Study the overall market value changes of altcoins during the past three bull markets and the background of altcoin seasons
In 2012-2013, the bull market brought by the first Bitcoin halving saw the total market value of altcoins increase by 20 times, with altcoins accounting for 15% of the cryptocurrency market at its peak.
Background of the altcoin season: Various altcoins imitating Bitcoin's payment functionality; LTC, XRP, and DOGE initially developed as payment electronic currencies.
Main theme of altcoin speculation: Payment track
In 2016-2017, the bull market brought by the second Bitcoin halving saw the total market value of altcoins at its peak account for 40% of the entire cryptocurrency market.
Background of the altcoin season: The rise of ETH, which facilitated ICOs to issue tokens, presenting a new model for asset issuance. ICOs were highly anticipated by many to potentially replace traditional IPOs.
Main theme of altcoin speculation: ETH
In 2020-2021, the bull market brought by the third Bitcoin halving saw the market peak of altcoins account for 60% of the entire cryptocurrency market.
Background of the altcoin season: The rise of on-chain DeFi, the emergence of NFTs and the metaverse market, with retail investors starting to shift from secondary market exchanges to on-chain trading.
Main theme of altcoin speculation: DeFi, NFTs, public chains
In 2024-2025, the bull market brought by the fourth Bitcoin halving is currently seeing Bitcoin's market share peak at 68%, beginning to gradually decline as funds start to flow to ETH and altcoins.
Current background of the altcoin market: Institutional funds dominating Bitcoin, shrinking liquidity in altcoins, RWA ongoing, altcoin ETF approvals in process...
From the overall market perspective, the four-year cycle pattern in the crypto space remains unchanged. The pattern of explosive growth in altcoins during each bull market has not fundamentally changed either. In the crypto space, 99.9% of all industry chains, communities, media, institutions, exchanges, and project parties revolve around the theme of altcoins. Regardless of whether you hold a favorable or biased view towards altcoins, they undeniably exist. If during a bull market, most retail investors do not experience significant unrealized gains (the process is key; allowing them to feel the thrill of unrealized gains, even if they end up with nothing, they will only attribute it to their own reasons, unrelated to crypto), their confidence in this space and its attractiveness will decline. Therefore, what will the whales eat in the future? Thus, a structural altcoin season is sure to come.
