The majority of tokens launched on centralized exchanges (CEXs) in 2025 have failed to hold onto their listing price levels, in a year that looks like it will end in a bear market spell.
According to research from market aggregator Cryptorank, 83% of newly listed tokens are currently trading below their initial values, and none of the top centralized exchanges had coins with a positive return-on-investment rate exceeding 20%.
Tokens trading above the listing price chart. Source: Cryptorank.
Cayman Islands-based Gate.io is in “pole position” in terms of relative token performance for the year, with 18% of tokens trading above their listing price. MEXC comes second in the rankings with 15.59%, while Bybit and Bitget stand at 14.47% and 13.86%, respectively.
US publicly listed company Coinbase and Seychelles’ KuCoin are clustered in the middle with 12.73% and 12.15% of tokens listed in them trading above their debut price levels. At the lower end, HTX posted 9.09%, OKX 8.62%, Crypto.com 6.67%, and Binance closed the class with just 6.06%.
CEXes trade high volumes, but token performance is gloomy
Looking at the positive against negative token launches chart shared by Cryptorank, performance leader MEXC has the largest number of underperforming assets, at 800 tokens, and fewer than 200 trading above the values they entered the market with.
First in line in the previous category, Gate.io has about 500 tokens trading in the loss column and just over 100 above. KuCoin also has a pronounced imbalance in its ROI balances, having around 300 tokens with forgettable performance against a small number in positive territory.
Positive vs negative token ROIs. Source: Cryptorank.
Mid-tier exchanges Bitget is counting 250 tokens trading below listing price and only a few dozen above it, HTX and Bybit each record more than 100 tokens underwater, and lastly, Coinbase and Binance, though listing fewer tokens overall, still show a clear skew toward negative performance.
Crypto market doom cloud came from Bitcoin’s uneven year
The cryptocurrency market this year has once again been a story of a bad Bitcoin performance, sharing the spoils with altcoins. The largest coin by market cap has declined by almost 8% year-to-date, which is why a majority of traders believe we are in a bear market. BTC has only ended the year in the red in 2014, 2018, and 2022, all recognized as bear years.
October 10’s liquidation doomsday caused Bitcoin prices to tank by 10%, losing over $14,000 in a single session. “Gold acting like Bitcoin. Bitcoin is acting like a boomer stock. Boomer stocks are acting like memecoins. This is the worst timeline possible,” joked trader CryptoUB on X.
According to CryptoQuant contributor Woominkyu, Bitcoin’s cycle momentum BCMI index dropped to the 0.5 zone on October 21, which market watchers did not consider to be a cycle top.
Since then, Bitcoin’s price and BCMI have gone down even further as markets reset price levels and sellers pour their coins back to the market. Woominkyu explained that during meaningful cycle bottoms like those in 2019 and 2023, the BCMI reached the 0.25–0.35 range. This could mean BTC will not likely sustain upward momentum till at least the first quarter of 2026.
At the time of this update, Bitcoin is trading near $86,881 and is down just under 1% on the day. Early session attempts at recovery briefly pushed prices toward the $87,000–$89,000 range, but bulls failed to keep the charge going.
A consolidation below the psychologically important $90,000 level is not what maxis asked for Christmas, and if downward pressure resumes, Bitcoin could test $84,000 or dip to the $82,000–$83,000 support levels.
In other news, US spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded net outflows of $188.64 million on Tuesday, according to data from SoSoValue. The investment vehicle’s cumulative net inflows are now $57.08 billion, while total assets held in BTC funds stand at $114.29 billion, slightly above 6% of Bitcoin’s market capitalization.
