Bitcoin reached near $111,000 on Saturday, a modest bounce from last week’s lows as traders cautiously re-entered risk-on.
ether BNB and Solana rise 3.5% to $3,970 Gained more than 3% while XRP jumped 4.5% to lead the way among the majors. Cardano’s ADA remained unchanged while Tron’s TRX fell by 5%, leading to losses for the majors.
Traders look set to regain strength, especially in tokens with obvious catalysts, after the $19 billion liquidation event decimated risk-taking behavior among market participants. BNB’s 5 rally this week followed renewed optimism about Binance’s prospects after founder Changpeng Zhao received a pardon from US President Donald Trump, with some traders reading this as the end of the overhang that had weighed on the token since late 2023.
“This is a big moment for the industry,” said David Namdar, CEO of CEA Industries, which owns one of the largest BNB treasuries. “We believe CZ’s pardon is more than an inflection point for him personally, but also for BNB and potentially Binance, paving the way for greater access to the US market.”
Meanwhile, Solana continues to attract institutional flows and is increasingly being regarded as a liquidity proxy for risk-on sentiment. SOL’s 5% gain makes it one of the few majors to record a positive week, even though the broader appetite for altcoins remains low.
Still, this is not a return to full risk taking. The market has been slow to adjust after October’s record liquidation event, which wiped out nearly $20 billion in open interest and dealt a blow to leveraged traders.
Since then, funding rates have normalized, standing volumes have declined sharply, and spot buying has taken the lead – a sign that long-term money is beginning to shrink again.
“Bitcoin has held the key $105,000 level throughout the round and that seems to have stabilized confidence,” said Nick Rook, director of LVRG Research. “We are optimistic that the market may recover as long-term fundamentals pull investors back, even if macro volatility keeps gains in check.”
Feeling beneath the surface remains mixed. The fear index has remained around 25 for the past few days, which suggests that confidence is still low despite the situation being reset. But on-chain activity – particularly among whales and ETF flows – continues to indicate accumulation rather than outflows.
October has been defined by forced selling and false starts and is on track to become the worst month since 2015, an otherwise bullish month that has seen returns of more than 25% on average for Bitcoin.
Thus, Bitcoin’s strength above $110,000 is keeping the structure intact, but traders are choosing rotation rather than expansion, preferring selective risk rather than widespread speculation.
And for a market that has spent most of the month preparing for the next liquidation wave, that alone counts as progress.