Cryptocurrency Market Trends – October 2024

Investing.com – The cryptocurrency market cap rose 2.8% in October 2024, as reported by Binance Research, largely due to inflows into Bitcoin spot ETFs and favorable U.S. job data.

While the market closely monitors potential regulatory changes following the U.S. presidential election, it faces challenges such as geopolitical tensions like the Israel-Iran conflict and allegations surrounding Tether.

Binance Research notes that Bitcoin's correlation with the S&P 500 is nearing record levels, as more investors treat Bitcoin both as a risk-on asset and a hedge against economic uncertainties. Historically, Bitcoin's relationship with equities has been weak, witnessing only temporary spikes due to liquidity adjustments or shifts in interest rates.

Other key observations indicate that among the top 15 revenue-generating chains and applications, 13 are applications, suggesting that much of the industry's revenue stems from specific applications rather than the blockchain networks themselves.

Furthermore, Binance Research highlights Solana as the primary blockchain for new token launches, spurred by the launchpad platform pump.fun, which lowered barriers for token creation. This trend has led to a speculative trading wave, with Solana handling 90.6% of all token launches leading up to October 21.

October also recorded an uptick in memecoin activity, with four of the top five performing tokens being memecoins. The trading volume for memecoins has increased, averaging around 12% of the top 50 altcoins' market cap, and occasionally surpassing 20%. Since February, daily trading for memecoins has hovered around $5 billion.

“Dogecoin topped the list, climbing 33.1% after Elon Musk referenced the 'Department of Government Efficiency' (D.O.G.E) at a rally,” reported Binance Research analysts. Solana saw a 9.7% increase, driven by substantial trading volumes in memecoins and growth in decentralized finance (DeFi) on its network.

In contrast, Toncoin fell 16.9% due to privacy concerns following Telegram's policy shifts, while Ripple’s XRP dropped 20.4% amid its ongoing lawsuit with the U.S. SEC.

Tron recorded a gain of 7.5%, whereas Binance Coin declined 2.9% following the exchange's announcement of a November deadline for the BNB Beacon Chain upgrade. Ethereum (ETH) fell 3.7%, driven by concerns over high fees and the rise of independent appchains.

According to Binance's calculations, DeFi’s Total Value Locked (TVL) experienced a slight rise of 1.0%, benefiting from October’s on-chain momentum. Analysts observe increasing interest from both institutions and regular users, particularly for Solana, which reached $7.6 billion in DeFi TVL. Liquid staking protocols like Jito, Marinade, and Sanctum captured a significant share of this inflow, while projects like Jupiter and Raydium provided essential liquidity to keep pace with rising on-chain activity.