Altseason’s Last Gasp? Micro Rallies Defy Crypto Winter’s Chill

Bitcoin’s dominance wanes as altcoins stage guerrilla rallies—proof that even in a bear market, degens find ways to lose money creatively.

While the 2021 altseason feels like ancient history, pockets of volatility suggest traders haven’t surrendered their hopium inhalers just yet. Meme coins, Layer 2 tokens, and AI narratives keep pumping... right until they don’t.

Wall Street analysts shrug—after all, what’s another 90% correction between friends?

What altseason used to mean

Traditionally, altseason signaled explosive, weeks-long rallies across the altcoin market — driven by retail hype, memecoin frenzies, and bitcoin consolidation.

Think 2021: Dogecoin [DOGE] to the moon, Solana [SOL] 10x, and X (formerly Twitter) timelines full of overnight millionaires. It was less about strategy, more about sentiment — a powerful wave that lifts all tokens.

But in 2025, the playbook looks very different.

Hidden in plain sight

Between April and late May, the altcoin season index has registered five distinct spikes above the 75% threshold — each one marking a burst of outperformance from altcoins over Bitcoin.

Yet most of these lasted just hours.

Source: Alphractal

On the 1-hour chart, these moments were sharp, fleeting, and often occurred while BTC itself moved sideways or climbed modestly.

Source: Alphractal

But zoom into the 1-minute chart, and an even more frenetic picture emerges: dozens of micro-altseasons, some lasting mere minutes, playing out under the radar.

Source: TradingView

Meanwhile, Bitcoin dominance [BTC.D] remained elevated around 64% at press time, recovering swiftly after each dip.

This is a sign that the capital from these rotations often flows back into BTC or stablecoins, not deeper into altcoins.

Altseason today is faster, harder to spot, and increasingly inaccessible to the average trader. If you’re only watching daily charts, you’re likely missing the real action entirely.

Are micro altseasons the new normal?

Instead of broad, months-long rallies, we’re seeing rapid, sector-specific bursts that play out over days or even hours. Macro-focused traders waiting for clear trends often miss these moves entirely.

Meanwhile, smart money uses algorithms to detect early volume shifts, exploit momentum, and exit before the crowd even notices.

These microcycles reward speed and constant monitoring. To catch them, traders need to watch for rising volume in overlooked pairs, subtle dips in Bitcoin dominance, and short-lived sector rotations.