Crypto Markets Slump as Bitcoin Retests $110K Support – Global Highlights (Oct. 30, 2025)

By the SmallCap Network (SCN) Editorial Team

Toronto, October 30, 2025 (SCN) – The cryptocurrency market experienced broad declines on Thursday, led by a pullback in Bitcoin to the $110,000 level after a U.S. interest rate cut and upbeat geopolitical news prompted traders to “sell the news”coindesk.com. Major digital assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum fell by mid-single digit percentages, erasing some of October’s earlier gains, while select altcoins bucked the trend with idiosyncratic rallies. Key developments spanned global markets – from Wall Street and Washington to Asia and Latin America – as regulators and institutions responded to crypto’s rapid growth. Below is a roundup of the most important crypto news and market updates for October 30, 2025.

Bitcoin Hits $110K on Fed Cut and Trade Deal News

Bitcoin (BTC) slid back to around $110,000 – a key technical support level – following the U.S. Federal Reserve’s decision to cut interest rates by 25 basis points and news of a trade agreement between the U.S. and Chinacoindesk.comtradingview.com. The Fed’s first rate cut in recent memory initially sparked optimism, but crypto markets reacted in classic “sell the news” fashion, as many traders had anticipated the move. BTC briefly dipped as low as ~$108,000 after the Fed announcement, though it recovered after a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping where the leaders discussed easing trade tensionstradingview.com.

Despite the day’s volatility, Bitcoin remains up significantly year-to-date, having hit an all-time high near $126,000 earlier in the monthcoindesk.com. This latest retreat from ~$116,000 highs has some analysts cautioning it could mark a “lower high” formation – potentially signaling a trend reversal if further weakness ensuescoindesk.com. Still, market internals show resilience. Futures open interest on Bitcoin rose slightly to $27.2 billion even as prices fell, and derivatives funding rates normalized to neutral levels, indicating calm sentiment and quick re-entry by buyers after the dipcoindesk.com. Nearly $821 million in crypto futures positions were liquidated over the past day – about 79% of them long positions – as leveraged traders were shaken outcoindesk.com. However, the scale of liquidations was relatively modest compared to last week’s episodes, and options markets maintained a generally bullish bias (with traders still paying a premium for short-term call options despite the pullback)coindesk.com.

In U.S. markets, Bitcoin’s slide coincided with a broader risk-off mood. Major equity indices fell for a second straight day, and crypto-related stocks like exchanges and miners also slipped. Nonetheless, Bitcoin’s market dominance (its share of total crypto market capitalization) only ticked down slightly, from about 59.3% to 59.0%coindesk.com, suggesting altcoins were not disproportionately outperforming. In fact, roughly $80 billion was erased from the total crypto market cap in 24 hours amid the post-Fed sell-offcoindesk.com. Bitcoin’s ability to hold the ~$110K support is now seen as crucial; analysts note that if BTC were to break below the psychological $100,000 level (and more importantly ~$98,000 technical support), it could trigger a deeper correction across the crypto marketcoindesk.com.

Market observers are also weighing upbeat commentary from notable crypto proponents. MicroStrategy chairman Michael Saylor – whose firm holds over 640,000 BTC in treasury – said this week he remains confident Bitcoin can reach $150,000 by the end of 2025, citing “positive developments in the space” as justificationtradingview.com. Such bullish long-term forecasts underscore that despite short-term volatility, institutional believers are still positioned for further upside.

Ethereum and Altcoins Slide, With Few Bright Spots

The weakness in Bitcoin reverberated across major altcoins. Ether (ETH), the second-largest crypto asset, dropped about 2–3% on the day, trading just below $4,000 by Thursday afternooncoindesk.com. Earlier in the week ETH had briefly reclaimed the $4,200 level on momentum from an upcoming network upgrade (see Technology section), but risk aversion has since dragged it back into the high-$3,000s. Traders report ETH’s support around $3,900 is being tested as market-wide risk appetite wanescoindesk.com. Other large-cap tokens mirrored this trend: XRP and Stellar (XLM) were the worst performers in the top 20, each sinking over 3% in the past daycoindesk.com. Dogecoin (DOGE), the popular meme-inspired coin, slid roughly 7% to about $0.18, triggering a technical breakdown on its price charts and undoing gains made earlier in “Uptober”coindesk.com.

High-flying Solana (SOL) saw one of the sharper pullbacks. SOL tumbled roughly 8% on Thursday, erasing its year-over-year gainscoindesk.com. Notably, this decline came despite recent positive news such as the debut of new Solana investment products. Analysts pointed out that the launch of a Solana spot ETF (exchange-traded fund) failed to buoy its price, indicating that broader market forces overwhelmed any isolated bullish catalystscoindesk.com. By day’s end, Solana hovered around $185–190, about 20% off its peak monthly levels.

