Bitcoin's order book is 75% deeper than on the day of crypto's $19 billion crash
CoinDesk Research found about $11.7 million resting within 1% of bitcoin's price, roughly 75% more than on the day $19 billion of positions were liquidated. Altcoin books have thinned in dollar terms at every reading since January 2025, so the recovery belongs to bitcoin and ether alone.
The Investor · Invest desk
Bitcoin's 1% depth was about $6.7 million on crash day and about $11.7 million on Oct. 7, roughly 75% more.
| Measure | Value | As of | Claim |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crash day | $6.7 million | 20 | |
| Oct. 7 | $11.7 million | 9 |
What happened
- Bitcoin trades about one-third below its pre-crash price, so CoinDesk Research attributes the dollar gain in its depth to more market-maker capital, not cheaper coins.
- Counted in tokens, altcoin depth peaked on Jan. 1 this year, a recovery analysts said came mostly from falling prices that hide an erosion in committed capital.
- Weekly spot volume on centralized exchanges averaged about $279 billion in the four weeks to Sept. 27, nearly two-thirds below the $801 billion of the crash week.
- As the market sold off this week, bitcoin's 1% depth fell about 12% between Oct. 7 and Oct. 8, while ether's orders further from the price increased.
Why it matters
- Who's exposed exposure A bitcoin sale big enough to push the price past 1% now meets about $12 million of resting orders before the 5% mark, against about $17 million in January 2025.
- Who's exposed exposure A fixed-dollar altcoin sale now moves prices further than it would have at the start of 2025, and depth charts that count in tokens hide the change from holders.
- Who has to decide decision Market makers have put their returning capital into near-price bitcoin and ether quotes; altcoin books and bitcoin's outer book have received none of it.
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Altcoins fell harder than bitcoin when the Kospi plunged 8% and buyers defended $80,000Confirmed3 publishers
Most of bitcoin's added depth sits close to the price, where market makers quote most actively, according to CoinDesk Research [11]. Within 5% of the price the book holds around $24 million, roughly its January 2025 level [11]. Subtract the 1% figures from that and the orders resting between 1% and 5% from the price come to about $12 million now, against about $17 million at the start of 2025 [18]. On the morning of Oct. 10 last year bitcoin traded at $122,600. Within hours it was below $105,000 [2], and more than $19 billion of leveraged positions were liquidated that day [1]. The fall was about 14% [10], well past the band where depth has grown.
Close to the price, the improvement is large. Bitcoin's 1% depth on crash day works out to about $6.7 million [20]. That is slightly below the $6.9 million of January 2025, and it compares with $11.7 million on Oct. 7 [9]. "The majors' deepening is real capital, not a price effect," CoinDesk Researcher Saksham Diwan said [4].
Altcoins have moved the opposite way in dollar terms. Depth in CoinDesk's altcoin basket was greatest on Jan. 1, 2025, and has been lower on every date measured since [6]. Within 5% of the price it is down about a third, to around $2 million, and within 1% it has fallen about a sixth [7]. Working back from the one-third fall puts the basket's 5% depth at the start of 2025 near $3 million [17].
"Market makers have returned to majors, with liquidity above pre-crash levels, whilst altcoin liquidity continues to trend down as a whole," said Joshua de Vos, manager at CoinDesk Research [5]. The capital those firms added to bitcoin went into the tightest band and stayed there [11]. The altcoin dollar series shows none of it [6].
Weekly spot volume has roughly doubled from an August low of around $135 billion [16]. If that continues, market makers have more flow to quote against, and some of it could reach altcoin books. If it stalls, the data show nothing that would reverse an altcoin decline running since early 2025 [6]. The bitcoin gain can also shrink faster than it built. This week's one-day drop in 1% depth took about $1.4 million out of the book [19]. That still left it near $10.3 million, above January's $9 million [9].
We think the evidence supports the split and a narrower version of the risk claim. Per dollar sold, altcoins now move more easily than they did in January 2025, and bitcoin and ether books absorb small trades better than they did then, given CoinDesk's definition of depth as the volume a large trade can absorb without moving the market [8]. Against a crash-sized bitcoin move, the book within 5% of the price is no deeper than in January 2025 [11], and the slice between 1% and 5% is thinner [18]. That view is wrong if CoinDesk's next reading shows altcoin dollar depth rising, or bitcoin's 5% depth climbing clearly above its January 2025 level.
