Bitcoin’s Dominance Surges: Are Altcoins Heading for a Squeeze?

Bitcoin flexes its muscles again—dragging the crypto market by its leash as dominance metrics spike. Altcoins left scrambling.

King Crypto reclaims its throne

BTC’s market share just punched through resistance levels, hitting multi-month highs. Traders dumping alts like bad debt—classic ‘risk-off’ behavior as institutional money circles Bitcoin like sharks smelling blood.

Altcoin apologists coping hard

ETH/BTC ratio? Tanking. Memecoin volumes? Evaporating. That ‘altseason’ hopium? Flatlining faster than a DeFi protocol audit. Even blue-chips like SOL and ADA are getting wrecked in the crossfire.

What’s next—more pain or a surprise reversal?

History says dominance spikes precede altcoin massacres. But crypto loves proving textbooks wrong—usually when hedge funds least expect it. Either way, grab popcorn. The ‘flippening’ crowd just got quieter than a Wall Street banker during an SEC subpoena.

Bitcoin dominance about to rise again?

Source: TradingView

The above weekly chart for bitcoin Dominance (BTC.D) points to a long inexorable climb in dominance from Q3 2022 to the current date. Granted that this last dip in dominance has been the deepest in all this time, with the exception of the 11.3% dip going into the end of 2024.

With that said, and with good signs of a bounce taking place just above 60%, this might be the last of the big increases from the altcoins as a whole, although the odd few could still continue to outperform. That said, the Stochastic RSI at the bottom of the chart is signalling a potential cross-up of the indicators, which WOULD bring upside price momentum back in the favour of Bitcoin dominance.

Is $ETH about to start reversing against $BTC?

Source: TradingView

Ethereum (ETH) is the biggest cryptocurrency outside of Bitcoin (BTC), and in the weekly chart above it can be seen that the number 2 cryptocurrency by market capitalization has rallied a notable 85% from bottom to top. However, with the ETH/BTC pair coming up against the ascending trendline, is it about to roll over?

The Stochastic RSI at the bottom of the chart does not bode well either for $ETH. A series of higher highs, going all the way back to 2024, is not imitated in the price action, which in spite of the 85% rally, is still generally going in the opposite direction.

Two possible scenarios

Could it be that one of two possible scenarios is about to take place? The first scenario is that Bitcoin breaks out of its current bull flag and that most investors are drawn back into crypto’s premier asset and there is a sizable FLOW of value from altcoins back into Bitcoin.

The second scenario is that Bitcoin breaks down, and that there is a significant shakeout of the entire crypto market. In this particular case, investors would not only flee Bitcoin, but they would sell altcoins like hot cakes, leading to a plunge in their values.

If either of the above scenarios take place, Bitcoin dominance is going to spike to the upside again. Could it go even higher and take out the 70% resistance? Absolutely! 

Of course, there are always other scenarios, and one of these might be that some of the altcoins do continue to outperform $BTC in spite of rising dominance.

The entire crypto market is at a very delicate point in this bull market. The 4-year cycle is due to come to an end in Q4 of this year. Could it end earlier? Who knows, but one thing is certain, if you are in altcoins, plenty of caution is needed going forward. 

Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.