With the ongoing rise in cryptocurrency prices, some began wondering if we will see a full-blown “alt season” soon.
The answer to that question may not be as positive as you would wish but there have been some interesting trends emerging from across crypto communities.
Is the relief rally sparking interest in altcoin trading?
The alt season is the jargon term for a period in the crypto markets where some altcoins start gaining, which leads to a price surge and growth in valuations all over the altcoin sector.
Some analysts use a formal definition: An altcoin season begins when the performance of three quarters of the top 50 cryptocurrencies is superior to that of Bitcoin.
This can happen right after the price of Bitcoin experiences a bull run, or on the contrary when Bitcoin has stayed flat for a long time.
Although any claims of a bull run are very debatable right now, it is a fact that Bitcoin just had its best month in all of 2022, this past July, after recouping almost 18% of the value it has lost since the end of of January.
Past Alt Seasons
There have been several altcoin seasons since the first one in 2017, at least according to past price history. Some analysts think that this year's alt gains, should they happen at all, could possibly be quite short but greater than the previous ones due to the current perception that (once again) Bitcoin is irrelevant. The catalyst is meant to be Ethereum’s merge and Solana’s network upgrades.
Some altcoins seem to be having the best time of their lives as their performance has been incredible all around this year. The Altcoin news today which was making headlines back in April was that the altcoin season was to begin at any given moment according to the alt season index.
The alt season index, which you can find at blockchaincenter.net/altcoin-season-index, looks as poised as it did in April. It seemed that the only thing missing was just a spark.
However, the next altcoin news to hit back then was the collapse of the Terra ecosystem, which set off a market-wide collapse that caused the value of all cryptocurrencies to drop below the $1 trillion threshold.
What followed was an increase in Bitcoin's market share, which rose by 48% to a 10-month high. A Bitcoin season, sometimes dubbed the Return of the King in trading communities, looked imminent until a steady rebound of altcoins over the next three months threw it into a bearish pull for more than a month.
The plans for an altcoin season took a hit as a result, but that just happened to be nothing but just a delay. Altcoins entered a recovery phase, which was attributed to over-the-counter trading with other whales through custody services.
According to some reports, mid-cap altcoins emerged as the biggest gainers in the market last month. Data information revealed that the returns for the Mid Cap Index came out to 40%, which is the highest figure of all the indexes by a large margin.
The Small Cap Index came in second, racking in 30% returns for the month of July 2022, even though it was expected to take the first spot. Although Bitcoin also experienced double-digit gains of 17%, the figure was far less than its smaller peers.
Altcoins' performance this year has seen Bitcoin's market dominance fall by 0.22%, whiles Stablecoin's market share has also dropped by 0.48 percent, 0.49 percent, and 0.14 percent for USDT, USDC, and BUSD, respectively.
The reported figures also give an indication that the market is once again experiencing positive confidence and that investors, both newbies, and veterans, are no longer rushing to buy safe-haven assets.
Looking ahead
This current rise in altcoin activity could either be the delayed spark needed to launch the altcoin season, or just a transitory relief rally.
Some experts believe that upcoming altcoin projects in the crypto exchanges and crypto hedge fund liquidation will contribute to an increase in altcoin volatility.