Bitcoin ETF Inflows Drop While Ethereum Dominates: Altseason Incoming?

After registering heavy losses in the past week, the crypto market received a relief rally in the last 24 hours, led by Ethereum (ETH), BNB, and Solana (SOL). Although Bitcoin (BTC) price briefly rallied to $96k, the lack of sufficient bullish sentiment resulted in a sudden retracement to trade at about $94k on Tuesday, December 24 during the early European session.

The altcoin industry registered higher gains as more investors continued to anticipate a major parabolic rally in the first half of 2025. Moreover, Bitcoin price has outperformed most altcoins in the past year – fueled by the mainstream adoption from institutional investors – despite being subjected to diminishing returns.

Ethereum Cash Inflows Outpaced Bitcoin on Monday

On Monday, the US Ethereum spot ETFs registered a net cash inflow of about $130 million, thus bringing the cumulative total net inflow to about $2.46 billion. BlackRock’s ETHA reported a net cash inflow of over $89 million, thus currently holding more than 1 million ETH. Fidelity’s FETH registered a net cash inflow of $46 million on Monday, thus now holding a total of more than $1.6 billion in assets under management.

Meanwhile, the majority of spot Bitcoin ETF issuers in the United States, apart from BlackRock’s IBIT, registered a net cash outflow on Monday. For the past three trading days, the US spot Bitcoin ETF issuers have registered a cumulative cash outflow of more than $1.1 billion.

Altseason on the Horizon

The Bitcoin dominance in the weekly time frame has broken out of a rising wedge, which began early last year. With more whale investors making strategic investments in the altcoin industry, it is safe to assume that the altcoins will outperform Bitcoin price in the coming months.

The existence of more than 12k altcoins in the cryptocurrency industry means heavy dilution of the existing liquidity. Consequently, some altcoins may not experience a full-stretch parabolic rally, in the coming months. 

Amid the anticipated altseason, it is prudent for crypto investors to consider DeFi tokens solving real-world problems, community-backed memecoins, well-funded layer two coins, and AI-focused tokens.