Gate Research: The crypto market is consolidating and bottoming out, with AI and small-cap sectors showing structural divergence.

Cryptocurrency Market Overview

According to CoinGecko data, from November 11th to November 24th, 2025, global risk assets weakened due to macroeconomic factors such as concerns about a "bubble" in the AI sector, stronger-than-expected employment data, and a sharp downward revision of interest rate cut expectations. The crypto market also came under pressure. In terms of price action, BTC and ETH rebounded from their lows on November 19th and 20th after a continuous decline, rising to $86,600 and $2,780-$2,820 respectively, but overall remained in a consolidation phase. Some tokens bucked the trend and performed strongly. [1]

In terms of ecosystem and news, Arbitrum continues to attract incremental funds, leading to a recovery in ecosystems like Solana and Base that were in the recovery phase. Meanwhile, the Ethereum mainnet and Hyperliquid have experienced significant outflows, indicating that the on-chain structure is entering a "fund redistribution" phase. Simultaneously, the on-chain tokenization scale of stocks and ETFs has approached $10 million, and Robinhood is positioning it as core infrastructure, propelling Arbitrum from an active DeFi chain to an institutional-grade settlement hub. Regarding Ethereum, Vitalik released the Kohaku privacy framework, elevating privacy to a first-level on-chain attribute; Nvidia emphasized that the AI revolution has not yet peaked, providing long-term support for the AI + on-chain narrative. On the other hand, the DAT sector has experienced significant valuation compression during the market correction, with its total market capitalization falling below $1 trillion. Leading companies have seen their premiums decline or even become discounted, indicating that the industry has entered a period of adjustment characterized by both active and passive deleveraging.

At the macro level, the key turning point for the market came from Fed President Williams' speech on Friday—as a key ally of Powell, he explicitly advocated for interest rate cuts, causing market expectations for a December rate cut to surge overnight from 30% to 70%, and risk appetite to improve accordingly. Overall, global macroeconomic pressures coupled with the rotation of on-chain capital structures have led the market into a phase of "risk repricing + technical repair," with funds becoming significantly more sensitive to policy signals and liquidity changes. Despite short-term pressure, the medium- to long-term trends of accelerated institutional entry, the advancement of equity asset on-chaining, the restoration of the mainstream ecosystem, and the expansion of cross-chain settlement scenarios remain unchanged. The market is still in a reshaping cycle where risks and opportunities coexist.

A panoramic view of the price fluctuation data in this round.

This article groups and analyzes the top 500 tokens by market capitalization, observing their average increase from November 11 to November 24.

Overall, the crypto market experienced a comprehensive correction, with the top 500 tokens by market capitalization recording average declines of approximately -12% to -16% across all five price ranges, with an overall average of -14.99%. The 100–200 market capitalization range saw the steepest decline (-16.43%), indicating that mid-to-large-cap assets were under the heaviest pressure due to tightening liquidity. Conversely, the 300–400 market capitalization range experienced a relatively smaller decline (-12.02%), reflecting that smaller-cap tokens did not experience further accelerated selling despite lower liquidity.

Overall, this round of adjustments is characterized by "synchronous pullback across all sectors and a lack of clear relative strengths and weaknesses," and the market is still in a phase of deleveraging under the dominance of macroeconomic pressures.

Note: Market capitalization distribution is based on CoinGecko data. The top 500 tokens by market capitalization are grouped into groups of 100 (e.g., 1-100, 101-200, etc.). The price changes of tokens within each group from November 11th to November 24th, 2025 are calculated, and the average of each group is used as the average increase indicator for that market capitalization range. The overall average decrease (14.99%) is the average of the individual increases of the top 500 tokens by market capitalization, unweighted.

Figure 1: The overall average decline was 14.99%. This round of adjustment was characterized by "synchronous pullback across all sectors and a lack of clear relative strength or weakness".

• Top Gainers and Losers List

Over the past two weeks (November 11 to November 24), the crypto market has shown significant divergence amid a mix of macroeconomic pressures and shifting narratives, with individual tokens experiencing dramatic price fluctuations, highlighting that market sentiment remains in a highly volatile range.

• Top Gainers: Application-based and niche narrative tokens lead the pack, with BEAT taking the top spot.

