Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao has suggested that the highly anticipated Altseason isn’t here yet as most altcoins continue bleeding, while some market watchers consider the worst might be over soon. Related Reading: ‘All Options On The Table’: Bitcoin Must Hold This Level Ahead Of Trump’s Crypto Summit CZ Says There’s No Altseason Yet On Friday, Changpeng Zhao, also known as CZ, responded to an X user asking when the Altseason will happen. The Binance founder pointed out the price tracking and market data website CoinMarketCap (CMC), which recently added an “Altcoin Season Index.” CZ highlighted that “of the top 100 altcoins,” very few have outperformed Bitcoin (BTC) in the past three months, suggesting that the Altseason won’t happen yet. As the website states, the CMC Altcoin Season Index page “provides real-time insights into whether the cryptocurrency market is currently in Altcoin Season,” based on the performance of the top 100 altcoins against the flagship crypto over the past 90 days. Under this metric, an Altseason is in if 75% of the top 100 altcoins outperform BTC during the established period. To CZ, “This is a tough ranking system,” as he considers that 50 would be a good score for Altcoins. The CMC index page shows a score of 14/100, with only 14 altcoins outperforming BTC since early December. Some of the tokens in this list include Monero (XRM), Hyperliquid (HYPE), Pi (PI), Mantra (OM), Berachain (BERA), and the official Trump memecoin (TRUMP). Leading cryptocurrencies of 2024, like SUI and Solana (SOL), show 37% to 41% price decreases in the past 90 days. Meanwhile, memecoin sensations like dogwifhat (WIF), PEPE, FLOKI, and BONK have bled between 70% and 80% during this period. Analyst Michaël van de Poppe also noted that altcoins have had an overall negative performance on higher timeframes despite some recent price rallies. “Massive green day on some Altcoins, they are up 2%! Then, you zoom out, and you zoom out, and you zoom out,” he asserted. Altcoins Bottom Could Be Near Altcoin Sherpa stated that altcoins were in “about the same or worse” positions during the Summer 2024 retrace, pointing out that “things were also pretty bleak overall and then we saw some strong bounces in August.” However, he noted that, unlike last year, the market doesn’t have a “Trump Pump coming.” Recently, some of the top cryptocurrencies saw a significant price increase after US President Donald Trump announced a strategic reserve that would include SOL, XRP, Cardano (ADA), Ethereum (ETH), and BTC. Nonetheless, after the March 6 executive order establishing a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a “Digital Asset Stockpile,” the White House AI and Crypto Czar, David Sacks, clarified that the previously named altcoins were used as references for the most valuable tokens in the market. Sherpa considers that the market’s bottom is close, but “we still also probably have the chop period to get through” before any substantial recovery. On the contrary, some industry figures have also commented on altcoins’ overall performance this cycle, suggesting that the Altseason already started but will be different from previous cycles. Related Reading: Stellar (XLM) Price Setting Up For Rally To $1.60 – Here Are The Levels To Watch Recently, CryptoQuant’s founder and CEO, Ki Young Ju, stated that the Altseason had begun. He affirmed there will not be a direct Bitcoin-to-altcoins rotation this cycle, as BTC dominance isn’t the key metric that defines it. To the CEO, trading volume is the metric that defines it this time. Ju also pointed out that this will be a very selective and challenging altseason, with only a few altcoins with strong narratives expected to thrive. Featured Image from Unsplash.com, Chart from TradingView.com
