🔑 What Is Altcoin Season?
Altcoin season (or "alt season") is a period in the crypto market when altcoins (non-Bitcoin cryptocurrencies) outperform Bitcoin in terms of price growth and returns.
📊 Key Facts About Altcoin Season:
1. Bitcoin Dominance Drops
Altcoin season usually begins when Bitcoin’s market dominance falls, meaning money starts flowing from BTC into altcoins.
2. Triggered After Bitcoin Rallies
Often, Bitcoin pumps first, then stabilizes or consolidates. After that, investors look for bigger gains in altcoins.
3. High Correlation with Market Sentiment
Alt season often coincides with bullish market sentiment, strong retail interest, and FOMO.
4. Small Caps Explode the Most
While large-cap alts (like ETH, SOL, XRP) rise first, mid- and small-cap alts often see the biggest % gains.
5. Altcoin Season Index
Websites like Blockchain Center’s Altcoin Season Index track whether we’re in alt season.
Rule of thumb: If 75% of top 50 alts outperform BTC in 90 days, it’s officially alt season.
6. Higher Risk, Higher Reward
Altcoins can give 10x–100x returns, but they are also riskier and more volatile than Bitcoin.
7. Not All Alts Pump
Even in alt season, only strong narrative coins (AI, DeFi, meme coins, L2s, etc.) see major moves.
⚡ Example:
In early 2021, Bitcoin dominance dropped from ~70% to 40%, fueling one of the biggest alt seasons
ever, where ETH, ADA, DOGE, and SOL had explosive rallies.