What happened?
The crypto market rallied strongly in Q3 2025, marking its third consecutive up quarter and lifting total market cap about 16.4% to roughly $4 trillion, the highest since late 2021. Trading activity and liquidity rebounded, with average daily volume up ~44% to $155 billion and DeFi TVL jumping around 40%. Bitcoin hit a fresh ATH but lagged many large-cap altcoins—Ethereum led the pack with roughly a 66.6% gain, while BNB, SOL and XRP also posted big increases.
Who does this affect?
Retail and institutional investors felt the shift as US spot ETH ETFs drew $9.6 billion in inflows and corporate treasuries (DATCos) bought about $22.6 billion of crypto in Q3. Exchanges and traders benefited from much higher spot and perpetual volumes—CEX spot volume rose to $5.1 trillion and perp DEX activity nearly doubled. Stablecoin issuers, DeFi projects, and liquidity providers also saw growing demand as stablecoin market cap hit new highs and on-chain activity surged.
Why does this matter?
The rotation from Bitcoin into Ethereum and other large-cap altcoins signals a change in market leadership that can drive different volatility patterns and sector returns going forward. Big ETF inflows and DATCo buying mean more institutional capital is directly shaping prices and liquidity, making markets more sensitive to fund flows. Higher trading volumes, rising DeFi TVL and expanding stablecoin supply boost on-chain liquidity and use cases, likely supporting more trading, lending and faster price moves across crypto markets.