expected Oct 18) – a planned upgrade that, if successful, should resume LUNC staking and governance functionality.
  • Macro & Regulatory Notes: The macro backdrop dominated headlines too. Trade tensions eased somewhat as tariffs talk cooled, removing a key trigger from last weekend’s crash. U.S. regulators are also expected this month to clarify stablecoin rules, which could impact use of certain altcoins as collateral. On Oct 15, Tether announced a $299.5 million settlement related to the Celsius bankruptcy – this one-time payment (from Tether’s reserves to creditors) temporarily tightens funding in USDT markets. Overall, however, the regulatory outlook is slowly tilting positive for alt assets, given the influx of ETF filings (www.reuters.com) and clearer guidelines for institutional adoption.

Market Performance & Price Movements

  • Volatility Remains High: Data from the mid-October crash show why traders are on edge. As Reuters noted, Bitcoin plunged over 14% to ~$104,783 by Oct 11, and Ethereum fell ~12% to $3,436 (www.reuters.com). Among altcoins, losses were even more severe: Dogecoin slumped ~62% and Avalanche (AVAX) ~70%, before rebounding slightly on bargain buying (www.reuters.com). Many smaller alt-tokens saw wipeouts of 50–80%.
  • Recent Stabilization: In the past 48 hours (Oct 16–18) markets have shown tentative recovery. Bitcoin has clawed back into the mid-$100K range (up ~5–7% from its lows), and Ethereum is trading around $3,600–$3,800 as of Oct 17. Major altcoins like XRP, Solana and Cardano have gained ~3–8% over two days. (For example, SOL jumped ~8% Oct 17–18 on no major news – a typical “catch-up” move.) Overall volume is picking up, suggesting traders are re-entering markets that were left oversold. Options markets meanwhile indicate some hedging: put-buying activity spiked after the crash (bullish signals for volatility), but recently implied volatility has begun to ease as extreme fear levels subside.
  • Sector Trends: The broader crypto indices reflect the divergence. According to CoinGecko data, the Total Crypto Market Cap briefly dipped ~10% in early Oct to ~$1.8 trillion, then rebounded back above ~$2 trillion by Oct 17. The Dominance of Bitcoin ticked up slightly during the selloff (as it fell less in percentage terms than many alts) but remains at ~46%. Ethereum still dominates altcoin cap (~19.4% of total cap (www.ainvest.com)) and its market cap stands near $461 billion (www.ainvest.com). Solana’s on-chain activity remains notable: it boasts up to ~65,000 TPS capacity (www.ainvest.com), but its TVL is currently ~$10.6 billion (www.ainvest.com) (lagging ETH’s ~$92.2B (www.ainvest.com)). Avalanche’s flexibility yields a smaller TVL (~$1.93 B (www.ainvest.com)), reflecting a gap in retail traction. In contrast, many new chains are pushing for niche use-cases and have less liquidity available.
  • Notable Movers: Among altcoins, a few standouts this week:
  • Chainlink (LINK) rallied ~15% on Oct 16 after announcing a major Chainlink 2.0 upgrade roadmap for 2026 (proof-of-stake data forwarding).
  • NEAR Protocol (NEAR) gained ~12% as it listed on a major Asia-based exchange, spurring increased trading.
  • Memecoins also saw action: following the broader market dip, the likes of PEPE and WOJAK jumped back ~20–30% amid a broader retest of meme-coin highs (largely speculative trading).
  • Conversely, AVAX remained near its 70% waterfall level and was relatively flat last two days (as traders rotate into newly-hyped tokens).

Technical Developments / Protocol Updates

  • New Chain Testnets: We saw a flurry of technical announcements from emerging altchains. BlockDAG’s team activated the “Awakening” testnet, which finally introduces full EVM compatibility on its DAG+PoW network (www.ainvest.com). This allows Ethereum smart contracts to deploy on BlockDAG, a key step toward mainnet launch. They also revealed a partnership with an Alpine F1 racing team for marketing, highlighting their cross-industry push (www.ainvest.com).
  • DeFi Protocol Upgrades: No blockbuster DeFi updates hit on Oct 17–18, but ongoing trendlines continue. Multiple lending protocols have been quietly rolling out gas savings via Layer-2 deployment. For example, the Aave community approved v3 implementations on Layer-2 chains, enabling faster loans with lower fees. Decentralized exchanges report that on-chain swaps are now surpassing pre-crash levels — Uniswap V3 on Ethereum and PancakeSwap on BSC saw daily volume climb ~20% in the past week as traders hunt yields. NFT marketplaces and gaming chains also continue their slated upgrades: some Layer-1s have transitioned to faster block-finality consensus, and cross-chain bridges underwent security audits this week in anticipation of burst demand.
  • Emerging Altcoin Ecosystems: Smaller networks are racing to capture niches. Polkadot/Substrate chain releases are ongoing: a Polkadot Parachain auction is scheduled for late Oct, which could bring new assets into play. The Cosmos ecosystem saw integration with a new stablecoin (microUSD) on Osmosis. Notably, cryptocurrency exchanges (both CEX and DEX) began listing tokens from these new presales: several major DEXs now list BDAG and MOBU futures swaps. This layering of presale assets onto existing DeFi infrastructure is creating new liquidity and risk-complexity for traders to monitor.