In this period's top gainers list, BEAT topped the entire market with an astonishing increase of 436.92%, becoming the strongest market focus. BEAT is an application token positioned in the "AI music + virtual idol" scenario, allowing users to generate AI tracks, interact with AI idols, and participate in creator tasks. This period's surge of 436.92% for BEAT may be driven by the infrastructure benefits brought by Audiera's announcement of a partnership with Endless Protocol, coupled with the continued rise in AI narratives, making BEAT, as a highly elastic asset in the "AI × Entertainment" sector, attract a concentrated influx of short-term funds. Its small market capitalization, strong community, and high virality further amplified the gains, making it the strongest structurally driven asset this period.

Following closely behind were AVICI (+67.93%) and TEL (+66.47%), both of which benefited from active communities, narrative expansion, and strengthened trading patterns, gaining sustained upward momentum. Others such as FOLKS, B, QRL, and WFI also recorded gains ranging from 13% to 37%, indicating that this period's funds favored strong hedging assets with "small to mid-cap stocks and clear selling points."

• Top decliners: Speculative and early-narrative tokens experienced a concentrated pullback, with SOON leading the decline.

In contrast, SOON fell by a staggering 69.33%, leading the market decline and indicating that the previously overheated short-term sentiment cooled rapidly. Following SOON were USELESS (-54.55%) and PLUME (-54.34%), both exhibiting the typical pattern of a rapid rise followed by a pullback in thematic assets.

Other tokens such as COAI, TIBBIR, CCD, and BRETT saw declines ranging from -43% to -52%, concentrated in the meme, AI concept, and low-liquidity emerging tokens, reflecting a significant decrease in market tolerance for high-beta assets during a period of capital contraction.

Overall, funds are flowing back from highly volatile speculative assets to sectors with greater certainty. Looking at price performance, the market style is gradually shifting from the previously hyped short-term narratives to sectors with structural logic and a medium- to long-term outlook. High-volatility, small-cap, and community-driven thematic coins experienced significant pullbacks this period, while tokens with actual products, user bases, or narratives with potential for implementation are more attractive to investors. As the market enters a risk repricing phase, assets with "strong consensus + clear applications + trading support" are expected to maintain relative strength in a volatile market.

Figure 2: BEAT topped the market with an astonishing increase of 436.92%, possibly driven by the infrastructure benefits brought by Audiera's announcement of its partnership with Endless Protocol, attracting a concentrated influx of short-term funds into this highly volatile asset.

• Relationship between market capitalization ranking and price change

To observe the structural characteristics of token performance in this round of market activity, this article presents a scatter plot of the top 500 tokens by market capitalization. The horizontal axis represents market capitalization ranking (the further left, the larger the market capitalization), and the vertical axis represents the price change from November 11th to November 24th. Each dot in the plot represents a token, with green indicating an increase and red indicating a decrease.

Overall, the number of declining tokens significantly exceeded those rising, with most projects falling between -10% and -25%, indicating that the market is still in a weak recovery phase amid macroeconomic pressures and declining sentiment. Tokens with significant gains were relatively rare and highly concentrated in the small-to-mid-cap range ranked 200-500 by market capitalization, reflecting a preference for highly volatile and theme-driven assets over stable large-cap coins.

Among the rising stocks, BEAT (+436%), AVICI (+67.93%), and TEL (+66.47%) stood out as the three most prominent highlights, exhibiting an overall structure of "extreme strength + high-theme-driven"; all three are located in the middle to lower range of market capitalization, further reinforcing the characteristic of "small-cap thematic coins dominating the upward trend" in this period.

Conversely, tokens experiencing significant declines, such as SOON, COAI, USELESS, and PLUME, are mostly long-tail assets ranked below 250 in market capitalization, generally recording drawdowns ranging from -50% to -70%, exhibiting a typical "early hype waning + capital withdrawal" structure. This range saw the most volatile price movements and is the main source of pressure in this round of market correction.

Overall, the market price characteristics this period can be summarized as follows: "The overall market is relatively stable, while small and mid-cap stocks are highly differentiated; strong projects are highly concentrated, while weak projects are experiencing widespread pullbacks." In the volatile market, funds are more inclined to short-term sentiment targets, which has increased the volatility of mid-to-late-stage market capitalization tokens and reflects that the current market risk appetite is still dominated by short-term trading.

