In mid-July, the Altcoin Season Index (ASI) available on blockchaincenter.net began to rise, reaching a high of 46 and nearing the significant threshold of 75. Since then, however, the ASI score has dropped to 24, indicating that a period of increased gains for alternative cryptocurrencies is now more distant.
Bitcoin Outperforms Altcoins as ASI Score Drops to 24
For a while now, it’s been bitcoin (BTC) season, with BTC maintaining its dominance since the significant crypto crashes in 2022. Both the FTX and Terra/LUNA collapses took place that year. The last official altcoin season occurred during the 2021 bull run, with only two brief periods in January and March 2024 breaking the trend. Essentially, if 75% of the top 50 coins outperform bitcoin over the last season (90 days), it is considered altcoin season.
An Altcoin Season Index (ASI) score of 75 or above signifies altcoin season. Scores below 75 indicate it’s bitcoin season. Earlier this month on July 12, the score reached a peak of 46 but has since fallen 47.82% to a low of 24. This suggests it remains bitcoin season, pushing altcoin season further out of reach. Despite the spot ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs) being listed on July 23, BTC has outperformed ethereum (ETH).
For example, over the past two weeks, BTC has increased by 20.4%, and in the last week alone, bitcoin has risen 7.1% against the U.S. dollar. In contrast, ETH is up 16.2% over the same two weeks and only 2.2% over the last seven days against the dollar. In the past 24 hours, the smart contract token economy has dipped 0.1% and is currently valued at $724.05 billion. Toncoin (TON) was the top performer over the past 90 days, with a 193.2% increase.
As the ASI score remains well below the 75 threshold, the landscape continues to favor bitcoin over altcoins. The persistence of bitcoin’s dominance suggests that investors may need to wait longer for a resurgence of altcoin-driven gains. Despite recent innovations in the crypto market, including the new ethereum ETFs, the momentum for altcoins remains subdued.