Author: Zhou, ChainCatcherOn October 6 last year, BTC reached an all-time high of $126,080. Four days later, U.S. President Trump announced a 100% tariff on Chinese goods, leading to the largest liquidation in the history of the crypto market. According to CoinGlass statistics, approximately $19.16 billion in leveraged positions were liquidated within 24 hours, affecting over 1.6 million traders.Looking back, October 11 became the watershed moment for this round of bull-bear transition. In the following year, BTC never returned to its previous high, as the market experienced capital withdrawal, leverage contraction, and industry clearing, while also welcoming some new products and rules.On the first anniversary of October 11, this article takes that day as a starting point to review the changes that occurred in the crypto market over the past year.BTC Drops by One-Third, Tariff Trigger Never Took EffectOn the night of October 11, BTC quickly fell from about $121,000, with intraday lows across exchanges ranging between $102,000 and $110,000. The on-chain derivatives exchange Hyperliquid liquidated approximately $10.3 billion that night, making it the platform with the largest liquidation scale.Although the price rebounded afterward, it continued to oscillate downward in the following months. By the end of 2025, BTC had fallen below $90,000. In February this year, BTC dropped from $97,000 to $62,900 in less than three weeks, and on June 30, it set a new low for the year at $58,500, marking a maximum drawdown of about 54% from its historical high.Compared to previous bear markets, the extent of this round's drawdown has been relatively mild. In past cycles, BTC typically experienced declines of over 75% from peak to trough.Entering the second half of the year, BTC gradually rebounded, reclaiming $75,000 in September, and as of October 10, it was reported at about $82,700, still down about 34% from its peak.Opinions on whether the bottom has already appeared are mixed in the market. BIT Research believes that, based on technical signals, market positions, and macro factors, the cycle low may have occurred in June; analyst Benjamin Cowen, however, thinks the market may revisit the lows again in October.From a broader market perspective, according to CoinGecko data, the total market capitalization of cryptocurrencies dropped from $4.29 trillion a year ago to $2.88 trillion.Altcoins experienced even deeper declines, with the total market capitalization of altcoins falling from $1.86 trillion a year ago to $1.23 trillion, shrinking by about 40% when excluding stablecoins.The 100% tariff that triggered this liquidation ultimately did not take effect; after a meeting between the U.S. and Chinese leaders in Busan on October 30 last year, a consensus was reached. In February this year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not authorize the president to impose tariffs.Institutional Buying Cools, Premiums for Treasury Companies DisappearBehind the price decline is a contraction in institutional buying. According to SoSoValue data, the historical cumulative net inflow of the U.S. spot BTC ETF as of October 10, 2025, was $62.77 billion, which has now decreased to $57.08 billion, resulting in a net outflow of about $5.7 billion over the year. The asset scale shrank from $158.97 billion to $105.22 billion, a reduction of about one-third.The outflow was most concentrated at the end of 2025, with a total net outflow of $4.57 billion in November and December, marking the largest two-month outflow since the BTC ETF was listed. After entering 2026, funds continued to flow out, with a net outflow of $5.4 billion in the first half of the year, marking the first time a half-year net outflow occurred since the BTC ETF was listed.It wasn't until August this year that funds began to flow back in; as of the week of September 25, the BTC ETF recorded a net inflow of $2.4 billion, setting a weekly record. However, this round of inflow has not yet compensated for the previous outflow.The situation for the ETH ETF is even worse. According to SoSoValue data, the asset scale of the ETH spot ETF has fallen from about $32 billion a year ago to about $15.7 billion, shrinking by nearly half.Meanwhile, some funds have flowed into newly listed altcoin ETFs, with the cumulative net inflow for the SOL and XRP spot ETFs reaching approximately $1.58 billion and $1.81 billion, respectively.Alongside the cooling of ETFs, digital asset treasury companies have also faced challenges. Strategy's holdings increased from about 640,000 BTC to 848,000 BTC over the year, but its mNAV dropped to 0.63 in June this year, meaning its stock market value was only about 60% of the value of its holdings.At the end of May this year, Strategy sold 32 BTC to pay dividends, marking the first time the company sold coins since 2022. As BTC rebounded in the second half of the year, Strategy's average holding price of about $75,440 has once again fallen below the market price.Leverage Slowly Rebuilds, Both Positions and Targets Have ChangedThe high leverage accumulated at the peak of the bull market has significantly declined over this year. According to CoinGecko statistics, the total open interest of perpetual contracts in the entire market peaked at $210 billion on October 7, 2025, and fell to about $99.1 billion by April this year, nearly halving.BTC's situation is similar; at the beginning of October 2025, the open interest of BTC futures was about $94 billion, and it is currently around $52 billion. Rough estimates indicate that, excluding the impact of price declines, the positions calculated in coins are still about 20% less than a year ago.The trend of funding rates corresponds to this. From February to April this year, BTC funding rates turned negative multiple times, with short-selling demand temporarily exceeding long positions. After August, the rates turned positive again, but for most of the time, they remained below the levels of a year ago.During the rebuilding process, a considerable amount of leverage has flowed onto the blockchain. According to CoinGecko statistics, the proportion of open interest in perpetual contract DEXs rose from less than 4% at the beginning of 2025 to 13.5% in April this year.Data from Castle Labs shows that as of September, the total open interest of perpetual contract DEXs was about $14.6 billion, with Hyperliquid accounting for 56.8% of that.The trading targets have also expanded beyond crypto assets. Perpetual contracts for traditional assets such as gold and semiconductor ETFs have entered the top ten in crypto derivatives trading volume. The trading volume of on-chain RWA perpetual contracts has grown even faster, reaching about $147.5 billion in July this year, accounting for nearly 20% of the total trading volume of on-chain perpetual contracts that month.These new targets have also brought new sources of volatility. In April this year, international oil prices surged due to the situation in Iran, leading to approximately $400 million in liquidations in the crypto market in a single day, with the largest single liquidation being a crude oil position on Hyperliquid worth about $17.17 million.Yield-bearing Dollars Retreat, USDe Shrinks by Two-ThirdsAs leverage contracts, the yield-bearing synthetic dollars that rapidly expanded during the bull market are also retreating. USDe, issued by Ethena, relies on holding spot assets while shorting perpetual contracts to earn funding rates, achieving high yields during the bull market and rapidly expanding in scale.On the night of October 11, USDe briefly fell to $0.65 on Binance, and its scale has continued to shrink since then. According to official data from Ethena, the supply of USDe peaked at $14.82 billion on October 5, 2025, and is currently about $4.79 billion, a reduction of about two-thirds.In November 2025, Balancer suffered an attack resulting in a loss of about $128 mil