Even the DeFi (decentralized finance) sector was not spared. Lending protocol Aave’s AAVE token plunged approximately 8% to near $210 amid the market sell-offcoindesk.comcoindesk.com. The drop broke a key support level for AAVE and came despite encouraging growth in the project’s real-world asset lending initiative; Aave’s institutional lending arm “Horizon” has grown to $450 million in deposits within two months of launchcoindesk.com. The fact that positive fundamental news did not stop AAVE’s price from sinking highlights the currently risk-off sentiment. Similarly, lesser-known altcoins showed volatility mostly to the downside. Plasma (XPL), a smaller-cap token, continued its collapse – falling another 14% on the day and extending its losses to a staggering –81% since late Septembercoindesk.com. Observers attribute Plasma’s slump to negative headlines and diminishing investor confidence in that projectcoindesk.com.

Amid the broad sea of red, a few outliers and meme tokens managed gains. TRUMP (TRUMP), a memecoin “backed by the U.S. president”, jumped 6.8% in 24 hourscoindesk.com. The rally in TRUMP – which is jokingly themed after President Trump – was fueled by reports that its managing company (Fight Fight Fight) is planning to acquirecrowdfunding platform Republiccoindesk.com. This speculation of a high-profile acquisition sparked fresh buzz around TRUMP token. The coin has now climbed about 45% this week, one of the few crypto assets in the greencoindesk.com. Even so, at roughly $8.40 per token, TRUMP remains well below its all-time high of $45.47 set earlier this yearcoindesk.com, exemplifying the extreme volatility of meme-themed assets. Traders note that such tokens often trade on unique news and sentiment rather than fundamentals, and selective strength in names like TRUMP has offered little relief to the broader altcoin indexes. Overall, crypto market breadth was weak on Oct. 30, with the majority of altcoins and DeFi tokens posting daily losses amid the risk-off tone.

Trading Volumes Surge and Institutions Rebalance Positions

Even as prices fell, underlying trading activity and liquidity remained robust. New data show that spot Bitcoin trading volumes exceeded $300 billion in October 2025, making this month one of the busiest of the year for BTC tradingbitget.combitget.com. Binance led all exchanges with about $174 billion in spot BTC volume during Octoberbitget.com. Analysts at CryptoQuant noted this trend is “highly constructive” for market health, as a market driven by spot activity (rather than leveraged derivatives) tends to be more stable and resistant to sudden swingsbitget.com. “Major exchanges recorded more than $300B in Bitcoin spot volume this month, with $174B coming from Binance alone, making it the second-highest month of the year,” one CryptoQuant analyst observed, highlighting strong engagement from both retail and institutional tradersbitget.com. The spike in spot interest comes after a brief but violent price correction earlier in the month wiped out tens of billions in futures open interest, prompting many participants to de-leverage and shift back toward on-chain tradingbitget.com.

On the institutional side, Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) saw notable flows around the Fed news. U.S.-listed spot Bitcoin ETFs shed about $470 million in assets on Wednesday, the largest one-day outflow in two weekstradingview.com. According to Farside Investors data, the outflows coincided with BTC’s dip to $108K and likely reflect some profit-taking after the strong inflows earlier in the month. The Fidelity Bitcoin ETF (FBTC) led redemptions with roughly $164 million withdrawn, followed by ARK Invest’s ARKB losing $143 million, and BlackRock’s IBIT seeing $88 million in outflowstradingview.com. Grayscale’s GBTC trust, which operates similarly to an ETF, also recorded about $65 million in net redemptionstradingview.com. These outflows partially reversed the substantial inflows from earlier in the week (for instance, investors poured in $202 million on Tuesday alone)tradingview.com. Total Bitcoin ETF assets under management (AUM) now sit around $149 billion, down slightly, representing roughly 6.7% of Bitcoin’s market capitalizationtradingview.com. Even after this pullback, the growth of ETFs has been striking – collectively, spot Bitcoin funds hold over 1.5 million BTC (worth ~$169 billion), which is about 7.3% of the total BTC supplytradingview.com. BlackRock’s IBIT fund remains the single largest, controlling about 805,000 BTC, with Fidelity’s and Grayscale’s products following in sizetradingview.com.

