October delivered another round of pain as prices slid for days, draining confidence across the crypto complex. Smaller coins were hit hardest while money moved toward the big names such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, highlighting a clear flight to perceived safety.
The October slide signals a broad move to reduce risk, with traders in futures and options closing or shrinking positions. Smaller coins fell faster than the majors and their share of total market value contracted, forcing index trackers to sell to stay within their rules. As liquidity thinned, leveraged players faced sharper margin calls, and companies holding coins on balance sheets found both risk controls and account reports harder to manage.
Derivatives reflected the stress: put options became more expensive and the funding fee on perpetual swaps tilted negative, meaning long holders pay shorts every eight hours.
Funding is a transfer between buyers and sellers designed to keep swaps near spot; when it climbs, staying long costs more and any rally needs new cash to sustain momentum.
Network and operational pressures
On the network side, lower prices squeeze miners with high power costs, and the depth of the squeeze depends on total hashrate and the next difficulty reset. With no fresh stats available, the key threats are lower daily revenue and the chance that fringe miners turn rigs off.
The month‑long slide leaves clear market-wide consequences: order books in smaller coins are thinner so a single large order can move price, funding costs make leveraged bets dearer, and index funds or copy portfolios must sell to match their rules.
Confidence in tiny projects—and in firms that store such coins on their books—erodes, while treasuries may face sales tied to rebalancing or simple cash needs.
Month‑end and futures expiry can add extra turbulence, and those dates will show whether bids return or the slide rolls on. Until clear buying emerges, traders and treasuries should recheck borrowing costs next to cash plans and stay ready for forced adjustments.
