On July 18, Ethereum (ETH) strongly broke through $3600, with an intraday increase of nearly 12%, the long-awaited mainstream explosion finally allowed the 'E Guardians' to breathe a sigh of relief.
The rise of ETH not only rekindles market enthusiasm but also triggers a classic topic's revival—Is the altcoin season about to start?
🔍 What does ETH's surge mean?
ETH is no longer a 'copycat', but it still serves as the core anchor of the entire Ethereum ecosystem. Whenever ETH sees a strong surge, a typical funding transmission logic of **'main coin → ecosystem tokens → peripheral narratives'** is formed. This chain reaction does not happen overnight but gradually unfolds under the driving forces of sentiment, liquidity, and thematic rotation.
🧱 1. ETH ecosystem infrastructure blue chips: The first choice for long-termists
Representative tokens: $LINK, $UNI, $MKR, $1INCH, $CRV
Such tokens are often heavily held by crypto OGs, institutional funds, and 'smart money', making them the first to attract attention after ETH's rise.
LINK: Leading oracle project, serving as an external data bridge with a wide range of use cases;
UNI: DEX leader, protocol revenue and user activity steadily increasing;
MKR: The governance core of the stablecoin representative project DAI, benefiting from the interest rate environment;
1INCH: Veteran in the aggregation trading platform, data steadily growing;
CRV: Despite ongoing controversies, its central position in DeFi remains resilient.
📌 Operation suggestion: Suitable for medium-term allocation, focusing on stability, especially LINK/UNI, which are 'the greatest common divisor among value coins', have strong capital acceptance ability.
🐸 2. ETH ecosystem meme coins: The ignition point for emotional liquidity.
Representative tokens: $DOGE, $PEPE, $MOODENG
Although Ethereum's meme popularity has recently been overshadowed by Solana and BSC, once ETH's upward momentum returns, meme coins still serve as the first station for liquidity release.
DOGE: As one of the earliest meme coins, it has a strong brand recognition and backing from old money;
PEPE: A representative of the new generation of memes, highly favored by young users;
MOODENG: A culturally conceptual token associated with Vitalik, very topical.
📌 Operation suggestion: Focus on light positions with quick entries and exits, and suggest setting fixed profit-taking points (e.g., +15%, +25%, +30%), and do not fantasize about returning to historical highs.
🌐 3. ETH peripheral conduction: Beneficiaries of the Base ecosystem
Representative tokens: $AERO, $BRETT, $TOSHI
Base, as a Layer 2 ecosystem backed by Coinbase, is quickly attracting funds and developers, and its mainstream narrative is expected to be amplified under the influence of ETH's trend.
AERO: The most core DeFi protocol on Base;
BRETT: Currently the market cap leading meme project in the ecosystem, with high community activity;
TOSHI: An official style project of Base, has a certain tendency towards official endorsement.
📌 Operation suggestion: Pay attention to changes in Base ecosystem TVL, user activity, and other indicators, position accordingly, and be cautious of high-level pullbacks.
🧠 4. Concept extension: AI & DID potential tokens
Representative tokens: $WLD, $ENS
WLD: An AI + identity narrative project, though controversial, has long-term potential with backing from OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman;
ENS: The only DID project on Ethereum that has been endorsed multiple times by Vitalik, considered the 'orthodox representative' in the non-financial sector.
📌 Operation suggestion: Although this type of project experiences significant short-term volatility, it possesses dual value in terms of policy and technology narratives in the medium to long term, making it suitable for small position accumulation.
The essence of the altcoin season is the game of confidence and funds.
ETH price stabilizes above $3400, and the market is undergoing a typical game:
Who will be the first to layout for the next round of altcoin leaders?
Which sectors will take over first?
Which tokens possess the dual drivers of 'value + sentiment'?
More importantly, people are starting to focus not only on 'the coins I think will rise' but also on 'what coins others will buy'.
✅ ETH's rise is a signal, not the end.
✅ Altcoin layouts focus more on narratives and structure.
✅ At this stage, infrastructure blue chips + cultural sentiment + new narrative concepts are three parallel main lines.
📌 Final reminder: Although the market is hot, please remain calm. DYOR (Do Your Own Research), set profit-taking and stop-loss points, and do not let short-term greed ruin long-term gains.
May you not miss out in the next rotation, nor be left standing idle.
