Bitcoin closed October lower, snapping its six-year “uptober” streak, while BNB eked out a gain as a mid-month shakeout left most major companies stuck below early highs.
The shock came on October 10, when President Donald Trump threatened to impose new tariffs on China amid tensions over rare earths, triggering a broad measure of risk aversion.
Bitcoin fell from around the low $120,000s to around $105,000 in rapid trading, and altcoins fell harder as tight liquidity was met with heavy leverage. Between October 10 and 11, derivatives centers self-liquidated approximately tens of billions of dollars in positions and more than half a trillion dollars in market value evaporated before a rocky rally established a bottom. It was a macro headline that clashed with crowded positioning, not a crypto-specific catalyst.
At the end of the month, CoinDesk Data showed that Bitcoin ended October in the red, the result breaking what traders call “Uptober.”
On CoinGlass’ monthly Bitcoin returns heat map, October 2025 is the first red October since 2018 and ends a green streak that extended from 2019 to 2024. That tradition is important because the pattern persisted in very different regimes (late-cycle surges and post-selloff rallies alike), so a bust in 2025 resets expectations and reminds traders that the Seasonality is a trend, not a promise.
The shape of the month was remarkably consistent across one month’s TradingView charts.
Bitcoin started off strong, suffered the synchronized air pocket on October 10-11, and then spent the second half of the month rising without recapturing its initial peak. Ether traced the same base fade arc and stopped below the band of round numbers that it tested in the first week. Solana and XRP echoed that pace with a sequence of lower highs in the final sessions. In practical terms, the late bounces did not turn resistance into support, which is why the monthly candles showed red for those four.
BNB broke ranks. It absorbed the mid-month downdraft, posted higher lows through the final third, and closed October higher (around 4.2%), leaving a green footprint as its peers fell. Outside the top 10, several names also finished October higher on the screens monitored here, including ZEC, XMR and WBTC, underscoring that pockets of strength persisted beneath the surface even as the leaders cooled.
Why the “Uptober” brand stuck is simple. It’s a community nickname born of bitcoin’s tendency to post gains in October over the past decade, reinforced by that CoinGlass grid showing every October from 2019 to 2024 in green. Turning the cell red this year doesn’t erase the historical tilt, but it does shift risk management back to recorded confirmation rather than reliance on the calendar.
The numbers shown by different panels may differ for mundane reasons. CoinGlass presents results close to the end of the calendar month that isolate October. Rolling 30-day readings on major trackers are continually updated and often include highs from early October, so they may show a steeper decline through November 1 even as the strict calendar month appears softer. The address is the same; the measurement window controls the magnitude.
