fragmentation of the Altcoin market: Memecoins and ETFs exceed traditional altcoins-Ethereum as a potential leader in uncertain times

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The future of old coins: fragmentation and new market trends

In the world of cryptocurrencies, memo and Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) provide traditional old coins in the shadows and signal a fragmented altcoin cycle. Ethereum remains strong and could lead a potential altcoin rally, but current trends indicate that the classic old coin season, as we have experienced from 2015 to 2022, may be over.

What is an old coin season?

According to the Altcoin Season Index of the blockchain center, an old coin season is defined as a period in which 75 % of the 50 most important old coins Bitcoin exceeds via a rolling 90-day window. In the past, there were short rashes in 2024 and 2025, but these were too short-lived to be considered a full-fledged old coin season.

Traditionally, the term “Altcoin season” describes a market phase in which alternative cryptocurrencies develop significantly better than Bitcoin, which was evident in the cycles from 2015 to 2018 and 2019 to 2022. However, the current data and trends suggest that a uniform increase in the old coins is less likely in the future.

Memecoins as new market players

Analysts have found that platforms such as Pump.fun promote the quick creation of Memecoins, which draws speculative capital from established old coins. This development means that early investors were able to achieve considerable profits from Memecoins, while many retailers who later entered have often suffered high losses.

This shift in market dynamics shows that the capital that had previously been invested in the top 200 alcohol is now being redistributed in on-chain tokens with low capitalization. This shows an increasing interest in innovative but speculative systems, while the more stable old coins lose liquidity.

The influence of institutional capital by ETFS

The introduction of Bitcoin-Spot-ETFs, such as the Ishares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) from Blackrock in January 2024, attracted significant institutional capital, with trusses of a total of $ 129 billion. This flow of capital in Bitcoin has certainly deducted the attention and liquidity of old coins because institutional investors regulate and prefer trusted investment instruments.

old coins no longer move as a homogeneous group; Rather, different sectors show divergent developments. While tokens for real assets have increased 15 times, the Gamefi sector has to accept a decrease of 50 %. This shift signals that specific applications and stories are now more important than the traditional "Altcoin" term.

Ethereum significant role in the new market structure

Ethereum (ETH) remains a central pillar in the cryptosystem that supports areas such as Defi, NFTS and Layer 2 applications. Despite the dominance of ETFs and Memecoins, Ethereum shows continuous growth dynamics. With the shades of ETH ETFs on the horizon, its status is strengthened as a "blue chip" crypto-asset and offers structure in an increasingly fragmented altcoin market.

At the time of the creation of this article, according to CoinmarketCap, ETH is traded at $ 2,052.18, which corresponds to an increase of 0.47 % over the past day and 6.04 % last week.

FAZIT

The trends in the Altcoin market, especially the dominance of memo and ETF investments, lead to a fragmentation of the old coins and mean that a uniform altcoin season, as we knew it earlier, may no longer take place. Ethereum, however, remains a stabilizing force that plays a decisive role in the middle of these changes.