Aptos Token Surges 51% in October Despite Declining Stablecoin Liquidity

Aptos has seen one of its best months in the large-cap crypto space, with the APT token gaining 51% over the past four weeks, according to The Defiant. This impressive rally has outperformed both Bitcoin and Ether, although it comes with a caveat: stablecoin liquidity on the Aptos network has been declining.

Price trackers offer varying figures for APT's gains, with some reporting increases between 38.5% and 44% for the same period ending October 13, 2026. As of mid-October, APT was trading between $0.82 and $0.85. However, the past week has shown a more stagnant performance, indicating that most of the gains occurred earlier in the month.

According to DefiLlama, the stablecoin market cap on Aptos fell by approximately 17.5% over the four weeks, dropping to around $910 million. This decline raises concerns about liquidity within the ecosystem, as a shrinking stablecoin pool typically indicates reduced operational capital.

The recent rally can be attributed to the completion of Aptos's four-year token unlock schedule for early contributors and investors on October 12, 2026. This event led to a significant reduction in monthly emissions, decreasing from about 11.3 million tokens to approximately 4.5 million.

In addition to the token unlock, Aptos Labs announced over $50 million in commitments aimed at enhancing on-chain trading infrastructure and AI-related projects. The network also launched an optional encrypted mempool feature to protect users from maximal extractable value (MEV) issues, which can arise from transaction manipulation by bots and validators.

While the price of APT has surged, the decline in stablecoin liquidity suggests a potential disconnect between price movements and actual network usage. The upcoming weeks will be crucial for APT holders, as the stability of the stablecoin market and overall DeFi activity on Aptos will be key indicators of the sustainability of the recent price rally.