Gate Research Institute: ETH hits a new high, BIO sees higher trade volumes, and the rotation of small and mid-cap themes intensifies.

Encryption Market Overview

According to CoinGecko data, from August 12 to August 25, 2025, in terms of market performance, BTC continued to be in a downward channel, with weak rebound momentum, but the contract holding amount remained high, indicating that market sentiment has turned to wait-and-see. Attention should be paid to key support and changes in holdings to judge rebound opportunities. ETH, on the other hand, performed strongly, briefly breaking through 4,900 USDT to set a new high, with continuous capital inflows and ETF spot management scale exceeding 30.5 billion USD. If it can hold the short-term support, it is expected to continue the upward trend, structurally significantly stronger than BTC. 【1】

Recently, the encryption market has shown trends of institutionalization and cross-ecosystem integration. In terms of ecosystems, BenFen and the Stellar Foundation are promoting RWA on-chain, Wormhole intends to acquire StarGate to enhance cross-chain integration, 1inch has launched simplified cross-chain functions, and Bitlayer has performed the best in the Bitcoin Layer 2. In addition, CeFi lending is expanding rapidly, and the NFT market is also showing significant recovery.

Overall, the current encryption market shows diverse momentum amid structural differentiation. The technical aspect of BTC is relatively weak, but funds have not significantly withdrawn, while ETH maintains an upward trend thanks to its strong fundamentals. At the macro and ecological levels, compliance and cross-chain integration are advancing simultaneously, coupled with active tracks such as Layer 2, RWA, and DeSci. The market still has development potential and structural opportunities in the medium to long term.

Overview of the price fluctuations in this round

This article groups and analyzes the top 500 tokens by market capitalization, observing their average increase from August 12 to August 25.

The overall average increase is 3.43%, with a clear differentiation in market structure. Tokens ranked 301–400 performed the most prominently, with an average increase of 6.42%, leading other ranges; the 401–500 and 1–100 ranges followed closely with 4.73% and 4.62%, respectively. In contrast, the 101–200 range (-0.07%) performed relatively sluggishly.

Overall, the capital distribution shows a pattern of "stable large-cap + active mid and low market cap": large tokens maintain stable growth, supporting the market foundation; while the mid and small-cap segments have stronger resilience driven by capital, boosting the overall market risk appetite, which also indicates that the market is gradually shifting from mainstream trends to a new stage of diversified allocation.

Note: The market capitalization distribution is based on CoinGecko data, grouping the top 500 tokens by market cap into sets of 100 (e.g., rankings 1–100, 101–200, etc.), and calculating the price fluctuations of the tokens within each group from August 12 to August 25, 2025, then computing the average for each group as the average increase indicator for that market cap range. The overall average increase (3.43%) is the unweighted average of the individual increases of the top 500 tokens.

Figure 1: The overall average increase is 3.43%, with the most remarkable increase seen in tokens ranked 301–400 by market capitalization, averaging close to 7%.

Price Change Leaderboard

In the past two weeks, the overall encryption market has maintained an upward trend, with accelerated capital rotation driving several small-cap high-volatility tokens to surge strongly. The top ten tokens by growth are mainly focused on Meme, public chain ecosystems, and emerging concepts, possessing high topicality and speculative potential, making them the focus of short-term capital attention.

On the rise list, SVL (Slash Vision Labs) ranks first with a growth of 186.95%. SVL is the platform token launched by the Japanese compliant encryption payment platform Slash Vision Labs, which focuses on integrating digital assets into everyday life scenarios. The Slash Card is Japan's first compliance credit card supporting encryption assets, aiming to seamlessly connect traditional finance with Web3 applications. Recently, Slash launched a pre-registration promotion for yen rewards surrounding the Slash Card and has been continuously expanding its influence in the community. Additionally, SVL holders can participate in the platform's revenue distribution mechanism, driving the token's popularity to rise rapidly.

Other strong performers include REX (182%), MEME (128.82%), among others, most of which are tokens with narrative elasticity and ecological incentive expectations. API3, BIO, and others have also successfully made it to the list of top gainers due to recent product iterations and market focus.

In comparison, the decline leaderboard adjustment is relatively mild, with PROVE experiencing the highest decline of 35.12%, and SPK, PTGC, and others showing declines ranging from 25% to 32%, indicating that some assets lacking supportive themes still face periodic correction pressure.

