The crypto market has seen significant inflows over the past 30 days, a trend that has intensified notably in the last two weeks. Interestingly, most of the inflow has been into Bitcoin, which has caused the leading cryptocurrency to break into new all-time highs back to back.
Ethereum, although late to the party, has started to receive huge inflows in the past 48 hours. As such, the leading altcoin has surged by about 24% in the past seven days. This has allowed it to break above $3,000 for the first time since early August. This impressive Ethereum price rally is casting a spotlight on the rest of the altcoin market, especially the notion of an altcoin season.
Altcoin Market Cap On The Verge Of A Breakout
The combined market cap of altcoins, representing all cryptocurrencies excluding Bitcoin, has increased massively since the beginning of November. According to a TradingView chart initially shared on social media platform X by crypto analyst Captain Faibik, the altcoin market has been on an uptrend from a November low of $860 billion on November 4. At the time of writing, this market cap stands at $1.095 trillion, which represents a 27.3% altcoin market increase in less than a week.
This uptrend, which has stemmed from a wider inflow into the crypto market, has seen the altcoin market cap now breaking out of a descending trendline when plotted from its March 13 high of $1.267 trillion. With this in mind, crypto analyst Captain Faibik noted that the “altcoins party hasn’t started yet,” hinting at the possibility of an altcoin season rolling in very soon.
Interestingly, the analyst foresees a further $349 billion inflow into the altcoin market before the end of the year, which would cause a further 31.41% increase from the descending trendline. Should this prediction materialize, it will see the altcoin market cap breaking into a new 2024 high.
Altcoin Season Closer Than Before
CoinMarketCap data shows that the Altcoin Season Index currently stands at 38 out of 100, still a notable distance from the 75 threshold needed to declare an official altcoin season. However, recent trends and momentum within the altcoin market hint that the onset of an altcoin season may be closer than previously expected since the beginning of the year. An altcoin season is defined by a period when altcoins start to overperform Bitcoin in gains as investors start to diversify their portfolios.
At the time of writing, the majority of large market-cap altcoins are outperforming Bitcoin in both the 24-hour and seven-day timeframes. Ethereum, Solana, Dogecoin, and Cardano are currently up by 30%, 25%, 70%, and 52%, respectively, in the past seven days, compared to Bitcoin’s 16% increase in the same timeframe.
Featured image from TheStreet, chart from TradingView