Figure 3: The scatter distribution of price changes for the top 500 tokens by market capitalization shows that the projects with rising prices are mostly concentrated in the middle and lower tiers of market capitalization, while the projects with falling prices cover a wider range, indicating a clear structural differentiation.

• Top 100 Market Value Ranking

In this round of market volatility, the performance of the top 100 tokens by market capitalization showed a clear divergence. While mainstream assets experienced limited overall volatility, some projects with narrative advantages or safe-haven attributes still bucked the trend and strengthened.

On the gainers list, ZEC (+7.38%) led the way, with the privacy sector regaining attention amid rising market risk aversion, resulting in a proactive return of funds. BCH (+5.97%) continued its recent strong performance, benefiting from increased on-chain activity and strengthened payment-related narratives. PI (+4.04%) and WBT (+3.52%) also recorded slight increases, reflecting relatively stable fund preferences in this range, favoring projects with existing ecosystems or stable growth paths. Overall, the gains among the top 100 projects by market capitalization were relatively moderate, mostly exhibiting a structure of "steady upward movement + fundamental support."

On the list of biggest losers, PUMP (-41.12%) saw the steepest decline, reflecting the sharp correction in thematic tokens after the retreat of short-term funds. ICP (-39.09%) and FIL (-35.43%) also ranked among the top losers, mainly due to decreased macro risk appetite and profit-taking after previous gains. SUI (-34.72%) and NEAR (-32.97%) also saw significant corrections, indicating that high-beta public chains face greater price pressure during periods of increased volatility. Overall, the projects with the largest declines are mostly tokens with high elasticity, significant previous gains, and strong narratives, which have experienced more pronounced corrections in this market adjustment.

Overall, the top 100 assets by market capitalization exhibit a structural characteristic of "slight increases in stable projects and significant declines in thematic and high-beta projects." In volatile market conditions, funds prefer tokens with strong certainty and mature ecosystems, while significantly reducing exposure to short-term thematic assets, indicating a temporary cooling of risk appetite.

Figure 4: Among the top 100 tokens by market capitalization, ZEC continues to lead the gains. The privacy sector has once again attracted attention amid rising market risk aversion, with funds actively flowing back into the market.

Analysis of this round of increased trading volume

• Analysis of transaction volume growth

Beyond price performance, this article further analyzes the changes in trading volume for some tokens to observe market activity and the level of capital participation. Using the trading volume before the price surge as a benchmark, the growth rate is calculated and compared with the price rebound during the same period to assess market attention and short-term capital flows.

Data shows that the five projects with the most significant increase in trading volume this period were AGENTFUN, XSO, EETH, SWOP, and NMR. Among them, AGENTFUN saw a 15.31-fold increase in trading volume, but its price fell by 24.72%, exhibiting a typical "volume increase, price decrease" structure. This reflects the fading of previously popular themes, the withdrawal of speculative buying, and increased selling pressure, indicating significant short-term speculation but insufficient sustained capital. XSO's trading volume increased 14.81 times, with a slight price rebound of 2.76%, representing a "volume recovery but no effective trend formation" pattern. This suggests that funds are mainly concentrated on liquidity testing and active trading, rather than a trend-driven rise; it is necessary to observe whether such assets can form a stable structure after the surge in volume.

EETH saw a 10.62-fold increase in trading volume, while its price still fell by 19.57% during the same period. This indicates a consolidation phase following the release of pressure and a retracement of previous gains, suggesting that on-chain funds are becoming more cautious during periods of increased volatility. SWOP and NMR, on the other hand, exhibited a "volume increase with stable price" structure, indicating increased investor attention, but buying activity remained cautious, reflecting a market sentiment of observation and waiting.

Overall, the projects with increased trading volume this period generally exhibited a structural characteristic of "recovering funds but price pressure." The increase in volume was mostly triggered by short-term liquidity, arbitrage demand, or portfolio adjustments after the fading of thematic themes, rather than the start of a trend-driven market. Funds remain concentrated on exploring specific themes and structural opportunities, but sustainability has not been established, reflecting that the current market risk appetite remains weak and the short-term trading atmosphere is stronger.

