Bitcoin Bulls Charge While Altcoins Leave Bagholders Bleeding
BTC rides a wave of speculative frenzy as traders pile into leveraged longs—meanwhile, altcoin gamblers learn the hard way that hopium isn’t a viable investment strategy.
The king flexes
Bitcoin’s dominance grows as institutional money floods into spot ETFs and macro uncertainty drives safe-haven demand. The crypto old guard keeps printing while the casino chips (sorry, ’altcoins’) get swept off the table.
Altseason cancelled (again)
Memecoins crash back to reality, DeFi tokens underperform BTC pairs, and that ’next-gen blockchain’ you aped into? It’s now 80% down from your entry. But hey, at least the VC investors already dumped their bags at the top.
As the market separates the wheat from the chaff, one truth remains: in crypto, the house always wins—and the house is holding Bitcoin.
Trader Missteps in Altcoins
Since the approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs in January 2024, there has been a notable divergence has emerged in the liquidation patterns of BTC and altcoins. Data from Binance reveals that the largest cryptocurrency experienced a dominance of short liquidations totaling $190 million.
This trend, according to a new analysis by CryptoQuant, suggests that traders betting against BTC during its price appreciation were consistently forced to exit their positions as the market moved higher. On the other hand, the same cannot be said for altcoins.
During the same period, long liquidations in altcoins surged to nearly $1 billion, which was indicative of a continued downward pressure across the broader altcoin market and failed bets on a widespread recovery. As such, the report stated this as a clear sign of liquidation asymmetry.
While BTC’s rally led to short squeezes and upward momentum, altcoins saw traders punished for attempting to preempt an “Altseason” that never materialized. Since December 2024, this pattern has intensified, with altcoin liquidations consistently outpacing those of BTC.
CryptoQuant attributed this to excessive leverage and misaligned market sentiment, as altcoin bulls were increasingly forced to unwind losing positions.
Few Altcoin Gems Emerge as Market Lags
Despite the broader underperformance in the altcoin market, some assets stand out. According to analyst Rekt Fencer, increased stablecoin liquidity, a dip in Bitcoin dominance, and a recovering ETH/BTC ratio point to rising investor appetite for altcoins.
He named five altcoins – GRASS, PENDLE, ONDO, ENA, and SEI – that he predicts could surge 50x-100x if market momentum continues. These tokens represent strong narratives, including decentralized infrastructure, tokenized yields, real-world asset exposure, synthetic dollars, and high-speed DeFi ecosystems.
Meanwhile, other altcoins such as Tron (TRX) have shown resilience, and experts expect it to “multiply significantly in value,” potentially even quadrupling, if bitcoin continues its bull run through the rest of the year.
Sui (SUI) is yet another crypto that has witnessed the emergence of a bullish sentiment.