Overall, the market style is shifting towards assets with "high Beta and strong narratives". In the short term, funds are favoring tokens that have topicality and user engagement; meanwhile, projects lacking liquidity or experiencing a decline in popularity are facing marginalization pressure, and the structural rotation pattern is expected to continue.

Figure 2: The most prominent is the encryption payment platform token SVL, which has surged by 186.95% in the past two weeks, possibly due to promotional activities for its encryption asset credit card and revenue return mechanism.

relationship between market cap ranking and price fluctuation

To further analyze the structural characteristics of token performance in this market cycle, this article presents a scatter distribution chart of the top 500 tokens by market capitalization. The x-axis represents the market capitalization ranking (the further left, the larger the market capitalization), while the y-axis shows the price fluctuation from August 12 to August 25, presented on a logarithmic scale. Each dot in the chart represents a token, with green indicating an increase and red indicating a decrease.

From the overall distribution, the proportion of rising tokens is about 48%, slightly lower than the number of tokens that fell, reflecting that market sentiment has been repaired, but the overall situation is still in a structural rotation phase and has not yet entered a general rise pattern. The increase is concentrated in the range of 5%–100%, with outstanding performers mostly being mid to late stage market cap assets, particularly represented by SVL, REX, and MEME, which have seen increases of over 100%. Among them, SVL may have attracted market attention due to the nearing end of its encryption asset credit card promotion activities, the compliance attributes of the card generating heat, and the strong binding of the SVL token to the platform's revenue distribution mechanism, making it a high Beta focus in the rotation of funds.

In contrast, most tokens on the decline list are under pressure due to a lack of supporting themes or a retreat in sentiment, such as PROVE, SPK, TIBBIR, KTA, DORA, etc., with declines generally between 20% and 35%. Among them, although PROVE was initially focused on due to being listed on multiple exchanges simultaneously, the buying interest quickly faded in the absence of continuous capital support, leading to a significant drop in token prices, making it one of the largest declining projects in this round.

Overall, funding preferences are concentrated on small and medium-sized projects with clear themes and strong narratives, while mainstream assets experience mild fluctuations, and tokens lacking a continuous storyline are easily marginalized. The current market rhythm is still primarily rotational, and structural trends will continue to dominate short-term performance.

Figure 3: The proportion of tokens among the top 500 by market capitalization that have risen is slightly below half, with market funds showing a clear preference for small to mid-cap projects with clear themes and high volatility.

Top 100 Market Capitalization Rankings

In this round of volatile consolidation, the overall fluctuations of the top 100 tokens by market capitalization tend to converge, showing a clear defensive pattern. Excluding stablecoins and LSD tokens, only about ten tokens recorded gains, indicating a lack of enthusiasm for chasing the market, with mainstream funds more inclined to wait and defend their positions. The top five gainers are: MNT (+2.99%), HASH (+1.84%), XDC (+0.77%), LEO (+0.11%), and TRX (+0.02%), with generally small gains and no significant leading sectors observed. Only MNT and HASH performed slightly better, possibly supported by ecological progress and public chain narratives.

Among them, MNT (Mantle Network) recently saw its on-chain stablecoin supply exceed $714 million, with an annual growth of over 210%. It also announced the top ten dApp rankings by ecological TVL, including popular protocols such as Pendle, Merchant Moe, and Treehouse, highlighting the initial formation of its Layer 2 financial ecosystem and a significant increase in funding attention.

The decline is relatively mild, with the top five declines being: IP (-4.28%), PI (-3.65%), PENGU (-3.34%), ENA (-2.12%), BONK (-2.11%). These projects may be due to short-term themes retreating or insufficient buying pressure, and there is no significant selling pressure observed, indicating that the mainstream market still has a certain level of resilience.

Overall, the top 100 tokens by market capitalization are exhibiting a volatile pattern characterized by "few gains and converging declines." Funds are favoring high-certainty and liquid assets, while structural rotation has yet to reach mainstream sectors. In the short term, the market may maintain a weak consolidation dominated by defensive positioning.

Figure 4: Among the top 100 tokens by market capitalization, the growth rate is relatively weak, with the overall trend being sideways. Only a few tokens perform slightly better, reflecting a low concentration of market enthusiasm and a conservative sentiment.

