In the final week of October 2026, the cryptocurrency market staged a decisive rebound, with Starknet (STRK), Mina Protocol (MINA), and Rain (RAIN) leading the charge as top weekly winners. These assets successfully outpaced the broader market, recovering value lost during the early-October volatility and signaling a shift in liquidity back toward high-utility altcoins. The surge in these specific tokens suggests that market participants are currently prioritizing Layer 2 scalability and zero-knowledge (ZK) technology as the primary drivers for the next leg of the 2026 bull cycle.
The recovery was largely supported by a stabilization in US macroeconomic data, which eased fears of further interest rate hikes and encouraged a 'risk-on' sentiment. Starknet’s momentum was particularly fueled by its Q4 2026 mainnet upgrade, which significantly reduced transaction costs for US-based DeFi users. Meanwhile, Mina Protocol saw increased accumulation as institutional interest in privacy-preserving proof-of-stake blockchains reached a new yearly high, positioning it as a defensive play within the volatile ZK sector.
From a regulatory perspective, this late-October rally occurred as the SEC finalized its updated 2026 guidelines for decentralized infrastructure providers. The clarity provided by these new rules has allowed US-focused intelligence platforms and exchanges to more confidently facilitate trading for ZK-rollups like STRK. The absence of negative regulatory intervention during this recovery period has acted as a catalyst for retail participation, evidenced by the high volume seen in smaller cap assets like RAIN and the trending PORKU token.
Investors should now watch the key resistance levels for STRK at $3.20 and MINA at $1.55 to determine if this momentum is sustainable. While the market has successfully moved past its October lows, the focus for the remainder of Q4 will likely remain on whether these protocols can maintain their network activity levels. A failure to hold current support levels could lead to a retest of early October lows, particularly if geopolitical tensions impact global liquidity in the coming weeks.