As the cycle progresses, many investors are awaiting the long-anticipated Altseason, with opinions split on whether it will happen. Several market watchers have affirmed that Altcoins (Alts) are getting ready for an explosive breakout, but others, including CryptoQuant’s CEO, have suggested a different outlook. Related Reading: Nansen’s Bitcoin On-Chain Analytics Reveal 42% Increase In BTC Transactions Few Cryptocurrencies To ‘Survive’ The Altseason On Friday, Ki Young Ju, CryptoQuant’s founder and CEO, affirmed that the Altseason has begun. In an X thread, Ju suggested that there will not be a direct Bitcoin-to-alt rotation this cycle, noting that “stablecoin holders are favoring” Altcoins. According to Ju, Bitcoin is no longer a quote cryptocurrency, adding that Bitcoin (BTC) Dominance doesn’t define the altseason anymore. In a December post, he explained that “Altcoins used to move together based on their correlation with BTC,” however, this pattern has now broken. Instead, he stated that trading volume is the metric that defines it, with Altcoins currently having 2.7x the volume of Bitcoin. Ju also considers this to be a very selective and challenging altseason, with only a few Altcoins with strong user cases and narratives expected to thrive. He added that, despite good market sentiment, there isn’t fresh liquidity, which “feels like a PvP fight over a fixed pie.” As a result, Altcoin battles “are getting fiercer,” and only a few are pumping this altseason and attracting new liquidity. Altcoin markets are currently a zero-sum PvP game. While Bitcoin has doubled its market cap, the alt market cap is still below its previous ATH, rotating among themselves without fresh capital inflows. Only a few Alts with strong use cases and narratives will survive. Altcoins Ready For Next Leg Up Trader Crypto Yoddha suggested that Altcoins are “ready for round 2” after its recent performance. According to the post, the crypto market, excluding BTC and ETH, is following 2020-2021’s playbook. During the last cycle, Altcoins experienced two legs towards its cycle top and all-time high (ATH) of $1.13 trillion. In the “first round,” they broke out from its accumulation period, seeing a small re-accumulation phase before surging to the previous top. After reclaiming this resistance level, Altcoins started “round two,” achieving various new highs before hitting a new cycle top. Yoddha pointed out that the market is finishing the first round, as it tested last cycle’s top during the post-election pump. Analyst Rekt Capital affirmed that the crypto market cap, excluding the top 10 tokens, “has completed the second part of its Double Bottom formation.” He explained that Altcoins had been consolidating between the $250 billion to $280 billion range since the February 3 correction. Related Reading: Ethereum To Move Sideways For 2-3 Months? Analyst Says Longer ETH Consolidation Is Needed Per the post, Alts must close above $280 billion and retest this level as support to confirm a breakout from its three-week resistance and attempt to reclaim the $300 billion mark. Similarly, analyst Carl Runefelt stated that Altcoins have a parabolic move after breaking out of its two-month descending channel. Alts saw a 120% climb after breaking out of a 2024 multi-month descending channel. Altcoins must reclaim the $300 billion resistance to break from this pattern. Featured Image from Unsplash.com, Chart from TradingView.com
With the new year approaching, some analysts forecasted a “very bullish” 2025 for Altcoins. The sector is expected to explode soon and kickstart the long-awaited “Altseason” after retesting a key support level. Related Reading: Ethereum Stays Within Symmetrical Pattern – Analyst Sets ETH Target Altcoins Retest Key Support Level Amid the recent market’s performance, many Altcoins have struggled to record significant gains. However, several market watchers forecasted the start of the altcoin will come as soon as January 2025. Fueled by the post-US election pump, the total crypto market capitalization, excluding Bitcoin and Ethereum, broke out on a three-year downtrend in mid-November, surpassing its yearly high of $788 billion. During this month’s rally, the sector surged to $1.1 trillion, its highest market cap since 2021. Since then, Altcoins has struggled over the last two weeks, dropping nearly 26% as Bitcoin lost the $100,000 mark but remains above a key level despite the recent performance. Crypto Jelle pointed out that the sector broke out and retested its “major trendline while destroying all leverage in the process.” The analyst highlighted that funding was “completely reset,” sentiment has been at its lowest, and the chart seems promising, adding he is “Very bullish for 2025.” He also noted that Altcoins’ price action is “very similar” to Bitcoin’s first major pullback of 2021. Per the chart, the flagship crypto had a “strong rally, pullback, lower high, and chopping below the first low” before breaking out to new highs. Based on this performance, Altcoins’ pullback is seemingly over, they “should start pushing back up soon if this keeps playing out the same.” Similarly, Michaël van de Poppe stated, “The correction is almost over, and the time for up only is on the horizon for Altcoins and Bitcoin. Expecting a lot to come.” Altseason To Follow 2021’s Playbook? Titan of Crypto asserted that Altcoins are set to explode soon, suggesting that “the grand finale is around the corner.” Per the analyst’s chart, Altcoins have been in a two-year cup and handle pattern, breaking out of the pattern’s upper line during the recent market highs. According to the pattern, Altcoins, excluding ETH, could see a 200% to a market capitalization of $1.4 trillion, surpassing 2021’s high of $1.13 trillion. The analyst also pointed out that, ahead of its 2021 rally, the sector saw a similar performance. In 2020, Altcoins broke out in November and saw a significant 30% drop in early December, followed by a four-week recovery. Then, they recorded a 143% surge in January 2021, which led to other three-monthly green candles before the first major retrace. Related Reading: Top Crypto Assets For Q1 2025: Grayscale Reveals The Best Altcoins Similarly, they’ve experienced a 26% drop this December, currently being on the third week out of the expected four-week recovery period. To the analyst, “Early January could mark the start of an ‘up only’ season.” Lastly, Titan of Crypto added that, during the last two cycles, Altcoins’ initial rally lasted between 140 and 175 days, suggesting that this cycle’s rally could hit a new high around April or May. If it were to follow the past cycles’ performance, it could see a first pump around Q2 2025 before peaking in Q4. Featured Image from Unsplash.com, Chart from TradingView.com
As Bitcoin continues to move above the $90,000 mark, Altcoins began to reach new highs. The sector has recently reclaimed a key two-year level that could set the stage for a retest of 2021’s highs. Some analysts consider that Altcoins’ recent performance could kickstart the long-awaited Altseason. Related Reading: How High Can XRP Price Realistically Go After Gensler’s Resignation? Altcoins Market Cap Reclaims 2022 Levels The total crypto market has seen a remarkable performance for the past 21 days, jumping to a market capitalization of $3.36 trillion. This surge, fueled by the US elections on November 5, has led Bitcoin’s price to a 40% increase to its latest all-time high (ATH) of $99,645. Similarly, Altcoins have started to record their best performance in years, with tokens like Cardano (ADA) and XRP (XRP) surpassing the long-awaited $1 mark. Meanwhile, cryptocurrencies like Solana (SOL) and SUI (SUI) hit new ATHs recently, igniting investors’ bullishness for the cycle’s second leg up. The community has also expressed optimism for the ‘King of Altcoins’ recent performance after Ethereum (ETH) recovered the key $3,300 support zone last week. The crypto market’s performance has led the Altcoins’ market capitalization to hit a two-year high and reclaim key levels. Notably, the total cryptocurrency market cap, excluding Bitcoin and Ethereum, surpassed the Q1 2024 high of $788 billion as BTC soared past the $90,000 resistance. The momentum led the Altcoins market cap to break above the $840 billion mark last week, a level not seen since April 2022. Since then, Alts have held above this range despite the market retraces, turning this horizontal level into support. Additionally, it neared May 2021’s high of $984 billion, a crucial resistance level ahead of the Altcoins market cap ATH of $1.13 trillion. Altseason To Start Soon? According to Bitfinex’s Alpha report, this marks Altcoins’ “largest through-to-peak move” since April 2021. The 23.2% increase hints at an increasing investor appetite, leaving behind the previous “start of the bear market” levels. This movement “indicates a rotation of speculative capital and interest from Bitcoin into Altcoins as retail market participation increases,” the Bitfinex analysts explained, which tends to mark “the onset of the final stage of the bull market where altcoins begin to outperform Bitcoin on an aggregate basis.” Crypto analyst MikyBull pointed out that Alts dominance “just climbed above the trend ribbon” on Tuesday. The analyst’s chart, which excludes the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap, displayed Altcoin’s dominance at 10.37%, breaking above the multi-month downtrend line. Per the post, this has