2. Analysis of the volume performance in this round

Trading Volume Growth Analysis

Based on the analysis of token price performance, this article further observes the changes in trading volume of certain tokens during this market cycle. Using the trading volume before the market started as a benchmark, the trading volume growth multiplier as of August 25 was calculated to measure the changes in market heat and trading activity.

The data shows that ONYX has the highest growth in trading volume, reaching 22.45 times, but the price rebound is only 0.49%, reflecting that although the market is short-term focused on this project, there is insufficient willingness to follow the price rise, possibly constrained by selling pressure and turnover pressure; KOGE also recorded a volume increase of 10.33 times, but the price slightly retreated, indicating that an increase in trading volume does not necessarily accompany a synchronous strengthening of price.

The standout performers are BAND, BIO, and API3, with trading volume growth rates of 9.86 times, 9.51 times, and 9.19 times, respectively, while their prices increased by 41.23%, 81.38%, and 77.09%, demonstrating a strong "volume-price resonance" characteristic. The market capitalization rankings of BIO and API3 are between 200 and 300, placing them in a sector with funding flexibility but not yet overly crowded, making them typical targets for thematic rotation of funds.

Structurally, this round of increased volume projects covers mid- to low-market-cap tokens, and the growth in trading volume shows a certain structural correlation with price performance, indicating that the market is engaging in capital games around trading activity and short-term themes. Increased volume fluctuations are usually a precursor to heightened market attention and an important reference for assessing potential rotation targets.

Figure 5: The trading volume of tokens such as ONYX, BAND, BIO, and API3 has significantly increased, with the latter showing a "synchronous rise in volume and price" structure, attracting the attention of short-term funds.

Volume Change and Price Analysis

Based on the ongoing observation of the trading volume anomaly projects, this article further combines price performance to plot a scatter diagram of Volume Increase Multiple and Price Change %. The horizontal axis represents the growth multiple of each token's trading volume compared to the benchmark period over the past two weeks, while the vertical axis indicates the price fluctuation during the same period, using a symmetric logarithmic scale to more intuitively present extreme changes.

From the chart, it can be seen that the upper right quadrant gathers the targets with significant characteristics of "increased volume + rising prices" in this round of market. Among them, BIO and BAND recorded approximately 9.51 times and 9.86 times growth in trading volume respectively, with prices increasing by 81.38% and 41.23% respectively, showing clear signs of concentrated capital intervention and enhanced price elasticity, becoming representative rebound projects of resonance. API3 also performed excellently, with volume approaching 9 times and price increase exceeding 77%, exhibiting typical structural rotation characteristics.

The lower right quadrant includes projects such as KOGE and ONYC. Although they recorded over 10 times and 22 times the trading volume respectively, their price performance did not effectively follow, reflecting that some projects may have short-term trading popularity, but the strength of the themes or the sustainability of funds is insufficient, resulting in a "volume increases without price rise" structure.

In addition, the chart also shows that small-cap tokens such as MEME and RUJI have recorded extremely high price increases, and some have also seen increased trading volumes, indicating that the market's short-term risk appetite still leans towards high volatility and theme-driven assets.

Overall, projects in the upper right quadrant often possess clear information catalysts (such as ecological benefits, platform launches, or market narrative strengthening) and liquidity support, making them significant targets for capital in this structural market trend; while the lower right quadrant, despite active trading performance, shows obvious price differentiation, indicating that the market is shifting from pure emotional trading to a game pattern that places more emphasis on the effectiveness of themes and the sustainability of capital.

Figure 6: Tokens such as BIO, BAND, and API3 are located in the upper right quadrant, reflecting a "volume increase" structure, making them typical targets for short-term capital rotation in the market.

Correlation Analysis

After discussing the relationship between changes in token trading volume and price performance, this article further analyzes the structural linkage between the two from a statistical perspective. To assess whether market fund activity systematically affects price fluctuations, the relative activity indicator "trading volume / market capitalization" is introduced, and its correlation coefficient with price changes is calculated. Through this analysis, it is possible to identify tokens in the current market that are more easily driven by funds and reveal the strength of the linkage between volume and price.

As can be seen from the chart, the correlation coefficients of most tokens are concentrated in the range of 0.65 to 0.85, indicating a generally positive correlation between fund activity and price changes. The color of the bubbles in the chart represents the strength of the correlation (red for high, blue for low), while the size of the bubbles reflects the market capitalization of the tokens, making it easier to observe the price-volume characteristics of assets of different sizes.

