In encryption, the concept of “Altcoin Season” is as ambiguous and misunderstood. Traditionally, the term mentioned a short window (usually 2-3 months) according to the BTC (Bitcoin) price rally. The patterns held in the 2015-2018 and 2019–2022 cycles are not yet versed in whether the bull market has spent the Altcoin season.
The Block Chain Center defines the Altcoin season as a period that surpasses Bitcoin over Bitcoin for 90 days during the roll -up period. Altseason Index was regained in March 2024 and January 2025, but it did not last long enough to qualify as a full -fledged Altseason.
Altcoin Season Index. Source: Block Chain Center
Some analysts claim that Memecoins has produced liquidity in a wider Altcoin market. Others criticize the encryption investment products, especially the ETF, which accepts the institution and attracts the largest Altcoin. The third description requires more deeply about what Altcoins actually is. From this point of view, Altcoins is recognized as an integrated asset class, but is a collection of various encryption assets with various functions, value structures and growth potential.
Memoin stole the spotlight
In the case of Miles Deutscher, a encryption analyst, PUMP.FUN’s launch is directly related to the destruction of Altcoin to BTC.
“The reason we did not see” Altseason “in my major was that speculative capital once poured into the top 200 assets decided to flood over the gun and flooded with onchain low caps.”
Deutscher pointed out that early birds and insiders became rich from this, but most retail investors who came in late were lost. This was also the same in the previous Altcoin cycle. However, unlike 2022, when losses were mainly limited to solid liquidity CEX Altcoin, they were trapped in non-oil onchainumoins and returned 70%-80%faster. As a result, despite the BTC (and some major), despite the macro trend, there was a larger asset destruction than the early 2022 bears (excluding Luna).
Solana tvl vs TOP 125 alts (excluding 10). Source: Miles deutscher
The US politics has added fuel to the Memecoin craze. For example, the public’s inclusion of President Donald Trump’s memo coin has been driving force. But the result was quickly disappointed. Since its launch in late January, Trump and Melanie tokens have dropped 83% and 95%, respectively, to hit another retail sentiment.
relevant: Will the new US SEC rules bring the encryption company to land?
Institutional investors and ETFs have changed their assistants.
Another factor that affects the intensity of the bull market in the bull market was the arrival of Wall Street. In January 2024, with the launch of the SPOT BITCOIN ETF, investors rushed to a familiar structure with custody, regulation and easy approach, and $ 12.9 billion. Blackrock’s IBIT has become a dominant vehicle, and the introduction of the ETF option in July 2024 has been more depth.
Some analysts believe that the safety and expansion of the SPOT BTC ETF have absorbed capital from speculative assets. Incentives that gamble in non -oil with the ability to hedge through options and the future significantly reduce the low doses of altcoin.
But this explanation has a limit. Encryption is not the Zero Island market. Global liquidity is growing, and the capital in the space can flow in many directions. Whatever, institutional demand can expand total encryption pies.
In addition, some Altcoin already has ETFs. According to CoingLass, SPOT ETHER ETFS debuted in July 2024 and registered a moderate net inflow of $ 565,000. This size of the Spot BTC ETF suggests that the ETF structure is not enough. Investors’ conviction is still important.
Altcoin’s functions and meetings have become more subtle.
When Bitcoin token was a novel, the term “altcoin” appeared. However, in today’s ecosystem, the terms such as blockchain two coins, governance tokens, stay -lecoin, memo coins, DAPP tokens and actual asset protocol tokens (unique functions and investor profiles) combine different assets. It is not meaningful to treat all Altcoin as one integrated category, as it is not reasonable to group the GOLD, NVIDIA Stock and US dollars into a single index of traditional finance.
If you look closely at the price behavior, this idea is supported. According to Coingecko data, the main Altcoin category has brought this period sharply. The actual asset (RWA) token has soared 15 times. In contrast, Gamefi lost half of its market cap. This shows that narratives play more and more roles in leading investors’ capital allocation decisions.
Encryption category market cap. Source: Coingecko
Even the core blockchain tokens began to become specialized. Ether Leeum remains as a hub of Defi. Solana dominates Memecoins. TRON is now ranked second in the STABLECOIN transmission. Embutablex is carved in the game space. In each, token performance is increasingly related to ecosystem activities. This means that we can give up the term “altseason” and start to pay more attention to certain stories in the encryption space.
Altcoins no longer moves with a pack, which can be the biggest signal of how the encryption market is mature.
This article does not include investment advice or recommendation. All investment and trading measures include risks, and the reader must do his own research when making a decision.