Here's the first edition of a monthly compilation of digital asset market data, analysis and insights by CF Benchmarks' Lead Research Analyst Gabe Selby.

This report has been designed to help you see at a glance which blockchain economic categories have been driving recent crypto market performance, get a sense of where institutional investors are allocating capital earmarked for digital assets, and understand how crypto fits into, impacts and is influenced by the broader market picture.

‘Uptober’ brings broad gains

• All our benchmark indices finished October in positive territory
• Larger-cap tokens saw the strongest relative performance with the Ultra Cap 5 (+11.8%) and Diversified Large Cap (11.3%) indices outperforming
• The CF Digital Culture and Smart Contract Platforms indices lagged but still finished the month up approximately 2%

Monthly Index Performance

Major Crypto-Pairs (USD)

• Doge prices rose over 100% for the month, this positive price performance followed Elon Musk’s recent acquisition of Twitter
• Most major tokens finished in positive territory, with Ethereum and Polygon continuing to see post-merge momentum

Trailing Risk-Adjusted Returns

When compared to other traditional asset classes, Bitcoin and Ethereum continue to provide the best risk-adjusted performance over a longer-time horizon.

Currency of Flows

• Fund flows remain relatively muted and slightly positive (+$6m); mostly concentrated in Bitcoin (+$14m)
• From a regional perspective, most fund inflows were in the North America region, while Europe saw -$8.7m in outflows

Futures Positioning and Open Interest

• Futures positioning has stabilized since the start of the month, rising slightly to -$357K
• Open interest for Bitcoin and Ethereum futures continues to trend higher

On-chain updates: Total Value Locked in DeFi

Total Value Locked in DeFi protocols remained muted in October, rising to approximately $777m from $750m.

On-chain updates: NFT Transactions and Volumes

NFT transactions and volumes continued their downward trajectories, falling approximately 43 and 24% in October.

Download The CF Benchmarks Monthly Market Recap here (PDF file)