The tokens QTUM, CFG, and others located in the upper left corner have the highest correlation, with coefficients mostly in the range of 0.82–0.86. This shows that such small and medium market cap assets are more likely to fluctuate in price synchronously when volume increases, which is a typical "high elasticity price-volume linkage" structure and also a preferred trading target for short-term funds. Among them, RSETH has the largest bubble, indicating it possesses a certain market cap size and extremely strong volatility elasticity.

In contrast, the projects on the right side of the chart, such as GT, USD1, and UMA, although they have active trading volumes, show relatively low correlation coefficients (around 0.65–0.70), indicating that their prices are relatively mildly affected by the inflow and outflow of funds. Among them, GT has a large market capitalization, and its bubble size is also significant, reflecting that it may not possess high-frequency trading elasticity but has stability and depth, making it suitable for long-term funds or institutional participation.

Overall, small and medium market cap tokens generally exhibit higher elasticity in volume-price linkage, while large market cap tokens have ample liquidity but respond more mildly in price, reflecting the current structural differentiation in market risk appetite and capital allocation. Short-term traders tend to chase highly correlated and high-volatility projects, while medium to long-term investors prefer assets with stable market capitalization and moderate linkage.

Figure 7: Mid and small-cap tokens such as QTUM and CFG exhibit high volume-price correlation and are significantly affected by capital fluctuations; large-cap projects like GT have lower correlation but possess a massive market cap, leading to more stable trends.

In summary, this round of the encryption market presents a "structural differentiation + theme-driven" pattern, with a significant enhancement in the volume-price linkage signals. Small and medium market cap projects such as BIO and MEME have shown remarkable gains against the backdrop of increased trading volume, becoming the focus of capital speculation; whereas large market cap tokens like GT maintain stable fluctuations, attracting conservative capital allocation.

In addition to the performance of the trading market, this period also sees several potential airdrop projects continuing to advance, covering popular sectors such as social incentive platforms, re-staking protocols, emerging public chain testing tasks, and smart asset management tools. If users can grasp the rhythm of participation and continuously complete interaction tasks, they are expected to position themselves ahead of time during market fluctuations, obtaining subsequent token incentives and airdrop qualifications. The following will briefly outline four early projects worth paying attention to and their participation methods, assisting users in systematically laying out Web3 dividend opportunities.

Airdrop Hot Projects

This article organizes a list of airdrop potential projects worth focusing on from August 12 to August 25, 2025, including several active early projects such as Edgen (an interactive platform combining social account binding and token incentives), Symbiotic (a re-staking protocol focusing on Ethereum LSD assets), Pharos (an EVM Layer 1 network for RWA and enterprise-level DeFi applications), and Cerebro (a smart asset platform integrating investment strategies and wallet management). Users can continuously accumulate early participation vouchers by registering accounts, binding wallets and social accounts, completing tasks, and staking operations. The following will outline the positioning of each project, recent incentive paths, and main interaction processes to assist users in grasping the potential dividend window of Web3.

Edgen

Edgen is a Web3 platform that combines social account verification with a token incentive mechanism. Recently, it launched the OG Badge program and the Aura airdrop event to encourage users to bind their X accounts to receive Aura and participate in subsequent reward distribution. 【4】

Participation Method:

1. Go to the Edgen official website, click the connect button and complete the binding with your X account.
2. Complete social and daily tasks to earn Aura, and accumulate Aura to participate in main events and future airdrop rewards.

Symbiotic

Symbiotic is a Web3 protocol focused on the re-staking mechanism, allowing users to deposit various Ethereum staking assets into eight staking pools provided by the platform to earn point rewards and have the opportunity to participate in subsequent airdrop distributions.【5]

Participation Method:

1. Go to the Symbiotic official website and connect your wallet to open the Restake operation interface.
2. Select a staking asset from the available eight staking pools.

Pharos

Pharos is an EVM-compatible Layer 1 network designed for RWA and enterprise-level DeFi scenarios. It has currently launched a testnet task on Layer 3, where participants can earn XP points by completing on-chain and social tasks, thereby increasing their chances of participating in future airdrops. 【6】

Participation Method:

1. Go to Layer3 and connect your wallet to access the exclusive task page for the Pharos Testnet.
2. Complete a series of tasks such as Welcome, Onboarding, Onchain Tasks according to the task guidelines to earn XP points.

