‘98% of altcoins outperformed Bitcoin in the last 48 hours’ – Altcoin season underway?

Key Takeaways

• The performance of the market’s altcoins has been better than that of Bitcoin, with 98 percent of them doing better in the last 48 hours. This could be the first sign of an ongoing mini altcoin season, especially since whales might be heavily interested in both assets.

As Bitcoin (BTC) closed in on a new ATH, altcoins followed suit in an effort to threaten its dominance. Hence, despite its latest price surge, BTC soon dropped to $110,000 – A common occurrence when assets test new levels on the price charts.

Is altcoin season in play right now, following their performance against the world’s largest cryptocurrency?

Altcoins outperform Bitcoin

According to Joao Wedson’s latest post, a mini altcoin season might be in full operation. At the time of writing, 98 percent of the market’s altcoins had outperformed Bitcoin over the last 48 hours alone. 

In doing so, altcoins’ performance hit the altseason zone. This congruency highlighted that altcoins led the short-term ranks.

Over-concentration into altcoin territory has also been spotted several times since June. And yet, not all of them lasted. This surge, however, may be more serious, even though its longevity might still be unclear.

Source: Joao Wedson/X

Bitcoin’s price was comparatively stable between $110k and 112k, whereas the Altcoin Performance Index saw insane volatility. This is often another characteristic of mini altcoin rallies.

Additionally, ETF inflows surged too, with BTC seeing $200M against ETH’s $211M. Meanwhile, SOL staking ETFs have been on the uptick as well.

Noise and cynicism notwithstanding, these numbers hinted that a longer and larger altcoin season may already be in existence, just as expected.

What do whales know that retail doesn’t?

Another factor that suggested that the altcoin season may be underway was the increasing growth of whales’ acquisition, compared to retail’s. This was alluded to by the Whale vs Retail Ratio, with the same above 1.1 since the end of June.

Over the same period, BTC’s price has consistently moved north, alongside the market’s alts – An indication of the market’s bullish state.

Source: Alphractal

Alphractal’s heatmap also showed that whales have been highly active across many alts, including Algorand [ALGO], Chainlink [LINK] and Uniswap [UNI]. Alternatively, retail hands have been weak and heterogeneous.

It is an imbalance that might allude to the movement of major whales. The correlation between the uptick in prices and and whale accumulation is important. Especially since it could mean that big players are attempting to get ready for a potential market turn.

A drop in dominance?

Finally, it’s worth noting that Bitcoin’s dominance further added confluence to the potential altseason. The metric was shattered by an equal highs formation, one that signaled rejection, followed by lower highs that broke the trendline. This could be a red flag, one that hinted at a change in the structure of the market.

Since the dominance has been losing its support lately – 64% from a high of 66% – a conclusion that can be made is that money has been flowing into altcoins.

Source: TradingView

Altcoins have been picking up momentum as Bitcoin’s strength drops against the wider market. Such a decline could allude to higher risk tolerance and speculation, especially on high-beta investments.

Right now, traders are watching altcoins with more upside potential. Historically, when Bitcoin’s power diminishes, traders retaliate by increasing inflows of capital into alternative crypto assets.