Altseason Alert: Why Altcoins Still Can’t Keep Up With Bitcoin’s Dominance

Bitcoin's shadow looms large—analysts report altcoins still playing catch-up despite market euphoria.

The King Isn’t Sharing Its Throne

While memecoins pump and narratives swirl, cold hard data shows altcoins lagging behind BTC’s year-to-date gains. Traders chasing ‘the next Solana’ might want to check their portfolios—and their hubris.

Narratives vs. Numbers

Market cycles breed irrationality. This time? ‘Altseason’ chatter peaked right as Bitcoin dominance punched through resistance levels. Funny how that works.

The Cynic’s Corner

Wall Street still can’t decide whether crypto is dead or the future of finance. Meanwhile, degens keep getting rekt chasing 100x leverage on dog-themed tokens. Some things never change.

Last True Altcoin Season Was In Early 2024: Analyst

In a recent post on the X platform, an on-chain analyst with the pseudonym Darkfost postulated that the altseason “has not really started yet.” This hypothesis comes despite the relatively improved performance of the altcoin market over the past few months, with various non-BTC assets leading the sector in gains.

The rationale behind this Darkfost’s theory is based on the performance of various asset classes relative to Bitcoin over the last few months. The analyst compared the market cap growth of Bitcoin, large-cap altcoins (the top 20 largest altcoins), and mid-to-small-cap altcoins by calculating the difference between their 365-day and the 30-day moving average (MAs).

Typically, the difference between the 365-day moving average and the 30-day moving average can be considered an indicator of growth momentum. Rapid market cap growth is witnessed when the short-term moving average (30-day MA) rises faster than the long-term moving average (365-day MA), while a lagging 30-day moving average indicates slow growth momentum.

In their post on X, Darkfost noted that the altcoin market is having its weakest performance in this cycle relative to the premier cryptocurrency. As shown in the highlighted chart, the bitcoin market capitalization currently outpaces the top 20 largest altcoins and the other mid-to-small-cap assets.

According to the crypto analyst, this similar performance pattern was seen earlier in the year before the general market experienced a severe downturn. Nevertheless, Darkfost noted that the strongest action, which resembled a “true” altseason, happened back in the first quarter of 2024.

Altcoin Market Capitalization 

As of this writing, the altcoin market is valued at over $1.55 trillion, reflecting an over 12% increase in the past seven days.