From cointelegraph by Mehab Qureshi

Cryptocurrency analysts and traders are debating whether an altcoin season — a period when alternative cryptocurrencies outperform Bitcoin in the market — is over.

Historically, altcoin seasons have been marked by significant price rallies for non-Bitcoin cryptocurrencies.

In the 2017-2018 cycle, the altcoin market experienced its most explosive growth, with coins like Ether 

ETH$3,206, XRPXRP$3.00, and LitecoinLTC$115.32posting record-breaking gains. 

Crypto analyst Ali Martinez argues that the sheer number of altcoins now makes the possibility of a sustained altseason unlikely. 

“Today, there are over 36.4 million altcoins, compared to fewer than 3,000 during the 2017-2018 alt season and even fewer than 500 altcoins in 2013-2014,” Martinez posted on X, citing data from Dune Analytics. “With such massive supply, the market has changed significantly.”

Source: Ali Charts

Supply greater than demand

Echoing this sentiment, economist Alex Krüger noted how the oversupply of tokens affects market behavior. 

“Too many tokens. Infinite more to come. Supply of tokens is greater than demand. This illustrates why expecting an ‘altseason’ where everything goes up for an extended period of time is misplaced,” Krüger wrote on X. He predicted that future alt seasons would be shorter, lasting only “a few days to a few weeks at most.” 

Krüger also pointed out the challenges for investors, noting that the abundance of options makes effective portfolio management more difficult: 

“Being a good coin picker is now very hard. Just as being a good stocks picker is also very hard.”

Pseudonymous crypto trader Ash Crypto raised concerns about the dilution of the altcoin market, blaming the proliferation of memecoins and low-quality tokens. 

“Market is diluted […] exchanges [are] only listing memes to grab volume and grow their user base. Retail buys these memes and [is] down 80% in a week and then quit,” he said, criticizing the behavior of crypto exchanges.

Meanwhile, Ki Young Ju, CEO of CryptoQuant, compared altcoins to Bitcoin, stating, “Only a few altcoin projects with strong use cases and narratives will survive.”

Bitcoin has doubled its market cap since 2021 to $2.07 trillion, while the total altcoin market capitalization remains at $1.6 trillion, about 15.8% below its all-time high of $1.9 trillion, reached during a brief rally in December 2024.

Institutional Interest could drive select altcoins

However, not all analysts are bearish on altcoins. 

Michaël van de Poppe predicts that certain utility-focused coins could attract institutional interest, saying, “I think that we’ll also see real utility coins take the spotlight as institutional interest continues to grow.” 

Van de Poppe further noted that Ethereum might lead the next rally, describing ETH as “the most hated rally of 2025.”