This month, altcoins are posing new competition for Bitcoin (BTC), as data indicates that, technically, it is already “alt season.”
The collapse of Terra LUNA, which is now known as Terra Classic (LUNC), caused severe damage to the altcoin markets, which have since recovered significantly.
According to data, BTC’s share of the total crypto market capitalization is currently about 41%, the lowest share since the beginning of 2022.
Alt season serving BTC bulls a run for their money
According to CoinMarketCap, Bitcoin’s market cap share has dropped to its lowest level since mid-January, with the largest altcoin, Ether (ETH), stealing the show in recent weeks.
Along with Bitcoin’s recovery from 18-month lows of $17,600 in June, altcoins have seen their own renaissance, giving Bitcoin bulls a run for their money.
Ethereum’s market cap domination has increased from 14.3% in June to 19% now.
The case for altcoin bets is supported further by a specialized statistic charged with identifying “alt season” – a period in which altcoins outperform Bitcoin as investments.
The Altcoin Season Index shows its most compelling alt season reading since June 2021, with a normalized score of 94/100.
The more close to zero the score is, the more Bitcoin is favored over alternative cryptocurrencies. The term “Alt Season” is used when 75% of the Top 50 coins outperformed Bitcoin over the previous season, which corresponds to the previous 90 days, according to the description of the term.
ETH mirroring BTC performance
ETH also performed unconvincingly on short durations this week due to controversy surrounding the imminent Merge event.
ETH/USD was down about 7% in the 24 hours before the time of writing on August 9 while BTC/USD lost $1,000 in 24 hours.
Meanwhile, on-chain monitors reported that a significant participant on the exchange Bitfinex had drastically cut their long ETH exposure, indicating a concern that further fall was almost certain.
Longs were at the same lows as before the Terra collapse in May at the time of writing.