indicated before that “Alts are about to outperform in the next coming weeks.” Similarly, he highlighted a breakout from a multi-year cup and handle pattern in the Altcoins’ chart. To him, the Alts have started running after breaking out from the pattern’s neckline, and investors will see the “full potential of the Altseason” from December to March 2025. Related Reading: Polygon: Analyst Sets ‘Wild’ Price Target Amid POL’s 38.2% Weekly Surge Meanwhile, Bitfinex forecasted that “lower timeframe upside seems to be limited for altcoins” due to its resistance at May 2021 levels. Nonetheless, the report noted that breaking above the $984 billion resistance would signal a continuation of altcoins ascend. Ultimately, Bitfinex’s analysts consider that a larger Bitcoin correction could have a “magnified” effect on altcoins, and they expect, “at minimum, a period of ranging after a week full of consistently high liquidation numbers for both longs as well as shorts for altcoins.” Featured Image from Unsplash.com, Chart from TradingView.com
With only a few weeks before Q4 begins, investors and market watchers remain vigilant of the market’s performance. Many expect the next quarter will kickstart the rally’s second leg up, suggesting that most altcoins will explode in the coming months. Several analysts are bullish about the upcoming performances, hinting that the time to accumulate these cryptocurrencies is near its end and that the alt season is near. Related Reading: Crypto Investor Loses $16 Million Amid Friend.tech’s Controversy And Token Crash Investors’ Last Call Before The Altseason Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) have taken a hit throughout Q3’s market retraces. Since July 1, the flagship cryptocurrency’s price fell more than 10%, while the “King of altcoins” plunged by over 30%. Nonetheless, several altcoins have led the market bounces amid the volatility, displaying a remarkable performance during the shakeouts. Many of the alts have outperformed their BTC pairs, as crypto analyst Michaël van de Poppe stated. Per the post, many technical indicators show that “the Bitcoin pairs of many of the altcoins have been crawling up.” The analyst also considers that BTC and alts have bottomed out and that a market’s next moves will “be great.” Moreover, altcoins’ dominance seems “ready to take the spotlight.” Analyst and trader Titan of Crypto recently noted that Bitcoin dominance “is on the verge of printing a new lower high.” To the analyst, this could trigger the Altseason between Q4 2024 and Q1 2025, which could last until mid-2025. Meanwhile, crypto analyst Alex Clay suggested that investors’ chance to accumulate alts might end soon as “Uptober” approaches. To the analyst, the second correction wave of the Elliot Impulse Wave is over. As a result, cryptocurrencies, excluding BTC and ETH, are ready to begin the third bullish wave. Clay highlighted that the second correction wave displayed a bullish flag pattern. Additionally, he noted that altcoins’ market capitalization has been supported “at the strong confluence of EMA 100 + MA 200 + Key zone.” Based on this, he forecasted the sector’s mid-term target could hit a market capitalization of $1.3 trillion by May 2025 before the fourth wave. Clay also predicted a “conservative” long-term target of a $1.65 trillion market cap for the final impulse wave. Will Altcoins Hit $2 Trillion? Miky Bull highlighted Altcoins’, including ETH, market cap impulse. To the trader, the cryptocurrencies’ market cap is getting ready to break from the bullish flash pattern, potentially targeting a mark above the $1.8 trillion level. Miky previously suggested that the alts chart follows “the 2020 blueprint.” However, he considers they will differentiate by the duration of the re-accumulation phase, as he deems this cycle’s expansion will be “longer and huge.” Related Reading: Analysts Say Bitcoin Will Break $90,000 In Q4 2024 But This Must Happen First Another crypto analyst, Moustache, noted that alts have been in a 2-year-long cup and handle pattern, which is considered extremely bullish. The pattern suggests that altcoins’ market cap will significantly increase from the handle lows. To the trader, if this scenario plays out, alts target a $2.14 trillion market cap by 2025. As of this writing, altcoins sit at a market cap of $558 billion, a 10% decrease since Q3 began. Featured Image from Unsplash.com, Chart from TradingView.com