The Real Altcoin Season Is Coming In 2025

Bitcoin crossing the $100,000 mark last week was undeniably a historic milestone. Yet, as the leading cryptocurrency celebrated its achievement, many altcoins were already outperforming it, signaling the onset of an altcoin season.

Since the start of the year, 20 of the top 50 cryptoassets by market cap have outpaced Bitcoin’s impressive 124% gain. Rising altcoin market caps, growing media interest, and the altcoin season index support this trend. Also, the recent CCData report highlights November’s trading volume reaching a yearly high and open interest hitting historic levels. This is the market showing signs of increasing risk appetite. This shift typically benefits altcoins more, given their higher potential for outsized gains.

On a deeper level, investing in altcoins means investing in Web3 and other blockchain-related businesses. This industry, heavily reliant on regulatory clarity, is now more optimistic following the U.S. elections. Additionally, recent data from CryptoQuant indicates that altcoin trading volume is not driven by BTC pairs. This implies real market growth rather than asset rotation from bitcoin to altcoins. This could also signify that this time, the altcoin season will not wait for the bitcoin price to consolidate. We might see both types of cryptoassets rise.

The altcoin rally observed since November appears to be a prelude to a bigger altcoin season in 2025. New crypto trends and technologies will likely catch the eye of institutional investors and VCs. Here’s what we can infer about the next altcoin season’s potential and key narratives based on the on-chain data and other trends.

Altcoin Season Is About More Than Price

Altcoin season is typically defined as a period when altcoins consistently outperform bitcoin. This phase often occurs in the final year of bitcoin’s four-year cycle, as market enthusiasm overflows from bitcoin into other coins. Large-cap altcoins reclaim or exceed their previous all-time highs while emerging narratives propel mid- and small-cap coins to uncharted levels. This period culminates in widespread FOMO (fear of missing out), driving the entire crypto market into an overheated state. This then signals an imminent correction and eventually, the onset of a bear market.

However, the altcoin season isn’t just about prices. It represents a broader evolution in market activity, adoption, and innovation. So far, each altcoin season has reflected unique technological and market shifts.

The first altcoin season of 2017 was defined by the ICO boom and the emergence of NFTs (remember CryptoKitties?). The second altcoin season of 2021 combined the DeFi rise with a full-blown NFT and gaming craze. To enable these developments, cheaper and more scalable layer-2 solutions emerged as well. All these innovations have withstood the challenges of crypto winters and continue to develop.

Looking ahead, the third altcoin season of 2025 promises new narratives and technologies, some already in development and others yet to come.

The Altcoin Season Indicators

Several indicators signal the onset of altcoin season. Bitcoin dominance is falling, altcoins are outperforming, and their market cap is reaching new highs. Yet, indexes such as Altcoin Season and OTHERS suggest that the best is yet to come for altcoins.

In absolute terms, the altcoin market cap, calculated by subtracting bitcoin’s cap from the total crypto market cap, has hit an all-time high. According to Coingecko, it now stands at $1.89 trillion, surpassing the previous peak of $1.79 trillion in November 2021. In relative terms, bitcoin dominance has dropped from 60% to 51% since November.

However, both metrics include stablecoins and wrapped assets. While essential for market liquidity, they do not necessarily reflect the true development of the altcoin market. Moreover, in bull market conditions, these assets tend to favor altcoins due to their higher risk-reward profile.

For a purer measure, Blockchain Center’s Altcoin Season Index excludes stablecoins and wrapped coins. It defines altcoin season as occurring when over 75% of the top 50 altcoins outperform Bitcoin over the past 90 days. Most recently, this index crossed the 75% mark on December 2nd and held for one week. The previous altcoin season kept this index above the threshold for nearly three months. This supports the idea that the true peak may occur in 2025.

The OTHERS index calculated by platforms like TradingView is another key measure of altcoins’ performance. It tracks the total crypto cap excluding top-10 coins (which comprise the two biggest stablecoins). Despite surging 123% in the past 30 days (before correcting), this index has yet to reach its previous ATH. Last time, it rallied 525% from 2017’s ATH, suggesting substantial room for growth.

Finally, interest in altcoins is also reflected in Google Trends. With May 2021 representing the peak (indexed at 100), current search interest has risen to 87—the highest level since then.

Key Altcoin Narratives For 2025

So far in 2024, the three best-performing altcoins from the top-50 list have been memecoins: dogwifhat (WIF +2,027%), PEPE (+1,764%), and Dogecoin (DOGE +382%). However, while memecoins are often emblematic of altcoin seasons, they are unlikely to define the overarching crypto narratives of 2025.

According to the Blockchain Center data, among the new technologies that emerged in 2023-2024, BRC-20 tokens performed the best. While not considered proper altcoins by some, these tokens issued on the Bitcoin blockchain thanks to technologies like the Ordinals or Runes have gained over 1,000% YTD. Among more conventional altcoin categories, the RWAs are leading with 717% yearly growth. These include tokenized versions of real-world assets and the protocols enabling their use. AI-related coins (+513%) and DePIN, or decentralized physical infrastructure (+303%), follow suit.

In 2025, new narratives are likely to emerge, and the VC activity could indicate the most promising ones. According to Pitchbook, crypto VCs were quite moderate in 2023 ($10 billion) and 2024 ($7.1 billion in Q3). Next year, their activity could rebound to at least the levels seen in 2021 and 2022, totaling $25.3 billion and $29.4 billion, respectively. This increase will funnel into specific projects and broader categories that could define the next wave of growth.

Amid the excitement of the altcoin season, it’s crucial to avoid getting swept up in the hype. Every bull run eventually ends in a correction, and only coins with strong fundamentals and real use cases will endure into the next cycle.