{"id":525188,"date":"2025-10-24T16:57:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T16:57:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/525188\/"},"modified":"2025-10-24T16:57:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T16:57:10","slug":"altcoin-market-falls-800-billion-short-as-retail-traders-vanish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/525188\/","title":{"rendered":"Altcoin market falls $800 billion short as retail traders vanish"},"content":{"rendered":"

The altcoin market is $800 billion smaller than past cycles would suggest\u2014and a shift in retail sentiment may have killed it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A new estimate from 10x Research argues that the complex of non-Bitcoin<\/a> tokens has been starved of capital this cycle, largely because retail investors, especially in South Korea, have turned to crypto-linked equities instead, while Bitcoin boomed on institutional flows. The estimate lands just weeks after a record liquidation wiped out swathes of the altcoin market, amplifying fears that the speculative playground for digital tokens beyond Bitcoin and Ether may never recover.<\/p>\n

\u201cAltcoin market capitalization would be roughly $800 billion higher if retail investors\u2014especially in South Korea\u2014hadn\u2019t redirected their attention toward crypto-related stocks and other equities,\u201d said\u00a0Markus Thielen<\/a>, CEO and head of research at 10x Research. In this cycle, \u201caltcoins have failed to attract sufficient new capital,\u201d he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Historically, South Korea\u2019s crypto traders have shown a proclivity for altcoins, which in the past have accounted for more than 80% of total trading activity on local exchanges. That\u2019s a stark contrast to global platforms, where Bitcoin and Ether together make up 50% or more of overall volumes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 2024, from Nov. 5 through Nov. 28, the daily average trading on Korean crypto exchanges\u00a0amounted<\/a>\u00a0to about $9.4 billion, versus $7 billion for the Kospi, according to data from CCData and Korea Exchange. Since then, volumes have collapsed, according to 10x Research.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Diminished appetite among Korea\u2019s traders is a key factor in altcoins\u2019 under-performance, 10x said, and it could presage further declines.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A sharp recent selloff in crypto markets sparked by escalating U.S.-China trade tensions sent both Bitcoin and altcoins spiraling, but altcoins were hit hardest on a relative basis. Of the $380 billion erased, about $131 billion was concentrated in altcoins, 10x said at the time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For altcoins, the shift in attention to Bitcoin and crypto stocks represents a \u201cstructural shift,\u201d according to 10x report \u2014 a deficit that appears like unlikely to be made up any time soon.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A MarketVector index tracking the bottom half of the largest 100 digital assets has edged back up about 4% this week, after tumbling 23% the previous one. The index is down 57% this year. Bitcoin, is up about 3.7% this week to around $111,000, and 18% higher since December. \u00a0\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

On the new Fortune Crypto Playbook vodcast,<\/strong> Fortune\u2019s senior crypto experts decode the biggest forces shaping crypto today. Watch or listen now<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The altcoin market is $800 billion smaller than past cycles would suggest\u2014and a shift in retail sentiment may…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":525189,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3091],"tags":[2257,51,31212,2260,2441,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-525188","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-markets","8":"tag-bitcoin","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-cryptocurrency","11":"tag-ethereum","12":"tag-markets","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115430204930977236","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=525188"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525188\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/525189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=525188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=525188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=525188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}