Altcoins Surge Ahead: Why Ethereum and Dogecoin Missed the Bullish Wave

The crypto market's pumping—just not for everyone. While altcoins ride the bullish wave, Ethereum and Dogecoin got stuck in the undertow. Here's why.

The Altcoin Rally No One Saw Coming

Solana, Cardano, and even meme coins like Shiba Inu are posting double-digit gains. Meanwhile, ETH and DOGE traders are left checking their wallets like forgotten uncles at a family reunion.

Gas Fees Strike Again

Ethereum’s ‘ultrasound money’ narrative got drowned out by Layer 1 competitors offering faster, cheaper transactions. Turns out, even diamond hands get tired of paying $50 for a $20 swap.

Dogecoin’s Identity Crisis

Once the people’s crypto, DOGE now struggles to justify its existence between Bitcoin’s store-of-value dominance and Solana’s meme coin ecosystem. Elon’s tweets can only pump a coin so far—ask the bagholders from 2021.

*Closer*: The market’s moving—just not for the coins your boomer uncle still thinks are ‘the next Bitcoin.’ Adapt or get rekt. (And if you’re still waiting for DOGE to hit $1, maybe consider a career in traditional finance—you’ve got the patience for it.)

Realized cap reveals a changing market playbook

Altseason looks different this time around. Instead of piling into old favorites like ethereum [ETH] and Dogecoin [DOGE], capital is rotating into faster, more utility-driven chains. 

In fact, both Ethereum and Dogecoin have seen over a 50% drop in capital inflows compared to 2018–2022.

Meanwhile, networks like solana [SOL], Tron [TRX], and other high-throughput chains are soaking up liquidity, thanks to real-world use cases.

The chart below illustrates this trend clearly: Ethereum’s realized cap inflows, which topped $170 billion during the 2018–2022 cycle, have dropped sharply in the current cycle. 

This drawdown aligns closely with its waning dominance, sliding from a peak of 26% in Q2 2018 to just 9.13% at press time.

Source: Glassnode

To clarify, unlike market cap, realized cap reflects actual capital entering the asset. It tracks the value of coins based on the price they last moved on-chain. 

So when realized cap grows, it signals real investment activity, like investors are buying coins at higher prices, moving them on-chain, or actively revaluing the network.

And while ETH and Doge may still be posting solid year-over-year growth in network activity, it’s failing to match the capital inflows of previous cycles, suggesting that new money isn’t flowing in at the same pace.

A few altcoins defy the cycle trend

Dogecoin, too, has felt the impact of a saturated memecoin landscape. After hitting over 3% dominance in its 2021 run, DOGE is now struggling to break past 1%.

Meanwhile, Solana and Ripple [XRP] haven’t been the top performers in terms of price this year, yet relative to other large caps, have posted nearly 2x growth in realized cap inflows. 

But the standout performer has been Toncoin [TON], registering an 820% increase in realized cap inflows, climbing from $500 million to $4.68 billion. 

In fact, its dominance hitting 1.10% in May 2024, right when it topped out at $8.24, backs that up. The timing isn’t a coincidence. It highlights how realized inflows can act as a leading signal for price moves.

Source: TradingView (TON.D)

More critically, what ties all these altcoins together is that they’re utility-driven. They’re building usable networks with real-world applications and high throughput. This shift says a lot about where the market’s head is at. 

Altseason isn’t just a frenzy anymore. Investors are leaning into projects that can scale, MOVE fast, and actually deliver, especially in a space that’s getting more competitive by the day.