In late October 2025, the crypto market malaise has become the dominant theme in crypto news. Digital assets are not only underperforming equities but also failing to respond to macro tailwinds. In earlier cycles, they would have sent Bitcoin and Ether soaring.
Crypto trader and analyst Miles Deutscher wrote his musings on why the crypto market is weak right now, and what could be the catalyst for change. He described how several factors have converged, from a “DAT unwind” to drying up demand for ETFs. He also noted that the brutal selloff on October 10 dealt a psychological and material blow to the space. It was the “nail in the coffin after already underperforming equities for weeks.”
Market makers are still unwinding positions, many retail traders have thrown in the towel, and persistent negative sentiment is suppressing any immediate recovery. All these dynamics, he argues, have combined to leave the crypto market vulnerable and underperforming relative to equities.
DATs Starting to Feel the Pinch
One of the factors contributing to the weakness of the crypto market, Deutscher notes, is that DATs are starting to feel the pinch. ETHZilla sold around $40 million of ETH last week, while Sequan Bitcoin Treasury sold $110,000,000 $BTC. The major crypto market players like MicroStrategy stay put, but when smaller DATs blink and start reducing risk, it sends ripples through the order books. Market makers pick up on that hesitance, unwinding their own exposures just to keep losses from snowballing. The result? A constant hum of pressure on prices, even if the headlines are fixated elsewhere.
ETF Flows Flipping Negative
ETF flows, once the pride of crypto’s institutional adoption narrative, have now turned sharply negative. Spot Bitcoin ETFs reported cumulative net outflows of almost $1 billion on October 29 and October 30 alone. Fidelity, BlackRock, and Ark Invest led the stampede for this exit, marking one of the worst stretches for BTC ETFs since their launch. Ethereum ETFs didn’t fare much better; they bled hundreds of millions in assets over three consecutive days. This “dried up” demand shows that institutional participants have moved to the sidelines, unsure if the Uptober drawdown was a blip or a longer-term risk-off regime.
The Crypto Market Crash of October 10
The October 10 event itself was historic for the crypto market. Bitcoin, having set a fresh all-time high above $126,000 just days before, dropped over 14% in hours. It dragged Ethereum well below $4,000 and left smaller tokens shattered. $19 billion was wiped out of the crypto market within hours.
Ethereum transaction fees soared, major exchanges stumbled, and even core stablecoins briefly lost their pegs as network stress cascaded. The “nail in the coffin” for sentiment wasn’t just the price collapse, but the psychological shock of seeing crypto act more like an overleveraged tech stock than a resilient haven.
Retail Capitulation
Perhaps most crucial is retail capitulation. Even the most determined traders threw in the towel through October. Crypto volumes cratered, Telegram groups went quiet, and speculative froth dried up. Bloomberg noted the altcoin market is now $800 billion smaller than historic cycle norms. That’s the upshot of disengaged investors and evaporated liquidity across riskier tokens. As market makers continue to unwind underwater positions, it’s unsurprising that crypto prices keep grinding lower. Especially with ETF demand no longer providing a floor. And yet, as Deutscher points out, the crypto market could flip on its head overnight.
The Crypto Market Could Instantly Flip Bullish
“A proper $BTC pump” would shift the narrative instantly, just as it did in August when a wave of buyers returned and sentiment rocketed. Cyclical catch-ups have often happened after periods of divergence between crypto and equities, Deutscher points out. That leaves open the possibility for one last drive toward new highs if conditions align. Looking forward, the lull offers an unexpected opportunity: time to research. Deutscher recommends using this quieter period to investigate promising verticals like x402, agents, robotics, RWAs, and prediction markets.
The best gains are captured during dislocations and asymmetries when others are too frustrated or complacent to bother. As the Bitcoin Therapist lamented, “UPTOBER WAS A FKN DISASTER.” Most importantly, as Bloomberg and CME Group both note, the technicals suggest BTC (and to a lesser degree ETH) could still reassert leadership if flows return, volatility contracts, and macro risk reduces.
For now, Uptober 2025 is a case study in how sentiment, liquidity, and leverage shape the fortunes of the crypto market. There’s pain and uncertainty in crypto news, but also the seeds of the next rotation when Bitcoin decides to resume its old, unpredictable magic. Until then, it’s time for investors to dig deep and do the work while the market is slow.