Hyperliquid Whale Bets on Altcoin Surge as Bitcoin Eyes $120K—Here’s Why Traders Are FOMOing

Crypto’s big-money players are shifting focus—while Bitcoin flirts with $120K, a Hyperliquid whale is doubling down on altcoins. Is this the start of a full-blown ‘altseason,’ or just another case of speculative froth?

Market veterans know the drill: when BTC plateaus, capital floods smaller caps. This time? The whale’s move suggests a calculated gamble on Ethereum, Solana, and other high-beta plays.

Of course, Wall Street’s still busy ‘discovering’ Bitcoin—right after retail piled in. Stay nimble, or get rekt.

Assessing altcoin season signals

Several early signs pointed to a budding altcoin season, especially after a slight drop in Tether’s USDT dominance (USDT.D).

This suggests improving liquidity conditions as users reduce USDT holdings for altcoin gems. 

Source: TradingView (USDT dominance vs. Altcoins market cap) 

Notably, the above chart showed that the April bounce was this cycle’s third altcoin season phase, despite being relatively sluggish and concentrated on select gems. 

In each scenario, USDT dominance decline (red lines) was marked by a run-up (green arrows) in the altcoin market size (TOTAL 3, excluding BTC and ETH).

In Q2 2025 alone, the altcoin market cap added $200 billion after USDT dominance slipped from 6% to 4.3%. 

But BTC dominance (BTC.D) strengthened to nearly 64% from mid-May, subjecting the sector to a brief cool-off. 

Source: TradingView (BTC dominance vs. crypto marketcap) 

So, the BTC dominance needs to drop lower for Wynn’s projection to materialize.

Another barometer, the ETH/BTC ratio, also leaned towards Wynn’s projection, noted Chris Burniske, crypto VC partner at Placeholder, he said, 

“If $ETH keeps making moves against $BTC, then Alt season will be upon us. May all your bags moon, for a period.”

The ratio recently jumped 40%, underscoring ETH’s outperformance against BTC, a bullish cue for altcoins. Any extended rally could increase the odds of the expected altcoin rally. 

However, market analyst Crypto Cred warned traders that not all BTC profits will be rotated to altcoins. He urged traders to focus only on top gems.

In fact, solana [SOL] and several other altcoins were on the verge of clearing the 200-day SMA (Simple Moving Average), raising the odds of a further rally.

That said, the altcoin season index was still low at 20, underscoring a BTC season at the time of writing.