Altcoin Season Rally Begins as Bitcoin Dominance Drops Below 59%

Coinpedia2026/09/29 22:30

Bitget offers one-stop trading for cryptocurrencies, stocks, and gold. Trade now!

A welcome pack worth 6200 USDT for new users! Sign up now!

Bitcoin dominance falls below 59% as altcoins gain stronger momentum across the broader crypto market.
Altcoin spot trading volume reaches nearly four times Bitcoin’s volume, signaling rising market activity.
OTHERS/BTC breaks its four-year downtrend and starts showing stronger altcoin market momentum.

Bitcoin’s hold on the crypto market is starting to weaken. BTC dominance has fallen below 59%, while altcoin trading volume is now nearly four times higher than Bitcoin’s. At the same time, ETH/BTC has broken a nearly five-year downtrend, pointing to a possible shift toward altcoins.

These signs are sparking the talk of a broad “Altseason.”

Bitcoin Dominance Falls Below 60%

The first sign of a possible market shift is Bitcoin’s falling dominance. BTC dominance has dropped to around 58.9%, slipping below the important 60% level. This means Bitcoin now holds a smaller share of the total crypto market.

At the same time, altcoin dominance has jumped by 16.7% to 8.75%. This shows altcoins are taking a larger share of the crypto market.

The shift follows a pattern often seen during altcoin seasons. Bitcoin leads first, then its dominance falls as traders move more capital into higher-risk altcoins.

Altcoin Trading Volume Jumps Nearly 4x Bitcoin

Glassnode data shows altcoin spot trading volume has risen to nearly four times Bitcoin’s volume, reaching its highest level since September 2025. The shift is also visible in performance, with 72.5% of tracked altcoins outperforming Bitcoin through September 23, compared with 39% during the August rally.

Spot buying is also playing a bigger role, while altcoin futures leverage has remained mostly unchanged.

The same trend is visible in major altcoins.

U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs recorded six straight days of inflows, ending the week with $689.9 million in net inflows. Meanwhile, U.S. spot XRP ETFs extended their inflow streak to 11 straight weeks, with cumulative inflows now above $1.79 billion.

ETH/BTC Adds Another Altcoin Signal

The ETH/BTC chart adds another sign of rising altcoin strength. Ethereum has finally broken out of a nearly five-year downtrend against Bitcoin and is about to close its third straight green month.

This matters because Ethereum often leads when money starts moving beyond Bitcoin. A stronger ETH/BTC trend can also support large- and mid-cap altcoins.

Similar patterns appeared in earlier market phases around 2017, 2021, and 2024, when ETH and other altcoins started gaining strength after Bitcoin led the market.

Tags

Disclaimer: The content of this article solely reflects the author's opinion and does not represent the platform in any capacity. This article is not intended to serve as a reference for making investment decisions.

Understand the market, then trade.

Bitget offers one-stop trading for cryptocurrencies, stocks, and gold.

Trade now！

Goldman Sachs believes that the rapid rise in real interest rates has exerted more direct pressure on the US stock market, with rate-sensitive sectors such as small-cap and financial stocks being particularly affected. On the liquidity front, Goldman Sachs estimates that pension funds may sell around $3.3 billions in equities at the end of the month and quarter, and that CTAs may sell about $530 million worth of Russell 2000 index futures in the coming week. For the market, unless the issues of oil and interest rates are resolved, the AI narrative is "almost irrelevant."

华尔街见闻•2026/09/30 04:01

USD/JPY falls below 157! The yen becomes the strongest G-10 currency, with the market betting on another rate hike by the central bank next month.

On Wednesday, the yen strengthened against the US dollar, with the USD/JPY rate falling below the 157 mark, as repeated warnings from the Japanese government regarding exchange rates and end-of-quarter capital flows provided support for the yen.

智通财经•2026/09/30 03:41

The scale of the compute power agreement between Anthropic and SpaceX has been revealed, reaching up to $84.5 billions, double the previously disclosed amount.

According to Anthropic’s IPO prospectus, the company has signed a computing power leasing agreement with SpaceX valued at $84.5 billion, far surpassing the previously disclosed $45 billion in SpaceX’s IPO documents. The agreement runs until 2029, with most terms cancellable within 90 days. At the same time, Anthropic’s total spending on AI infrastructure over the next decade is expected to be at least $518 billion.

华尔街见闻•2026/09/30 03:26