Altcoin Speculation Peaked With Bitcoin Near $87,000, but Recent Buyers Now Sell at Losses

Recent buyers were selling at a loss in most altcoins by the end of October. That followed a spike in altcoin volume to nearly 4x Bitcoin (BTC) volume near the September high, Glassnode data shows.

On-chain analytics firm Glassnode’s lead analyst AntiFragile put the ratio at about 3x by late October. However, the cooling came with losses, as Bitcoin fell about 11% from its $87,100 September high into November 3.

Where Did Altcoin Speculation Leave Recent Buyers?

Glassnode defines recent buyers as short-term holders, meaning anyone whose coins were bought under 155 days ago. About 80% of the 300-plus tokens it tracks saw them selling at a profit in late September.

Altcoin trading volume has returned to normal levels.Through September, total altcoin volume spiked up to 4x Bitcoin's, marking a period of altcoin froth.As is often the case, this speculative alt activity coincided with the local market top, with bitcoin:native peaking… pic.twitter.com/nBXpWcNqrx

— glassnode (@glassnode) November 9, 2026

By the end of October, only about 12% of those tokens still showed profitable selling. Instead, the typical token’s recent buyers were exiting at a small loss.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin closed on November 3 just under its True Market Mean, the average price active investors paid. Glassnode puts that level near $77,700 and the intraday low at $76,100.

Bitcoin also absorbed the October 29 Binance hack, which the exchange put at $6.3 billion in affected assets. Glassnode recorded a dip of about 3% in the following days.

The altcoin trading cooldown had put the Altcoin Season Index at a neutral 51 by October 27. That gauge marks 25 as Bitcoin season and 75 as altcoin season.

Does the September 2025 Precedent Apply Here?

Historically, spikes like this have often coincided with local Bitcoin tops, Glassnode noted. The ratio last ran this high in September 2025, shortly before Bitcoin’s October 2025 market top.

Even so, a local top remains a reading, not a certainty. Glassnode says a run of daily closes above $85,000 would turn the $84,000 to $85,000 resistance band into support.

Glassnode marks $73,000 to $76,000 as the support zone. Losing $73,000 for a sustained stretch would point to extended consolidation, it said.

US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) logged nearly $1 billion in net outflows in the two weeks through November 2. Still, Glassnode reads recent trading as crypto-native money swapping positions, with little fresh capital from traditional investors.