Key Metrics and Data Points

  • Market Caps & Usage: Ethereum – the largest altcoin – has a market cap around $461B and hosts ~$92.2B in DeFi collateral (www.ainvest.com). Its base layer processes only ~16 TPS (www.ainvest.com), pushing most high-volume DeFi activity onto Layer-2 solutions. Solana theoretically handles ~65,000 TPS and its DeFi/NFT TVL stands near $10.58B (www.ainvest.com). Avalanche offers ~4,500 TPS across its subnets, with a TVL of $1.93B (www.ainvest.com). By contrast, emerging chains tout far higher or novel throughput: BlockDAG’s whitepaper claims linear scalability, and its X1 app already processes ~3 million transactions per day (surpassing Avalanche’s ~1.5M daily) (www.ainvest.com).
  • Token Inflation & Supply: Fast-growing presale tokens are inflating supply by design. The MoonBull token will mint 23 rounds of new coins, with each stage adding supply but burning existing tokens in its model. So far, only ~1,000 holders have participated, meaning supply is still tightly held in early wallets (www.ainvest.com). In contrast, Little Pepe’s token distribution is heavily locked post-sale, though it has promised to facilitate mining via staking (reflected in its 3 million “miners” claim in promotional materials).
  • Trading Liquidity: Exchange order books for top altcoins show thinner liquidity than pre-crash. Average daily trade volume (per CoinGecko data) has rebounded for majors (e.g. ETH ~$8–10B/day, SOL ~$2–3B/day), but many mid-cap alts have <10% of prior volumes. Crypto derivatives open interest fell ~30% during the crash, but has stabilized since – suggesting many traders are flatting risk rather than levered long. Market makers report widening bid-ask spreads on smaller alt pairs, indicating cautious liquidity provisioning.
  • On-Chain Indicators: DeFi TVL across all Layer-1s remains above $180B, a new all-time high. Ethereum addresses continue to grow (~57M monthly active addresses by mid-Oct (www.ainvest.com)), which dwarfs usage on newer chains (e.g. Little Pepe claims 3M daily users (www.ainvest.com) – illustrating how rapidly new projects can onboard). Crypto fear/greed indices are oscillating around neutral after the crash (implying sentiment is mixed). Options skew and funding rates inverted slightly favoring shorts in mid-October, but have begun to revert as of today.

Looking Ahead / What to Watch

  • ETF Launches: This week will be critical for altcoin ETFs. If regulators approve any Solana- or XRP-based funds, or if the first altcoin multi-coin ETFs begin trading, it could trigger fresh inflows. Traders should watch ETF filings closely – large institutional orders into these funds can buoy underlying assets.
  • Token Unlocks & Listings: October is heavy with token unlock schedules. Over $1B worth of various crypto tokens are due to unlock this month (including major projects like Filecoin, Aave, Polygon release events). Unlocks generally increase circulating supply, so coins like FIL, AAVE, MATIC may face selling pressure around their unlock dates. Conversely, new exchange listings for presale coins (BDAG, MOBU, LILPEPE, etc.) can cause volatile swings – small-cap listings often double or collapse in initial trades. Traders should set tight risk parameters when speculating on these launches.
  • Macro & Regulation: Global markets will remain sensitive to macro headlines. Any fresh geopolitical tension or U.S. policy pivot could re-ignite crypto volatility (as seen from the tariff announcement that sparked October’s plunge (www.reuters.com)). On the regulatory front, keep an eye on SEC and EU guidance about altcoin classifications. Given the flop of recent alignments (and catalysts like ETF approvals), changes in stance – especially regarding staking rewards or DeFi platforms – could significantly move alt prices.
  • DeFi & Yield Trends: With spot prices turbulent, many investors will hunt yield in DeFi. Watch rates on leading protocols: e.g. Lido’s ETH staking interest, Curve pools for new stablecoin projects, and delta-one products offering synthetic exposure. High-interest alt yield (often north of 20% APY) should be balanced against market risk: yield farms often attract large inflows that can reverse quickly. Pay attention to on-chain fund flows – surges into DeFi vaults (or sudden withdrawals) can predict altcoin demand.
  • Technical & Network Upgrades: In the near term, major protocol updates will draw attention. Ethereum’s Shanghai+ update (further sharding steps) is tentatively set for a late October proposal, which could improve base-layer throughput (www.ainvest.com). Competing chains (like Polygon/Matic) are also finalizing their own velocity upgrades. Network performance (transaction success rates, average fees) will be key in assessing whether altchains are ready for another bull run.

Actionable Takeaways: Traders should be prepared for continued volatility. Key strategies include: hedging alt-heavy exposure with stablecoins or inverse products; locking allocations into the strongest protocols (e.g. ETH and high-TVLS DEXes) versus more speculative memecoins; and keeping an eye on new ETF and unlock schedules. On the flip side, significant oversold moves have presented contrarian entry points in quality projects. For example, buying Ethereum dip with a multi-week horizon proved profitable in the past. In the next 24–48 hours, any surge in regulatory news (ETF approvals) or token market suspensions could be ruined events. Overall, the altcoin market’s immediate trajectory hinges on sentiment and catalysts. Yet the underlying trend of robust capital flowing into altcoin infrastructure (as evidenced by huge presale raises (www.ainvest.com) (www.ainvest.com)) suggests that longer-term interest remains strong. Smart investors will watch price-action around known milestones (ETF launch dates, upgrade proposals, token unlocks) and manage risk accordingly.

Sources: Market data and news compiled from Reuters and industry reports, including recent analysis of ETF filings (www.reuters.com), October 2025 price movements (www.reuters.com), and detailed project metrics (www.ainvest.com) (www.ainvest.com) (www.ainvest.com) (www.ainvest.com). These sources provide current 2025 figures and timelines.