Bitcoin Reigns Supreme in 2025 – Are Altcoins Forever Overshadowed?

Key Points

• Bitcoin’s dominance has risen in 2025, potentially reducing the chance of an altcoin surge.
• The altcoin market has shown signs of recovery, with some coins performing well relative to Bitcoin.

Bitcoin’s dominance (BTC.D) has seen an increase in 2025, potentially impacting the expected altcoin surge. This dominance increased by 13% between January and April, causing the altcoin market to decrease from $1.13 trillion to $817 billion. This represents a 28% ($300B) reduction in the altcoin market size.

Altcoin Market Recovery

A higher BTC.D implies that more capital is flowing from the altcoin market to Bitcoin. Large altcoin rallies, such as the one in November last year, usually occur when BTC.D decreases, indicating a capital flow from Bitcoin to altcoins. Despite BTC.D being over 64% and possibly rising to 66% or 70% as in the 2021 cycle, the altcoin sell-off in 2025 appears to have reached its lowest point. The altcoin market eased near the $750B market cap level.

The chart indicates that the altcoin market, excluding the top 10 assets, rebounded at the $200 billion level, a key support zone in 2024. Examining the period from September to August 2024, it can be seen that the altcoin market consolidated between the 50WMA and 200WMA (Weekly Moving Averages). The November rally occurred after a breakout from this range. If this pattern repeats, clearing the 50WMA could push the sector towards the megaphone resistance near $500B.

Current Market Situation

At the time of writing, the altcoin sector has increased by 33%, suggesting some altcoins are gaining traction. The receding dominance of USDT (USDT.D) from nearly 6% could provide further momentum as traders use their stablecoins for preferred altcoin gems. However, according to the altcoin season index (ASI) on CoinMarketCap, the overall market is still firmly in a Bitcoin season. The ASI reading is 18, indicating that Bitcoin has outperformed most altcoins over the past 90 days.

Only a few coins, such as Fartcoin [FARTCOIN], PancakeSwap [CAKE], and Monero [XMR], have performed well relative to Bitcoin in the past three months. These coins have seen increases of 8%, 2.8%, and 19%, respectively, while Bitcoin has decreased by 10%.

Please note that this information does not constitute financial, investment, trading, or any other form of advice. It is purely informational.