Key takeaways:
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Bitcoin order book depth has declined by 50% since September 2025, signaling a significant decline in overall market liquidity.
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Indicators suggest that the current market volatility is due more to recent 2026 trends than to the 2025 crash itself.
Bitcoin (BTC) and the cryptocurrency markets took a huge hit on October 10, 2025, exactly 6 months ago. This devastating flash crash wiped out a record $19 billion in leveraged positions, while the value of some altcoins dropped from 40% to 80%. Many traders speculated that many market makers had been eliminated, while others accused the Binance exchange of blatant manipulation.
Has the cryptocurrency market structure actually changed since the October 2025 crash and what has changed in terms of liquidity, derivatives markets and institutional indicators?
Bitcoin’s total order book depth, ranging from +1% to -1%, typically hovered between $180 million and $260 million in September 2025. Most days saw bids for a sizable $90 million, but on October 10, 2025, that was not the case. A combination of technical issues on Binance and automatic deleveraging on decentralized exchanges resulted in a ephemeral lack of liquidity.
During the flash crash, Bitcoin’s order book depth dropped, stabilizing at near $150 million by mid-November 2025. Today, Bitcoin’s order book depth rarely exceeds $130 million, a 50% decline from the level recorded in September 2025.
Already volatile market conditions worsened further in February 2026. Bitcoin’s order book depth fell below $60 million for almost 10 days as the price struggled to maintain the $65,000 level. Cryptocurrency market volumes have declined significantly, especially in derivatives markets.
Crypto derivatives volume has fluctuated between $40 billion and $130 billion over the past 30 days, reaching the $200 billion mark commonly seen in September 2025. Still, reduced futures appetite is not necessarily a bearish indicator because longs (buyers) and shorts (sellers) are evenly matched at all times.
Demand for bullish leverage remains delicate and ETF volumes lag
The funding rate of Bitcoin futures can be used to assess investors’ risk appetite.
Under normal circumstances, the ratio should be between 6% and 12% to compensate for the cost of capital. Excessive demand for bearish leverage could push the ratio below 0%, meaning brief traders are paying to keep their positions open. The data showed stable conditions throughout November 2025, before failing sharply in February 2026.
Interestingly, the October 10, 2025 crash had no impact on the volumes of US-listed Bitcoin spot funds (ETFs). In fact, activity in these instruments surged to a 20-month high at $11.5 billion per day in delayed November.
Related: Binance adds security barriers to spot trading to limit unusual executions
From January to March 2026, Bitcoin ETF trading regularly exceeded $4 billion per day, but ultimately fell below $3.3 billion in the first week of April. Similarly, the average daily volume of US-listed Ether ETFs (ETH) fell to $1 billion from $2 billion in September 2025.
Order book depth, funding rate, derivatives and ETF volumes indicate a much less fit cryptocurrency market situation in April 2026 compared to 6 months earlier. However, given that the market structure remained relatively stable until February 2026, the significance of the flash crash of October 10, 2025 appears to be much smaller than previously thought.
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