Figure 5: The trading volume of tokens such as AGENTFUN, XSO, and EETH increased significantly this period, but most of them did not form a trend rebound, showing a divergence between volume and price, highlighting that market funds are more short-term and liquidity-oriented.

• Trading volume changes and price analysis

Building upon our observations of projects exhibiting unusual trading volume, this article further incorporates price performance to create a scatter plot of volume increase multiple and price change percentage. The horizontal axis represents the multiple by which the token's trading volume has increased over the past two weeks compared to the baseline period, while the vertical axis represents the percentage change in price during the same period. A symmetrical logarithmic coordinate axis is used to clearly illustrate the structural relationship between "volume increase" and "price change".

From an overall distribution perspective, most tokens are concentrated in areas with low trading volume and limited price increases, indicating that the market as a whole remains in a weak recovery and consolidation phase, with limited incremental funds and short-term funds operating cautiously. The number of declining tokens significantly exceeds that of rising tokens, reflecting that under macroeconomic pressure and weak sentiment, the market is still primarily focused on deleveraging and structural adjustments. It is worth noting that projects with outstanding price increases mostly recorded significant gains without a substantial increase in trading volume. For example, QRL entered a high-level range with a gain of over 20%, but its trading volume only increased moderately, indicating that its rise was mainly driven by narrative rather than trading volume, exhibiting typical characteristics of "low volume, strong rebound."

Conversely, some tokens with trading volumes increasing by more than 8 to 12 times (such as CUSD0, IUSDS, USDT, and XSO) still saw their prices remain between -5% and +5%. CUSD0, IUSDS, and USDT are mostly stablecoins or stablecoin derivatives (such as interest-bearing USD, synthetic USD, or liquidity pool split assets), whose prices are pegged to the US dollar. Therefore, even with significantly increased volume, they do not generate a trend-driven price breakout. The high-volume trading of these assets reflects more arbitrage, staking redemptions, pool rebalancing, or on-chain hedging flows than genuine buying pressure. This structure indicates that funds are more inclined towards short-term trading, liquidity testing, and stable asset rebalancing, rather than trend-based positioning in risky assets.

Overall, the market this period exhibited a typical state of "structural rotation + volume-price mismatch". The trading volume of mainstream assets did not show significant improvement and the trend was weak. The sharp fluctuations of small and medium-sized tokens were more driven by sentiment and narrative than by broad capital consensus. The failure of high volume amplification to drive price increases indicates that market risk appetite is still low. The individual rising projects were mostly "low-volume strong", and the risk-reward structure was more inclined towards short-term speculation.

Figure 6: Most tokens are concentrated in areas with low trading volume and limited price increases, indicating that the market as a whole is still in a weak recovery and consolidation phase, with limited new funds and short-term funds operating cautiously.

• Correlation analysis

After exploring the correlation between trading volume and price performance, this paper further analyzes the systematic correlation between the two from a statistical perspective. To measure the impact of capital activity on price fluctuations, the "trading volume growth rate / market capitalization" is used as a relative activity indicator, and its correlation coefficient with price fluctuations is calculated to identify the token types most susceptible to capital-driven fluctuations in the current market.

As shown in the chart, the correlation of most tokens falls within the 0.65–0.90 range, indicating that the market still exhibits a highly interconnected structure despite increased macroeconomic volatility. However, subtle differences between sectors reveal current capital preferences and structural rotation characteristics.

Among them, the tokens with the highest correlation (>0.90), such as XSO, FLUID, ELF, MOVE, and BEAT, mostly belong to the categories of trading narratives, AI applications, or high-beta themes—these assets are most sensitive to market sentiment and exhibit "amplified market movements" during market fluctuations. These tokens often have strong community presence and high-frequency trading attributes, making them susceptible to short-term liquidity drivers and thus forming the group with the most concentrated correlation structure in this period.

The lower correlation range (0.65–0.75) is represented by BCH, XVG, WFI, DCR, and WLFI. The bubble chart shows that BCH and WLFI have significantly larger market capitalizations. These projects are mostly infrastructure-type assets or assets with long-term storage value. Their price fluctuations are less affected by macroeconomic factors and depend more on their own ecosystem development or on-chain demand. For example, BCH's payment narrative and long-term demand allow it to maintain a relatively independent trend even during significant market fluctuations.

