The altcoin market is seeing a major shift after the August rally. Ethereum [ETH] has fallen about 2% despite bullish developments. In the past week alone, Bitmine added 28,086 ETH, bringing its treasury to nearly 4.9% of Ethereum’s supply.
At the same time, Spot ETH ETFs also saw $218 million in inflows. Meanwhile, Vitalik Buterin came up with an EIP-8141 proposal, which aims to simplify stablecoin transactions by reducing users’ need to hold ETH specifically for gas fees.
Joining the trail, Solana [SOL] dropped 4% despite activating its Transaction V1 upgrade, which improves its ability to handle larger and more complex DeFi transactions.
DeFi Development Corp. also raised $11 million to buy SOL, adding potential institutional demand. However, spot SOL ETFs recorded modest outflows, while broader market weakness kept pressure on the token.
Other altcoins that saw a dip
Ripple’s XRP faced a even more sharper decline depsite RLUSD’s market cap surpassed $2.3 billion. Additionally, Binance Chain [BNB] fell 1.5%, although BNB Chain strengthened its position in tokenized assets.
It now holds approximately $1.267 billion in tokenized stocks, or 44.6% of the market, ahead of Ethereum and Solana. Jupiter’s JUP fell just 0.7% as it expanded into tokenized assets.
Altcoins that surged during the same period
However, not all altcoins saw a dip, as Tron [TRON] gained 2.7%, helped by Canary Capital launching TRXS, the first spot-staked TRON ETF.
Aptos [APT] surged 6.4%, driven largely by Bitwise filing an S-1 for a potential spot Aptos ETF, raising expectations for greater institutional access to APT.
Kaspa [KAS] was the strongest performer, surging 23% as its circulating supply approached 96.5% of its hard cap, reducing concerns about future supply dilution.
The altcoin season index supports Bitcoin
This comes on the heels of the altcoin season index, which was sitting at 40 at press time, which indicates the market is still leaning toward Bitcoin [BTC] season rather than altcoin season.
Well, AMBCrypto’s recent report also shows altcoin Open Interest has surpassed Bitcoin’s for the first time since December 2024, signaling aggressive leveraged positioning.
This comes as Bitcoin was trading at $76,751.69 after a modest drop in the past 24 hours but a hike of over 22% in the past month.
Is Bitcoin dominance confusing investors?
Meanwhile, Bitcoin dominance stands at 59.29%, up 0.18%, showing that Bitcoin continues to command a strong share of the overall crypto market.
The steady rise in dominance suggests capital is still favoring BTC over altcoins, reinforcing the current Bitcoin season trend.
However, with Bitcoin dominance again testing the key 60% resistance, weak trading volumes and renewed macro uncertainty could trigger another rejection, potentially paving the way for a September-like altcoin rally. However, the signal remains unconfirmed until altcoins break through key resistance levels.
Final Summary
- Altcoins like Ethereum, Solana, Ripple, and Jupiter dropped after their August rally.
- Tron, Aptos, and Kaspa surged during the same period, but the altcoin index was at 40.