What to watch
- How bitcoin's near-price depth holds in a thin U.S. evening or weekend session, the conditions in which last October's drop came in minutes.
- Which tokens, if any, hold up inside CoinDesk's altcoin basket; the study reports the basket only as a whole.
Information, not investment advice. This story is general information about companies and markets, drawn from cited reporting. It is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any security; check the cited sources before acting.
Clarity's read
What the record supports and how the coverage leans. The claims behind it follow.
Reality
- Evidence60
- Adoption45
- Hype gap+20
- Incentives35
- Confidence60
Claim ledger
Ranked by verification strength, evidence, and original report placement.
- [1]
More than $19 billion in leveraged positions were liquidated in a single day on Oct. 10, 2025, the largest liquidation event in crypto history.
- [2]
Bitcoin was at $122,600 on the morning of Oct. 10, 2025, days after a record above $126,000; hours later it had plunged below $105,000, much of it in minutes in thin Friday evening U.S. trade after President Donald Trump announced 100% tariffs on Chinese imports.
- [3]
Bitcoin is about one-third cheaper than before the crash, so the deeper dollar book reflects more capital committed by market makers, not just less valuable coins.
- [4]
"The majors' deepening is real capital, not a price effect," CoinDesk Researcher Saksham Diwan said.
- [5]
"Market makers have returned to majors, with liquidity above pre-crash levels, whilst altcoin liquidity continues to trend down as a whole," said Joshua de Vos, manager at CoinDesk Research.
- [6]
In CoinDesk Research's altcoin basket, dollar depth was greatest on Jan. 1, 2025, and has been lower on each date measured since.
- [7]
Altcoin basket depth at 5% from the price is down about a third since the start of 2025, to around $2 million; at 1% it has fallen by about a sixth.
- [8]
CoinDesk Research compared market depth across major centralized exchanges on Jan. 1, 2025; Oct. 10, 2025; Jan. 1, 2026; and this week. Depth is the value of buy and sell orders resting near the current price; the deeper the book, the more volume a large trade can absorb without moving the market.
- [9]
On Oct. 7, about $11.7 million sat within 1% of bitcoin's price, roughly 75% more than on crash day, up from about $9 million at the start of this year and about $6.9 million at the start of 2025.
- [10]
Bitcoin's intraday fall on Oct. 10, 2025 was about 14%.
- [11]
Most of bitcoin's depth improvement is near the price, where market makers quote most actively; at 5% from the price, depth of around $24 million is roughly where it was in January 2025.
- [12]
Ether depth within 0.5% of the price has more than doubled since crash day to about $4.2 million; at 1% it has risen about three-quarters to roughly $5.3 million, above both January readings.
- [13]
As the market sold off this week, bitcoin's 1% depth fell about 12% between Oct. 7 and Oct. 8; ether's tightest band thinned slightly, though orders further from the price increased.
- [14]
Measured in tokens, altcoin depth peaked on Jan. 1 this year and has eased only modestly since; analysts said that token-unit recovery was mostly due to falling prices, masking a steady erosion in committed capital.
- [15]
Weekly spot volume on centralized exchanges averaged around $279 billion over the four weeks to Sept. 27, nearly two-thirds below the $801 billion traded in the week of the crash.
- [16]
Weekly spot volume bottomed in August at around $135 billion and has doubled since.
- [17]
The altcoin basket's 5% depth at the start of 2025 was about $3 million.
- [18]
Bitcoin orders resting between 1% and 5% from the price total about $12 million now against about $17 million at the start of 2025.
- [19]
The 12% one-day drop in bitcoin's 1% depth removed about $1.4 million, leaving roughly $10.3 million.
- [20]
Bitcoin's 1% depth on crash day was about $6.7 million.
Sources
2 independent publishers whose own reporting we read for this story.
- coindesk.comBitcoin's $19 billion wake-up call: One-year later, has crypto learned anything?
2 articles · October 10, 2026
- cryptobriefing.comBitcoin’s $19 billion crash still shapes crypto risk a year later
2 articles · October 10, 2026
Topics and entities
Topics
- Crypto market liquidity
- Crypto Derivatives and Liquidations
- Altcoins