Overall, the correlation distribution in this period exhibits the following three structural characteristics: High correlation = High Beta themes: AI, trading platforms, and community-driven assets are highly synchronized with the broader market, acting as "amplifiers" for market shifts between bullish and bearish. Medium correlation = Functional and utility protocols: Fluctuating with the broader market, but retaining the independence of their own narratives. Low correlation = Value and infrastructure assets: Such as BCH and WLFI, showing relatively stable performance and possessing stronger defensive attributes.

Figure 7: Highly correlated tokens are concentrated in projects with high beta and trading narratives, while relatively independent value assets such as BCH and WLFI show lower correlation, reflecting the current structural stratification of the market.

The current crypto market continues its structural rotation under macroeconomic pressure, with the top 500 cryptocurrencies experiencing an average decline of 14.99%, reflecting the overall continued deleveraging phase. While the broader market mostly fell between -10% and -25%, small-cap and mid-cap stocks still showed bright spots, with BEAT, AVICI, and TEL rising strongly driven by AI × entertainment and community momentum. Conversely, high-beta projects like SOON and USELESS saw significant pullbacks, indicating a clear retreat in sentiment-driven sectors. Trading volume generally exhibited patterns of "increased volume with decreased price" and "increased volume with stable price," such as AGENTFUN and EETH, which continued to fall despite 10-15 times increased volume, reflecting a preference for short-term liquidity testing rather than trend-based positioning. The overall price-volume structure remains weak and prone to recovery.

In addition to market trends, several potential airdrop projects are ongoing, covering popular areas such as AI, Layer 2, social points, and identity verification. By staying on track and actively participating, users can potentially gain a competitive edge in a volatile market, securing token incentives and airdrop eligibility. The following section outlines four noteworthy projects and participation methods to help users systematically capitalize on Web3 opportunities.

Airdrop Hot Projects

This article compiles a list of airdrop potential projects worth paying close attention to from November 11th to November 24th, 2025. These include several early-stage projects such as 42 (formerly Alkimiya, a community-driven prediction market), Self Protocol (a decentralized identity protocol with a points system), Block Street (an on-chain stock simulation platform built on Monad), and NUVA Finance (a pre-launch yield platform within the Animoca ecosystem). Users can accumulate contribution records by connecting their wallets, completing testnet interactions, participating in social tasks, and completing identity verification to increase their chances of qualifying for potential airdrops or token incentives.

• 42

42 (formerly known as Alkimiya) is a prediction market project undergoing a rebranding, recently upgrading its brand and shifting its focus to building a new generation of prediction protocols and community incentive systems. The official main platform is not yet online, but a waiting list and community task system are open. Users can obtain Beta access and potential future rewards by submitting their wallet address, username, and participating in Discord activities. 42 emphasizes community participation, content creation, and interaction, selecting active contributors through multi-weekly themed competitions (such as emojis, animations, and art creations) and awarding them beta codes, OG status, or potential future incentives. [2]

How to participate:

1. Join the waitlist and submit your X account.

2. Participate in Discord community tasks to accelerate your acquisition of Beta access.

• Self Protocol

Self Protocol is a decentralized identity protocol centered on identity verification (DID). It recently launched a new "Points Farming" program. Users simply need to install the official app and complete identity verification to start accumulating Self Points. Currently, there is no explicit token price for these points, but they are highly likely to serve as the basis for future mainnet incentives or airdrop eligibility. The official requirement for passport verification ensures the uniqueness of the identity and the authenticity of the points, highlighting its real-world application in DID scenarios. [3][4]

How to participate:

1. Download the Self App (iOS / Android) and create an account.

2. Complete identity verification (KYC) to start accumulating Self Points.

• Block Street

Block Street is a decentralized "on-chain stock market" simulation platform built on the Monad testnet, allowing users to trade, lend, stake, and purchase simulated stock assets using test tokens. The project recently completed a $11.5 million funding round and launched a public testing event on its official website. Users can earn BSD points through daily tasks, inviting friends, and asset trading. BSD is currently testnet credit, but it is highly likely to become the basis for future mainnet tokens, airdrops to early test users, or pre-launch rewards. [5]

