BNB Hits $1,100 ATH, Fueling Crypto Market Rally

BNB, the native token of the Binance ecosystem, achieved a historic milestone during Friday’s Asian trading session, soaring 6.5% to reach an unprecedented all-time high of $1,112. This remarkable performance caps a stunning 30% monthly surge that has positioned BNB as the top-performing cryptocurrency among the top 50 digital assets by market capitalization. The token’s extraordinary momentum has propelled its market valuation to $152 billion, a figure that now exceeds the market capitalizations of traditional financial giants including Santander, Adobe, and Spotify.

The rally wasn’t confined to BNB alone. Binance’s DEX token ASTER also experienced significant upward movement, surging 13% to $1.90 on Friday morning. Having launched in September as part of Binance’s Hyperliquid competitor, ASTER now sits just 22.5% below its own all-time high, demonstrating the broader strength within the Binance ecosystem. The coordinated performance of these Binance-linked tokens highlights the growing influence of the exchange’s expanding product suite and global initiatives.

BNB’s powerful surge has had profound implications for the broader cryptocurrency market, pushing total market capitalization to $4.23 trillion—a level that approaches the mid-August all-time high recorded when Bitcoin peaked. This time, however, the market dynamics have shifted significantly. While Bitcoin remains 3.2% below its all-time high, having touched $121,000 in late Thursday trading before retreating to $120,000 on Friday morning, altcoins have taken center stage in driving market growth.

According to analyst Ted Pillows, the total altcoin market capitalization excluding stablecoins has yet to achieve a new all-time high, suggesting that a full-fledged ‘altseason’ may still be pending. ‘I’m certain that altseason will happen, but not until altcoin market cap hits a new ATH,’ he observed. Data from Tradingview confirms that the altcoin market cap, excluding Bitcoin and Ethereum, reached $1.16 trillion on Thursday, still slightly below its September 18 peak. Current market indicators reflect this transitional phase, with the Blockchain Center altseason index at 71—just below the 75 threshold needed to officially declare an altcoin season. CoinMarketCap’s index stands at 67, while Bitget’s is even lower at 62.

The BNB surge coincides with a period of significant global expansion for Binance. Earlier in the week, company CEO Richard Teng announced the launch of the Binance Mastercard in Brazil, marking another step in the exchange’s penetration of traditional financial services. Simultaneously, former CEO Changpeng Zhao met with Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to discuss the country’s cryptocurrency ambitions and BNB reserves, underscoring Binance’s growing influence in Central Asian markets.

While BNB and ASTER dominated Friday’s performance, other major cryptocurrencies also showed positive momentum. Ethereum tapped a two-week high of $4,550 before encountering resistance and settling at $4,480, representing a 16% recovery since its late-September correction to $3,850. Solana jumped 2.7% to reach $235 before a slight pullback, while Bitcoin Cash posted similar gains. Story and Aptos also performed well, though their movements were overshadowed by the dramatic Binance-linked token rallies. The collective performance across these assets suggests a broadening of the cryptocurrency rally beyond the usual market leaders.