Cerebro

Cerebro is a Web3 smart asset platform that integrates investment strategies, wallet management, and social features. Recently, it launched the Gems reward mechanism, allowing users to complete specified activities on the platform to obtain various colored gems, which may serve as a reference for airdrop distribution in the future. 【7】

Participation Method:

1. Go to the Cerebro official website to register an account. You can choose to register using your email or log in through X to receive initial Gems rewards.
2. Bind the wallet address in the account settings, complete the Bundle creation and wallet configuration, to ensure that subsequent task points are recorded correctly.
3. Complete other social tasks to earn points.

Tip The airdrop plans and participation methods may be updated at any time. It is recommended that users follow the official channels of the above projects for the latest information. At the same time, users should participate cautiously, be aware of the risks, and conduct thorough research before participating. [Gate]https://www.gate.com/( There is no guarantee of subsequent airdrop reward distribution.

Summary

Looking back at the market cycle from August 12 to August 25, 2025, the encryption market exhibited typical characteristics of "structural differentiation + theme-driven" dynamics, with significantly enhanced volume-price linkage signals. The technical aspect of ETH reached an all-time high, breaking through 4,900 USDT, demonstrating its strong trend continuation ability among mainstream assets.

Small and medium market cap assets such as BIO, BAND, etc. are more likely to experience synchronized price increases when trading volume rapidly expands, becoming the focus of short-term capital speculation and thematic hype, reflecting a phase of recovery in market risk appetite. In contrast, large market cap assets like GT maintain stable fluctuations, serving as liquidity anchors in structural markets, making them more suitable for long-term or institutional capital allocation.

From a data structure perspective, tokens ranked 301–400 by market capitalization have shown strong performance in terms of price increase, indicating that when mainstream sectors are under pressure, smaller projects provide stronger resilience and opportunities. Further analysis shows that the "trading volume / market capitalization" metric has a high positive correlation with price performance, with correlation coefficients mostly concentrated in the 0.65–0.85 range, confirming that market activity is becoming one of the important factors affecting price momentum.

Overall, market funds are concentrated on rotating configurations of small and medium-sized projects with "high activity + strong narratives." Structural opportunities and narrative-driven factors remain the main lines driving the short-term market; meanwhile, mainstream asset sectors are in a wait-and-see accumulation phase, with subsequent market movements awaiting clearer technical breakthroughs or macroeconomic favorable factors.

In addition, this issue tracks the Edgen, Symbiotic, Pharos, and Cerebro projects, which cover social incentive platforms, re-staking protocols, emerging Layer1 networks, and smart asset management tools. The task paths are clear, and the incentive mechanisms are active. Currently, they are all in the early incentive phase, where users can accumulate points by registering accounts, binding social and wallet accounts, completing tasks, or running nodes, thus gaining eligibility for subsequent airdrops or rewards. Continuous participation not only helps to obtain potential token incentives but also benefits early positioning for Web3's early dividends.
Reference Materials:

1. CoinGecko, [https://www.coingecko.com/])https://www.coingecko.com/(
2. X, [https://x.com/SlashWeb3/status/1960139027933475303])https://x.com/SlashWeb3/status/1960139027933475303(
3. X, [https://x.com/Mantle_Official/status/1958595146968432999])https://x.com/Mantle_Official/status/1958595146968432999(
4. Edgen, [https://www.edgen.tech/app/crypto])https://www.edgen.tech/app/crypto(
5. Symbiotic, [https://app.symbiotic.fi/deposit?sort=tvl_desc&filter_option=collateral])https://app.symbiotic.fi/deposit?sort=tvl_desc&filter_option=collateral(
6. Pharos, [https://app.layer3.xyz/wallet/onboarding])https://app.layer3.xyz/wallet/onboarding(
7. Cerebro, [https://cerebro.xyz/profile])https://cerebro.xyz/profile(

Disclaimer Investing in the cryptocurrency market involves high risks. Users are advised to conduct independent research and fully understand the nature of the assets and products they purchase before making any investment decisions. )[Gate]https://www.gate.com/( shall not be liable for any losses or damages resulting from such investment decisions.