XRP and Zcash Defy Market Weakness During US Midterm Elections (4 Nov)

Bitcoin trades between $76,000 and $76,600

Bitcoin traded in a range of $76,000 to $76,600 on 3 November 2026. This performance follows a difficult October, where the total cryptocurrency market capitalization fell 9.1 percent from $2.86 trillion to $2.60 trillion.

Bitcoin ended October at $77,441, representing a 7.3 percent decline from its monthly high of $86,513 reached on 5 October. Ether lost 16.1 percent of its value during the month, while market breadth remained weak as 18 of the 20 largest coins experienced price declines.

Only Monero, which gained 9.9 percent, and LEO, which gained 4.1 percent, finished October higher among the 20 largest cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin dominance increased from 58.6 percent to 59.8 percent throughout the month as other large coins saw steeper declines.

The Fear and Greed Index shifted from 69, indicating greed on 1 October, to 36, indicating fear on 31 October. CoinMarketCap data shows the index reached a high of 70 on 4 October, moved to a neutral 50 mid-month, and fell to 36 on 30 October following the Binance hack.

On 30 October, broader US market performance saw Intel fall 28.6 percent and Reddit drop 29.2 percent. The Nasdaq also fell 2.86 percent during that same session.

XRP and Zcash identified as altcoins to watch

KuCoin identified five altcoins to monitor during the current market environment: XRP, Hyperliquid, Zcash, Sui, and Stellar. During October, XRP was priced at $1.2501, reflecting a 16.0 percent decline, while Zcash was priced at $1,250.28, a 13.0 percent decline.

XRP focuses on cross-border payments and financial settlement infrastructure, with performance linked to Ripple, institutional adoption, and the XRP Ledger. Hyperliquid is a decentralized platform for perpetual futures that allows traders to use leverage without relying entirely on centralized exchanges. Zcash utilizes privacy-oriented transaction technology that provides users with both secure and transparent transaction options.

Sui is a layer-1 blockchain designed for scalability and parallel transaction processing to support decentralized applications and digital assets. Stellar provides inter-currency payment and transfer services, with a focus on asset tokenization and financial applications requiring quick settlement.

Other assets recorded significant losses in October, including Stellar at -25.1 percent, Canton at -22.5 percent, Cardano at -21.8 percent, Avalanche at -21.7 percent, and Solana at -19.2 percent. October performance figures also included Dogecoin at $0.0755 (-20.0 percent), Uniswap at $7.08 (-20.2 percent), Monero at $598.21 (+9.9 percent), LEO at $9.40 (+4.1 percent), Hyperliquid at $87.85 (-3.3 percent), and Bitcoin Cash at $2.

On 4 November, Bitcoin, Ether, and XRP are trading above the middle of their range. Solana is positioned well below its range and is currently 16 percent above its bearish scenario.

Derivatives market open interest surges

Crypto market sentiment has dropped to extreme lows, while open interest in derivatives markets has surged to levels seen only four times in the past 12 months. This high level of open interest suggests the potential for significant market movements, such as liquidations or reversals.

While these indicators suggest potential volatility, they do not guarantee an immediate recovery for the market.

Ongoing investigations into crypto hacks

Binance reported that it planned to publish its full proof of reserves by November 3, 2026. This follows the October 29 theft of approximately $6.3 billion from Binance, an incident that TRM Labs and Chainalysis attributed to the North Korean group TraderTraitor.

She also rejected the FBI's accusation that North Korea was responsible for the $1.5 billion Bybit hack that occurred in February 2025.

Binance co-CEO Richard Teng stated in a post on X that the Binance hack "wasn’t one mistake or one breach — it was a months-long campaign". The hacker continues to hold 195,000 ETH in their wallets, which represents potential selling pressure on the market.

The DefiLlama database recorded 35 crypto hack incidents in October 2026 with total losses of $6.50 billion, of which $6.36 billion originated from the Binance hack. From January to October 2026, there were 325 reported crypto hack incidents with combined losses of $8.74 billion.

Between October 30 and 31, attackers hijacked 15 customer domains at Name.com, including DeFi projects like Flap and Kintsu, using a "Step Drainer" wallet drainer to steal an estimated $138,000.

On October 9, a supply chain attack involving tampered Ledger devices sold by the reseller CryptoBilis resulted in $93 million in losses.

Federal Reserve interest rates remain at 3.75% to 4.00%

The US Federal Reserve held interest rates at 3.75% to 4.00% on October 28, though Lisa Cook and Beth Hammack voted in favor of a rate hike. Futures markets at the end of October priced the probability of a Federal Reserve rate hike in December at approximately 80 percent.

A Federal Reserve rate hike in December would make leverage and loans more expensive, with a strong jobs report on November 6 increasing the likelihood of such a hike. On October 8, market liquidations totaling $1.16 billion and concerns over Federal Reserve rate hikes pushed the price of Bitcoin below $81,000.

AMD has started revenue shipments of its EPYC Venice server processors, with OEM systems expected to launch in the fourth quarter.

US jobs report scheduled for November 6

The US jobs report for October is scheduled for release on November 6 and acts as a key input for the Federal Reserve's December interest rate decision. Users are advised to regularly review and revoke old token approvals for contracts they no longer require, using services such as Revoke.cash.

Investors should store larger holdings on a hardware wallet that displays transactions in plain text and maintain a separate wallet with a smaller balance for DeFi transactions.