Futures and options markets also indicated strategic repositioning rather than panic. As noted, Bitcoin futures OI climbed back above $27 billioncoindesk.com, implying that new longs stepped in as prices stabilized around $110K. Meanwhile, Bitcoin’s options skew – a measure of demand for bullish call options versus bearish puts – remained positive, and the one-week 25-delta skew, while down slightly to 8%, still showed traders paying a premium for upside protectioncoindesk.com. This suggests some big players are positioning for a potential rebound or at least hedging against missing a quick recovery.

In the equity markets, crypto-related stocks delivered mixed signals that underscore the sector’s maturation. Coinbase (COIN), the largest U.S. crypto exchange, reported third-quarter earnings that beat analyst expectations, aided by the surge in trading activity. Coinbase’s transaction revenue hit $1.0 billion in Q3 – a milestone that reflects the vibrant trading volumes in recent monthscoindesk.com. The company’s stock initially rose on the earnings news, though broader market declines later tempered gains. MicroStrategy (MSTR), a business-intelligence company known for its Bitcoin-heavy treasury, also posted improved results. It recorded earnings of $8.42 per share in Q3, partly thanks to accounting gains from Bitcoin’s price appreciationbitget.com. CEO Phong Le reaffirmed the firm’s long-term crypto strategy, noting MicroStrategy holds about 640,808 BTC (worth ~$70.9 billion) and remains committed to its Bitcoin accumulation plansbitget.com. The firm even set ambitious internal targets contingent on Bitcoin reaching $150K by year-end, underscoring their bullish outlookbitget.com. Such corporate developments indicate that traditional financial metrics for crypto-linked firms are increasingly tied to digital asset market cycles – a sign of crypto’s deeper integration into the financial system.

Technology Updates and New Launches

Amid the market turbulence, development on leading blockchain networks continues unabated. Ethereum developers announced a firm date for the network’s next major upgrade, dubbed “Fusaka,” aimed at dramatically boosting scalability. The Fusaka upgrade is scheduled for December 3, 2025, following successful tests on multiple Ethereum testnetsbitget.com. A centerpiece of Fusaka is the introduction of PeerDAS (Data Availability Sampling) technology, which is expected to increase Ethereum’s data throughput capacity by up to 400%. By allowing layer-2 networks to verify small samples of data instead of entire blocks, PeerDAS could eventually enable over 2.4 million transactions per dayon Ethereum’s base layer – a leap forward that may rival the throughput of high-speed chains like Solanabitget.com. Developers opted to delay this feature from an earlier upgrade to ensure stability, but with testing now complete on the Holesky and Sepolia testnets, Ethereum’s core team is confident in the December rollout. Market reaction to the Fusaka news has been cautiously optimistic: ETH saw a brief rally above $4,200 when the upgrade timeline was revealedbitget.com, though broader market factors later pulled the price back. Still, many in the community view the upcoming upgrade as a bullish fundamental development that could improve Ethereum’s efficiency and lower transaction fees, reinforcing its position in decentralized finance and Web3 applications.

On the Bitcoin side, the ecosystem saw its own incremental improvements. The Bitcoin Core 28.0 software release was rolled out, bringing enhancements in privacy, performance, and wallet management for the Bitcoin networkbitget.com. Developers highlighted optimizations that reduce memory usage and speed up the verification of blocks, as well as improved tools for wallet backup and recovery – all part of the ongoing effort to make Bitcoin’s infrastructure more robust and user-friendly. Such upgrades, while not as headline-grabbing as price movements, are crucial for the long-term sustainability and security of the blockchain.

In the central bank digital currency (CBDC) and stablecoin arena, a notable innovation came from Indonesia. Bank Indonesia, the country’s central bank, unveiled plans for a bond-backed digital currency that observers dubbed a “national stablecoin”tradingview.comtradingview.com. Governor Perry Warjiyo announced at a fintech summit that the central bank will issue tokenized government bonds (SBN) as part of its digital rupiah initiativetradingview.com. These digital bonds would effectively be backed by the existing digital rupiah CBDC, creating a two-tier structure: a CBDC for payments, and a parallel stablecoin-like instrument collateralized by sovereign bondstradingview.com. “We will issue Bank Indonesia securities in digital form – the digital rupiah with underlying SBN, Indonesia’s national version of a stablecoin,” Warjiyo explainedtradingview.com. This approach aims to integrate blockchain into Indonesia’s monetary system in a unique way, potentially enhancing liquidity and providing a stable digital asset for use in DeFi and cross-border transactions. Indonesia’s financial regulators have been proactive in monitoring stablecoins’ growing role in remittances and paymentstradingview.com. Though stablecoins are not yet legal tender there, officials enforce compliance and note that credible asset-backed stablecoins are increasingly used as hedges against currency volatilitytradingview.com. Indonesia’s push illustrates how emerging markets are experimenting with digital assets in their monetary frameworks – the country even ranks 7th globally in crypto adoption, according to Chainalysis, reflecting a robust retail and DeFi user base domesticallytradingview.com.

