Bitcoin spot trading surged in October and reached over $300 billion. This stood as the second-highest monthly total of the year. The sudden move came as traders pulled back from risky leveraged positions after the massive $19 billion in losses earlier in the month. A Costly Lesson for Leveraged Traders The October crash started when US President Donald Trump threatened new tariffs on China. Within hours, Bitcoin fell from $122,000 to around $101,000 on some exchanges. More than 1.6 million traders were forced to close positions. CoinGlass data showed that long traders suffered the worst and lost nearly $17 billion. One trader reportedly lost $19 million on Hyperliquid. A few whales profited by shorting Bitcoin before the fall. The market suffered massive liquidations on 10 October | source: Coinglass The fallout from this event was severe because it wiped out months of gains and reminded the market how quickly leveraged bets can implode. By the end of October, Bitcoin recovered to about $110,800. The price stayed range-bound between $108,000 and $116,000 and is showing signs of stabilisation after a chaotic start to the month. Bitcoin Spot Trading Gains Strength Binance dominated Bitcoin spot trading in October, after handling about $174 billion of the total volume. Data also showed that activity came from both retail traders and institutional investors. Analysts from CryptoQuant said the rise in spot trading showed a trend toward real accumulation rather than short-term speculation. People appear to be focusing more on owning Bitcoin outright instead of betting on short-term price swings. Bitcoin spot trading has gained strength since the crash | source: CryptoQuant This transition may be an important turning point. When markets are driven by actual buying and selling rather than leveraged contracts, prices tend to show genuine demand. That could mean fewer extreme swings and a stronger foundation for future growth. Analysts Warn of Fragile Recovery Despite fresh interest in spot markets, not everyone is confident that the worst is over. On-chain firm Santiment noted that retail traders are becoming overly optimistic. Many are “buying the dip” too early, which often leads to more losses when the market turns again. Market analyst Ali Martinez also flagged warning signs. He mentioned that the TD Sequential indicator flashed another possible sell signal. Concerns about global liquidity are still strong, even after the Federal Reserve’s recent 25-basis-point rate cut. The move caused another $700 million in liquidations across crypto markets. Signs of Long-Term Accumulation Exchange data supports this shift toward direct Bitcoin ownership. Total BTC held on exchanges dropped from 2.65 million to 2.38 million during October. This means more traders are moving their coins into personal wallets instead of leaving them on platforms for short-term trading. Some whales still moved large amounts into exchanges to sell, but many others continued to buy. Data from Binance showed that sell-taker orders slightly outnumbered buy orders. Bybit, on the other hand, saw stronger buying activity. Despite these mixed flows, the overall balance leaned toward accumulation. Traders used time-weighted average price (TWAP) orders to slowly build positions without spiking prices.
