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Stablecoin supply contracted by $14.2 billion over the 30 days to Nov. 9, the sharpest 30-day decline since June 2022, according to Glassnode data reported by Cointelegraph. The drawdown strips liquidity out of crypto trading venues at a time when Bitcoin is near 11-week lows.
Tether’s USDT, the largest stablecoin by market cap, was trading slightly below its $1 peg, per TradingView data cited by Cointelegraph. Glassnode tied the dip to the “same pressure” of holders leaving the stablecoin market.
Also read: Stablecoin supply drops to $263B as Solana card spend hits $141M
Key facts
- Stablecoin supply fell $14.2 billion in the 30 days to Nov. 9, the biggest drop since June 2022, per Glassnode.
- The June 2022 decline that it trails was nearly $30 billion; the July 1 drop that accompanied Bitcoin’s fall below $58,000 was $9.5 billion.
- USDT and USDC together accounted for nearly $11 billion of the reduction, and total supply sits just below $280 billion, per Crypto Briefing.
- The Coinbase Premium Index fell to -0.27% on Oct. 29, its lowest since November 2022, and was still negative on Wednesday.
- CryptoQuant measured Bitcoin demand down 284,000 BTC over 30 days, the steepest decline since March 2025.
What a shrinking supply means for liquidity
Glassnode frames stablecoin supply as a gauge of market sentiment. When supply shrinks, holders are redeeming tokens for dollars and pulling that cash out of the market, leaving what Glassnode described as less fuel for a rally. A return to 30-day growth would be the first signal that new money is entering, the firm said.
The scale of the current contraction is clear from the historical comparison in Glassnode’s week 45 onchain report: the $14.2 billion decline is larger than the $9.5 billion seen on July 1 and smaller only than the near-$30 billion drop in June 2022. Crypto Briefing adds that USDT and USDC made up nearly $11 billion of the reduction and that total stablecoin supply now stands just below $280 billion — a total Cointelegraph’s report does not give, so that figure is attributed to Crypto Briefing alone.
Coinbase Premium stays negative after four-year low
Demand-side metrics are pointing the same way. The Coinbase Premium Index, which tracks the gap between Coinbase’s BTC/USD price and Binance’s BTC/USDT price, dropped to -0.27% on Oct. 29, its lowest level since November 2022, and remained negative on Wednesday. CryptoQuant contributing analyst Amr Taha wrote at the time that the unusually deep discount pointed to weaker relative demand or heavier selling pressure on Coinbase, a major venue for US-based trading.
CryptoQuant also reported that its measure of Bitcoin demand fell by 284,000 BTC over 30 days, the most pronounced downturn since March 2025. Cointelegraph noted that crypto market metrics continue to point to weakening demand as Bitcoin trades near 11-week lows.
Why it matters
Stablecoins are the settlement layer for much of crypto trading, so a shrinking pool of them constrains how much capital can rotate into tokens without fresh fiat entering. For traders and venues that depend on stablecoin liquidity, the current setup is the weakest since mid-2022, when the market was emerging from the collapse of that cycle’s major stablecoin. The USDT discount matters because the largest stablecoin is the default quote asset on many exchanges; a persistent gap below the peg changes the effective pricing of trades denominated in it. Crypto Briefing notes the contraction could affect liquidity across digital assets broadly.
What to watch
The main data point is the 30-day change in stablecoin supply: a turn back to growth would be the first sign, per Glassnode, that new money is arriving. Traders will also watch whether USDT closes back to its peg and whether the Coinbase Premium Index climbs out of negative territory.
The figures above describe market conditions as reported by Glassnode, CryptoQuant and Crypto Briefing; this is not financial advice, and crypto markets are volatile and uncertain.
Reported by Cointelegraph.
Sources: Cointelegraph, Crypto Briefing