Other tech-related tidbits include ongoing experiments with Bitcoin’s Layer-2 Lightning Network (with several Latin American firms expanding Lightning payment trials), and new financial products like tokenized securities gaining traction. For example, banking giant JPMorgan recently tokenized a portion of a money market fund on a private blockchain, as part of its Kinexys initiative to blend traditional finance with crypto infrastructure (announced earlier this week). Each of these developments shows how technological innovation in crypto is proceeding full steam, even if price action captures most headlines on any given day.

Global Regulatory and Legal Developments

Regulators around the world remain actively engaged with the fast-evolving crypto sector, and October 30 brought several notable updates across jurisdictions:

• United States: The Federal Reserve’s quarter-point rate cut on Oct. 29 – while a macroeconomic decision – has indirect implications for crypto, as looser monetary policy can bolster speculative assets. The current U.S. administration has generally signaled a crypto-friendly stance, which some analysts believe has contributed to 2025’s market rallyreuters.com. On the legislative front, Washington made waves earlier this year by enacting the GENIUS Act (signed by President Trump in July 2025), a law establishing federal standards for stablecoins. The act mandates 100% reserve backing for U.S. dollar stablecoins and monthly transparency reports, and it created a fast-track for stablecoin issuers to receive federal approvalcrypto.news. Industry stakeholders have praised the clarity of the new law, which explicitly aims to keep dollar-pegged stablecoins dominant globally. In October, U.S. regulators also saw a flurry of filings for new crypto ETFs, with 21 digital asset fund applications submitted at the start of the month as investment firms bet on expanding the range of crypto investment productsx.com. Meanwhile, legal proceedings continue in high-profile crypto cases. (Notably, earlier in the month President Trump issued a controversial pardon for Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao in relation to prior regulatory disputes, though that move drew criticism from some lawmakerscrypto.news.) Overall, the U.S. is striking a balance between enforcement – the SEC and DOJ have ongoing actions against certain crypto companies – and encouraging innovation via clearer rules.
• Europe: The European Union’s landmark crypto framework, MiCA (Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation), is gradually coming into effect. By now (Q4 2025), major crypto service providers operating in the EU are expected to be compliant with MiCA’s licensing, disclosure, and reserve requirements. Regulators in Europe have expressed guarded optimism but also caution. A report this month from the EU’s risk watchdog warned of “significant gaps”in the global patchwork of crypto rules and urged faster, more unified implementation of standardsreuters.comreuters.com. European officials are particularly focused on stablecoins, noting that very few jurisdictions (including within the EU) have fully comprehensive stablecoin regulations in force yetreuters.comreuters.com. Still, progress is being made: countries like France and Germany report active registration of crypto firms under MiCA’s provisions, and pan-European supervision is ramping up. Separately, the European Central Bank (ECB) continues to research a potential digital euro, though no launch decision has been made. In the UK (now outside the EU), regulators at the Financial Conduct Authority are tightening advertising rules for crypto and considering new exchange oversight, reflecting a global trend of more rigorous scrutiny following past market excesses.
• Asia: Across Asia, regulators are implementing both supportive measures and strict oversight. Hong Kong, which has positioned itself as a crypto-friendly hub, rolled out a new stablecoin licensing regime effective August 1, 2025 – but officials have paused issuing any licenses until 2026 to ensure a careful, phased approachcrypto.news. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s guidelines focus on high reserve standards and investor protection, and local officials believe their methodical rollout “will be a blueprint for others” looking to regulate stablecoinsthecooldown.com. This “regulation-first” strategy, as one official put it, is an opportunity to trial robust oversight that could be replicated elsewhere if successfulthecooldown.com. In Japan, regulators are tweaking rules to integrate crypto into traditional finance in measured ways. Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) is reportedly weighing reforms that would allow domestic banks to hold cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and even operate licensed crypto exchangestradingview.com. Such changes, if approved, could pave the way for more institutional adoption in Japan’s banking sector – albeit under strict risk management requirements for volatilitytradingview.com. At the same time, Japan’s evolving rules are causing some industry adjustments: Bybit, one of the world’s largest crypto exchanges, announced it will halt new account registrations in Japan starting Oct. 31 as it works to align with the FSA’s “emerging” regulatory frameworktradingview.com. “It has always been Bybit’s commitment to operate responsibly and in compliance with local laws,” the exchange stated, emphasizing its proactive approach to the incoming rulestradingview.com. Existing Japanese users can continue to trade for now, and Bybit says it will provide updates as discussions with regulators progresstradingview.com. Elsewhere in Asia, Singapore is enforcing new anti-money laundering measures on crypto firms after high-profile incidents, and South Korea is moving forward with its own crypto legislation, including stricter penalties for illicit trading activities. China remains officially closed to crypto trading (following its 2021 ban), but interestingly, this week’s U.S.-China trade rapprochement is seen as indirectly positive for crypto sentiment, by reducing one source of global economic uncertaintycoindesk.com.
• Latin America: The crypto movement continues to gain traction in Latin America, often driven by both grassroots adoption and government interest in alternatives. In a potentially game-changing development, Brazil’s central bank is considering adding Bitcoin to its national foreign exchange reserves – a bold step that would mark the first time a major Latin American economy formally holds BTC on its balance sheetbitget.com. Reports indicate that Brazil’s monetary policy committee will discuss a proposal next month on diversifying a portion of reserves into Bitcoin as a hedge against inflation and U.S. dollar volatilitybitget.combitget.com. If adopted, this policy shift could be one of the biggest milestones for crypto in a G20 economy, potentially following the path blazed by El Salvador (which in 2021 became the first country to make Bitcoin legal tender)bitget.com. Analysts say Brazil’s move would likely accelerate Bitcoin adoption across the region and spur neighboring countries like Argentina, Colombia, or Chile to consider similar strategiesbitget.com. It’s noted that several Latin nations are coping with high inflation and currency weakness, making decentralized assets attractive to policymakers seeking financial stability. Still, any decision by Brazil will weigh the benefits of diversification against Bitcoin’s notorious volatility and regulatory considerations. Meanwhile, crypto usage at the retail level is surging in parts of Latin America. A new report this week highlighted that Argentina leads the world in crypto ownership (with roughly 18% of Argentines holding digital assets), followed closely by Brazil (~17%) and even El Salvador (~14%)broadcast.com.brcrypto-reporter.com. Such figures underscore how Latin Americans are turning to crypto as a store of value and remittance tool amid economic uncertainties. Regionally, more fintech startups are integrating crypto into payment apps, and countries like Mexico and Peru have seen their first Bitcoin ATMs and Lightning payment integrations launch. The trend in Latin America is clear: whether through top-down policy (as in Brazil’s deliberations) or bottom-up adoption, the region is emerging as one of the world’s crypto hotbeds.

