Q3 2025: Bitcoin Surged to ATH But With ‘Notable Laggard’ as Ethereum Led the Quarter
The third quarter of 2025 was a big one, posting substantial achievements, according to the newest crypto trade report by crypto knowledge aggregator CoinGecko. Yet, regardless of Bitcoin (BTC)’s surge to a contemporary ATH, main altcoins – notably Ethereum (ETH) – strongly outperformed.
The crypto market recorded its third consecutive rallying quarter in Q3 this 12 months. This can also be the second consecutive quarter of “important capital appreciation,” the report famous.
Moreover, 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 whole market capitalization elevated by 16.4% with $563.6 billion, hitting the $4 trillion mark. Notably, that is the highest stage since late 2021.
Moreover, the common each day buying and selling quantity noticed “a decisive reversal” in Q3, suggesting greater market participation. It went up almost 44% from Q2 to $155 billion, following two consecutive quarters (Q1 and Q2) of diminishing spot exercise.
At the similar time, Bitcoin dominance famous a big 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’ development seen earlier in the 12 months,” CoinGecko famous.
The predominant beneficiary was Ethereum, as might be mentioned under. Its market share rose to 12.5%, exhibiting a renewed curiosity and capital inflows into ETH.
Other main altcoins benefited as nicely, together with XRP (+0.5 share factors), BNB (+0.7 p.p.), and SOL (+0.4 p.p.).
Altcoins In Focus, Bitcoin Lagging
Altcoins strongly outperformed in Q3 this 12 months, CoinGecko highlighted. BTC was “the notable laggard” in the prime 5 cash class, with a 6.4% appreciation.
At the similar time, ETH led the listing with a 66.6% rise, outperforming main altcoins and even hitting a brand new all-time high of almost $5,000.
Notably, there was a transparent renewed curiosity in ETH, fueled by robust internet inflows into US Spot ETH exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and institutional purchase strain from treasury corporations such as Tom Lee’s Bitmine Immersion and Joe Lubin’s SharpLink.
At the similar 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 by way of Binance Alpha and the perp DEX Aster success, says the report.
Also, SOL reached a quarterly high of $248 with an inflow of treasury corporations. However, it misplaced momentum amidst a late-September market pullback and ETF approval delay.
Speaking of ETFs…
CoinGecko highlighted that BTC’s early surge adopted steady retail and institutional accumulation, notably by Bitcoin ETFs.
However, analysts additionally famous a reversal of the influx development at the finish of September. US spot BTC ETFs recorded outflows amidst a basic market decline.
US Spot BTC ETFs internet inflows decreased from $12.8 billion in Q2 to $8.8 billion in Q3. Total AUM grew by 16% from $143.4 billion to $166.3 billion.
At the similar time, US spot ETH ETFs famous $9.6 billion in internet inflows. This was “by far the largest quarter and the first time it has surpassed BTC ETFs,” the report says. Total AUM reached $28.6 billion, marking a 177.4% leap quarter-on-quarter.
Moreover, crypto digital asset treasury corporations (DATCos) spent at the least $22.6 billion in new crypto acquisitions in Q3. This was “by far the largest quarterly quantity up to now.” Of this, altcoin DATCos accounted for $10.8 billion (47.8%).
Overall, DATCos held some $138.2 billion value of crypto by the finish of Q3.
Strategy dominated with >50% share, whereas two ETH DATCos made the prime 5 listing (Bitmine Immersion and Sharplink).
Stablecoin Market Cap Hits New ATH
In the earlier quarter, the prime 20 stablecoin market cap surged by over 18%, with $44.5 billion, reaching a brand new ATH of $287.6 billion.
Top gainers are:
- Ethena’s USDe: jumped by 177.8% or $9.4 billion in market cap, with the market share rising from 2% to 5%, overtaking USDS as the third-largest stablecoin.
- Tether’s USDT: noticed the largest absolute improve, including $17 billion to its market cap, whereas its market share fell from 65% to 61% due to the accelerated progress of different stablecoins.
The market cap has continued to climb in early This autumn, surpassing $300 billion. At the time of writing in late October, it stands at $312 billion, per CoinGecko.
DeFi Surges
DeFi Total Value Locked (TVL) was up 40.2% from $115 billion at the begin of July to $161 billion at the finish of September. ETH’s “outsized appreciation and the ongoing stablecoin narrative” fueled this surge, CoinGecko says.
Moreover, 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 worth leap of newly launched tokens from perpetual DEXes such as 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 prime centralized exchanges (CEXes) recorded $5.1 trillion in spot buying and selling quantity. This is a virtually 32% improve from Q2’s $3.9 trillion.
- Upbit was the largest 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 stage 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.”
Meanwhile, the buying and selling quantity of the prime 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 largest 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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