- Memoins and ETFs put the traditional old coins in the shade and signal a fragmented altcoin cycle.
- Ethereum is still strong and could lead a future altcoin rally, but uniform altcoin season could be one thing in the future: over.
According to the Altcoin Season Index of the Blockchain Center, an old coin season is defined as a period in which 75% of the 50 most important old coins Bitcoin exceeds a rolling 90-day window.
Although there were short rashes in March 2024 and in January 2025, they were too short-lived to be considered a full-fledged old coin season.
Traditionally, the term Altcoin season describes a market phase in which alternative cryptocurrencies-old coins-develop significantly better over two to three months than Bitcoin. This pattern was remarkable in the cycles 2015-2018 and 2019-2022. However, the current data indicate that a uniform increase in the old coins may no longer be observed.
Memecoins distract the market’s attention
Analysts have found that platforms such as Pump.Fun have boosted the rapid creation of memoins and thus lured speculative capital from more established old coins. Like Miles German get unwitted:
“Early Birds and Insiders became incredibly rich. And truly, there was a lot of money to make-and so it is still that it will not disappear. But most retailers who got on late have lost, as is the case in most old coin cycles.”
This shift has affected the market dynamics, whereby the capital, which previously supported the top 200 alcohol, is now being redistributed to the on-chain tokens with low capitalization. While early market participants benefited from Memecoins, stragglers – especially retailers – often accepted high losses.
Institutional influence by ETFs
The laying of Bitcoin-Spot ETFs, such as B. Blackrocks Ishares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) in January 2024 brought considerable institutional capital, with tributaries of $ 129 billion. This flow of capital in Bitcoin has probably deducted the attention and liquidity of old coins, since the institutions regulated, confidantly preferred familiar investment instruments.
Altcoins are no more than one group. Different sectors show different developments-Real-World Asset (RWA) Token have risen 15 times, while Gamefi has lost 50 % of its value. This shift signals that stories and specific applications are now more important than an “old coin”. CNF also found that Ethereum’s historical rally often cited previous old coin season.
Ethereum role in the new market structure
Ethereum (ETH) remains an important pillar in the cryptosystem that bears Defi, NFTS and L2 applications. Even if ETFs and memoins master the headlines, Ethereum continues to grow. With the ETH ETFs on the horizon, his status as a “blue chip” seems to be even more solid as a “blue chip” and offers structure in the middle of the fragmentation of the altcoin market.
When writing this article, ETH is traded at $ 2,052.18, which corresponds to an increase of 0.47 % over the last day and 6.04 % last week. See ETH price diagram below.
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