Market Outlook: As October draws to a close, the crypto market’s trajectory hangs in the balance. What started as a euphoric “Uptober” – with Bitcoin hitting record highs – has turned into a more volatile and cautious finale, reminding investors that even in a bull year, corrections are part of the journey. The good news for crypto enthusiasts is that fundamental indicators (ranging from spot volume growth to ongoing technological upgrades and institutional engagement) remain strong. “A market driven more by spot trading rather than derivatives is generally healthier, more stable… reflecting stronger organic demand,” noted CryptoQuant analysts in a review of the recent volume trendsbitget.com. Regulators worldwide are increasingly active, but their actions – from the U.S. stablecoin law to Asia’s licensing regimes – suggest crypto is being pulled into the regulatory mainstream rather than pushed away.

For retail investors with a moderate understanding of crypto, the current environment calls for both caution and perspective. Short-term price swings can be sharp (as seen this week), influenced by macro news like Fed policy or technical trading dynamics. However, the continued involvement of major institutions, the introduction of clearer rules, and the relentless pace of crypto innovation all point to a maturing market. As always, diversification and careful risk management are key. The SmallCap Network editorial team will continue monitoring these fast-moving developments into November and beyond, keeping readers informed on the twists and turns of the crypto markets. Stay tuned for further updates from major crypto hubs around the world, as this global asset class navigates its next phase.

Sources: CoinDeskcoindesk.comcoindesk.comcoindesk.comcoindesk.comcoindesk.comcoindesk.com; Cointelegraph/TradingViewtradingview.comtradingview.comtradingview.comtradingview.com; CryptoQuant via Cointelegraphbitget.combitget.com; Crypto.newscrypto.newscrypto.news; CoinDesk (AAVE, Solana)coindesk.comcoindesk.com; Coinfomaniabitget.combitget.com; Reutersreuters.comreuters.com; TradingView (Cointelegraph)tradingview.comtradingview.com; Yahoo News/Business Insiderthecooldown.com.

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