$BTC
$ETH As Bitcoin (BTC) surpasses new ATHs, altcoins also begin to take similar actions threatening its dominance. Is the altcoin season occurring right now?
Altcoin outperforms Bitcoin
According to the latest post by Joao Wedson, a small altcoin season may be occurring. At this moment, 98% of altcoins in the market have outperformed Bitcoin in the past 48 hours.
This indicates that the performance of alternative assets has reached the region of altcoin season while leading the market in the short term.
The market has stepped into altcoin territory multiple times since June. However, not all of these instances have been sustained.
Bitcoin has continuously set new ATHs in the past 24 hours and is currently trading around $116,500, while the Altcoin Performance Index (ALT) has experienced significant volatility. This is often another characteristic of small price rallies for altcoins.
In addition, ETF capital flows have increased significantly, with BTC reaching 200 million USD and 211 million USD for ETH. Meanwhile, SOL staking ETF funds are also recording positive signals.
Despite the noise and skepticism, this figure suggests that a longer and larger altcoin season may have existed, just as predicted.
What do whales know that retail investors do not?
Another factor indicating that an altcoin season may be underway is the increase in buying power from whales compared to retail investors. This is indicated through the Whale to Retailer Ratio, which has been above 1.1 since the end of June.
During the same period, BTC prices have consistently increased, along with altcoins in the market, indicating that the market is in a bullish trend.
The heatmap from Alphractal also shows that whales are very active across many altcoins, including Algorand (ALGO), Chainlink (LINK), and Uniswap (UNI). In contrast, retail investors appear weak and inconsistent.
This imbalance may suggest a shift among whales, indicating that large investors are trying to prepare for a potential turning point in the market.
The decline in dominance position?
It should be noted that Bitcoin's dominance has strengthened the potential altcoin season. This index has formed equal tops, signaling rejection, followed by lower tops breaking the trend line. This could be a warning sign indicating a change in market structure.
The dominance ratio of BTC has lost recent support as it dropped below 64% from a peak above 66%, thus it can be concluded that money is flowing into altcoins.
Altcoins have regained upward momentum. The decline in BTC's dominance ratio may indicate a higher risk tolerance and speculation, especially for high beta investments.
Currently, traders are monitoring altcoins with higher potential for price increases as investors ramp up capital flows into alternative cryptocurrency assets.