How to participate:

1. Go to the official website to connect your wallet and enter the test dashboard.

2. Earn points by completing daily login tasks and sharing tasks with other communities.

• NUVA Finance

NUVA Finance, a decentralized asset management and yield platform backed by Animoca Brands, is currently holding a pre-launch event. Users can gain early access by completing social tasks and minting Genesis Pass. Genesis Pass will offer multiplier rewards in the main event and may affect additional rewards before the NUVA Token airdrop or mainnet launch, making it a typical "pre-launch qualification + points bonus" type of event. [6]

How to participate:

1. Go to the official website and log in to your account.

2. Complete social tasks such as following NUVA Finance and following the project on LinkedIn. Completing these tasks will earn you Genesis Pass casting eligibility.

hint

Airdrop plans and participation methods may be updated at any time. Users are advised to follow the official channels of the above projects for the latest information. Users should also participate cautiously, be aware of the risks, and conduct thorough research before participating. Gate does not guarantee the distribution of subsequent airdrop rewards.

Summarize

Looking back at the period from November 11th to November 24th, 2025, the crypto market experienced a comprehensive correction under pressure from AI bubble concerns, strong employment data, and downward revisions in interest rate cut expectations. However, BTC and ETH saw a technical recovery from their lows on November 19th and 20th, with the overall market exhibiting a consolidation and bottoming-out structure. On-chain funds simultaneously entered a redistribution phase, with Arbitrum continuing to receive incremental inflows, and ecosystems such as Solana and Base showing signs of recovery. Meanwhile, Ethereum mainnet and Hyperliquid saw significant fund outflows. The on-chain scale of stocks and ETFs approached $10 million, propelling Arbitrum towards becoming an institutional-grade settlement hub. The top 500 tokens by market capitalization fell by an average of about 15%, with mid-to-large-cap tokens (market capitalization of 100-200) experiencing the deepest declines, while small-to-mid-cap tokens saw the most dramatic fluctuations. BEAT recorded a 436% drop, becoming the most resilient token, while thematic tokens such as AVICI and TEL also strengthened. Previously overheated assets such as SOON, USELESS, and PLUME fell by 50-70%, reflecting the characteristics of "high beta receding and structural differentiation".

A clear mismatch exists between volume and price. Projects like AGENTFUN, XSO, and EETH, despite seeing 10-15 times the increase in volume, failed to form a trend-driven rebound, indicating that the market is primarily driven by arbitrage and liquidity testing. The gains are mostly concentrated in the 200-500 market capitalization range. Highly correlated tokens such as XSO, BEAT, and MOVE are sensitive to sentiment, while value assets like BCH and WLFI show relatively independent movements. Overall, the market has entered a consolidation phase characterized by "structural rotation + volume-price divergence," with short-term funds leaning towards cautious positioning, while structural opportunities remain in the medium term.

In addition, 42, Self Protocol, Block Street, and NUVA Finance, which are tracked in this period, are all in active incentive phases, focusing on prediction market building, identity verification and DID ecosystem, on-chain stock simulation and trading, and the pre-launch points system of the yield platform, respectively. Their overall ecosystem positioning is complementary, and their incentive paths are clear. Users can complete interactive, testing, invitation, or social actions according to the requirements of each project to increase their points and potential airdrop weight. It is recommended to continuously monitor the announcement schedule and task updates of each project to accelerate the accumulation of early participation bonuses.

References

1. CoinGecko, https://www.coingecko.com/

2. 42, https://www.42.space/

3. Apple, https://apps.apple.com/app/self-zk-passport-identity/id6478563710

4. Google, https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.proofofpassportapp&pli=1

5. Block Street, https://blockstreet.money/dashboard

6. NUVA Finance, https://app.megaphone.xyz/pages/nuvafinance

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Disclaimer

Investing in the cryptocurrency market involves high risks. Users are advised to conduct independent research and fully understand the nature of any assets and products they intend to purchase before making any investment decisions. Gate assumes no responsibility for any loss or damage arising from such investment decisions.