Calm before breakout? Bitcoin steadies, ETH slips, other altcoins shuffle

The cryptocurrency market continues to trade in a tight range, with major tokens consolidating amid an ongoing deleveraging wave and a cautious macroeconomic backdrop. The market’s flagship assets — Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) — remain largely range-bound, which in turn has capped momentum across other altcoins such as XRP, BNB, and DOGE, all of which continue to hover below key resistance levels. Analysts suggest that stronger-than-expected US GDP figures could revive risk appetite and potentially lift prices higher.

Bitcoin short-term outlook neutral

Earlier in the session, Bitcoin briefly slipped to a three-week low before staging a modest recovery. At last check, Bitcoin was trading at $111,799, down 0.75 per cent over the past 24 hours. According to data from CoinMarketCap, the cryptocurrency oscillated between $111,607 and $113,986, underscoring the tightness of the current range. Daily trading volume jumped to $50 billion, while market capitalisation held steady at $2.22 trillion, reaffirming Bitcoin’s dominance in the digital asset space.

 

The sideways movement, according to Edul Patel, CEO of crypto investment platform Mudrex, reflects investor caution ahead of macroeconomic catalysts. “Positive GDP numbers could fuel a risk-on sentiment among traders, potentially pushing BTC above the key resistance at $115,500,” said Patel.

 

From a technical perspective, Bitcoin has shown relative resilience, consistently bouncing off the $111,000–$112,000 support zone. As long as this support holds, the short-term outlook remains neutral to slightly bullish, said Riya Sehgal, research analyst at Delta Exchange. She highlighted $113,914 as the immediate resistance level to monitor.

Ethereum displays weakness

Ethereum (ETH) has also displayed weakness after breaking below its $4,000–$4,200 consolidation range, signaling a bearish continuation and stronger downside bias, said Sehgal. This divergence is also reflected in ETF flows. On September 24, Bitcoin ETFs attracted $241 million in inflows, highlighting sustained institutional interest, whereas Ethereum ETFs saw $79.4 million in outflows, suggesting investors remain cautious on ETH in the current environment.

 

At last check, ETH was trading at $4,009.20, down 3.96 per cent, with intraday price fluctuations between $3,978.69 and $4,206.90. Trading volume reached $41.23 billion.

 

That said, currently trading above the $4,000 level, a sustained move above $4,200, analysts believe, could trigger fresh upward momentum in ETH.

 

OG, Story (IP) top losers among altcoins

Among the altcoin space, OG and Story (IP) were the top laggards, falling 24 per cent and 19 per cent, respectively, according to CoinMarketCap. Other notable losers for the day, logging intraday losses of up to 10%, included Mantle (MNT), Pump.fun (PUMP), Avalanche (AVAX), Cronos (CRO), Aerodrome Finance (AERO), Quant (QNT), Sky (SKY), Pi (PI), Tezos (XTZ), Astar (ASTER), Uniswap (UNI), Optimism (OP), Arbitrum (ARB), DeXe (DEXE), Hyperliquid (HYPE), SPX6900 (SPX), and Hedera (HBAR), which fell up to 10 per cent.

 

Conversely, Zcash (ZEC), Flare (FLR), Immutable (IMX), Kaia (KAIA), ether.fi (ETHFI), Bitget Token (BGB), Aethir (ATH), and UNUS SED LEO (LEO) were among the top gainers, rising up to 10 per cent, according to data from CoinMarketCap.