The so-called Altcoin Season – a phase in which Altcoins (all cryptocurrencies except Bitcoin) significantly outperform Bitcoin – has largely been absent or only very weak in 2025. There are several reasons for this:
• Strong Bitcoin dominance: Bitcoin remains the flagship in the market. Institutional investors see Bitcoin as a safe haven in economically uncertain times and therefore prefer the market leader over riskier Altcoins. Bitcoin's market dominance was over 65% in May 2025 – also fueled by high capital flows into Bitcoin ETFs. This significantly hampers capital rotation to Altcoins.
• Changed investor structure: In previous cycles, retail investors liked to reinvest their Bitcoin profits into riskier Altcoins. However, currently institutional money dominates, which traditionally acts more cautiously and does not shift into smaller, more volatile coins as quickly.
• Variety of new projects: The large number of new Altcoins dilutes investor interest. Many projects compete for comparatively little new capital and promote short-term trading instead of generating long-term growth.
• Macroeconomic factors and regulation: Uncertainty regarding US crypto regulations, global economic conditions, interest rate decisions, and ETF flows influence the risk appetite of many investors, especially institutional ones.
• Lack of rotation: Historically, the Altcoin Season usually follows a strong Bitcoin rally, as profits from BTC are reinvested into Altcoins. So far, this effect has not significantly set in 2025 because many large investors are 'sitting' in Bitcoin.
• Delay instead of cancellation: Experts agree that the Altcoin Season is not canceled this year, but rather delayed. Once the Bitcoin price development stabilizes, ETFs cool down, and new liquidity enters the market, rotation could resume. However, the timing remains difficult to predict – and the duration this time could be short (as last seen in November 2024).
Conclusion: The classic prerequisites for an extended Altcoin Season are still missing – mainly due to extreme Bitcoin dominance, institutional investor behavior, and a flood of new projects. Experts expect that an Altcoin Season will resume once the aforementioned factors change and more capital flows into Altcoins.