Altcoin Volume Surges as BTC Faces Selling Pressure
Bitcoin (BTC)
Editor:
Eugene Serbin
Lookonchain.com reports that spot traders are shifting capital into altcoins, driving altcoin spot trading volume to nearly four times that of Bitcoin. This surge marks the highest relative level since September 2025 and typically aligns with Bitcoin’s local, phased tops. In corporate news, AMD acquired World Labs for $8.2 billion, with Fei-Fei Li joining as Chief Scientist.
Strategy transferred 3,568 BTC, worth roughly $297 million, over a nine-hour period. On-chain activity highlights include Niulai nearing $1 million in unrealized profit, with smart money suspected of liquidating positions for over $885k. Ethereum-based meme coin ZC briefly broke through a $17 million market cap, surging more than 20 times intraday. The US SEC updated its FAQ, noting that token repurchase arrangements without a centralized entity may not constitute investment contracts.
A trader profited $448K by monitoring Binance’s new listings, while a dormant $PEPE whale moved 2.1T tokens worth $52 million to a new address. Elon Musk’s tweet about Moltbook triggered a 30% surge for MOLT, hitting a new all-time high of $114 million. Additionally, a smart AI coin trader made $17.6 million across $GOAT, $ai16z, $Fartcoin, and $arc.
How the market reacted
Whalio's own Binance spot order flow for BTC, measured when this story was written up on 29 September 2026. Not the outlet's figures.
Bitcoin is trading at $83,500.01 with a 24-hour spot volume of $1,746,910,498. The 24-hour buy ratio sits at 45.4%, indicating that selling pressure has slightly outweighed buying over the full day. However, the 1-hour buy ratio has risen to 50.6%, suggesting a short-term shift toward net buying in the most recent hour. This contrasts with the 4-hour buy ratio of 44.5%, which shows that buying pressure is fading over the medium term. The 24-hour volume delta is -$162,080,405, confirming that more capital has flowed out than in over the day. The cumulative volume delta (CVD) at the 24-hour close is -$163,436,101, reflecting sustained net selling throughout the period.
The latest daily buy ratio of 46.7% sits at the 18th percentile of the last 322 days, against a median of 49.2% - weaker buying than most days.
Was that an ordinary day?
The same Binance spot measurements for BTC, averaged over the days leading up to the story.
Over the preceding week, the average buy ratio was 47.9%, making today’s 24-hour ratio of 45.4% slightly lower by 2.5 points. Spot volume for the day was 1.11 times the weekly average, indicating higher-than-normal trading activity. Only one of the past seven days saw net buying, highlighting a generally bearish weekly trend. The price has declined 3.6% over the eight-day period, with a total volume delta of -$600,343,647. This day represents a continuation of the weekly downtrend, albeit with a brief, localized increase in buying interest.