Key Insights:
- Altcoin dominance has fallen to 29.8%, down from 57% at its peak in 2021
- BTC and stablecoins now account for over 72% of the total crypto market share
- Fewer than 10% of 2021 altcoins have reclaimed previous all-time highs
Bitcoin and stablecoins are still dominating the crypto landscape, while altcoins are losing ground. BTC and stablecoins have now taken over more than 72% of the market, while altcoin dominance is at just 29.8%. Further reshaping market behaviour are lower retail interest and shifting narratives.
The Altcoin Market Cap is shrinking over time
As far as market cycles go, the altcoin market has been steadily losing dominance. The data from the TOTAL2 chart on TradingView, which tracks the crypto market cap excluding Bitcoin, is clearly in a downtrend. As per CoinMarketCap, altcoin dominance currently sits at 29.8%, below 35% in early 2022 and significantly below the 57% peak in 2021.
Additionally, the total crypto market cap excluding BTC recently got rejected from a descending trendline, currently at around $946 billion. Analysis shows a possible drop towards the next support at $790.2 billion, which indicates weakening interest in altcoins.
Moreover, the number of active cryptocurrencies and trading pairs has dropped to 100.9K active trading pairs from a recent 105K; liquidity is still concentrated in a few major assets. When comparing the altcoins to their all-time highs set in 2021, it’s clear the market has lost its ability to support broad-based altcoin rallies, as many altcoins are still far below their all-time highs.
BTC and Stablecoins Acting as Safe Havens
As of now, Bitcoin and stablecoins make up over 72% of the total crypto market dominance. Data from Alphatractal shows that this level hasn’t been reached since early 2020. The dominance is rising because capital is moving into lower risk digital assets during uncertain times.
Spot Bitcoin ETFs now exceed $60 billion in assets under management, while altcoin ETFs remain largely absent. Major asset managers like BlackRock have only backed BTC-based products—cementing Bitcoin’s institutional role.
This shift also involves stablecoins. Its usage accounts for most of the on-chain transaction volume on networks such as Ethereum, Tron and BNB Chain. The volume and liquidity leaders are USDT and USDC, which often act as the base for trading pairs. Both retail and institutions are preferring stable dollar-pegged assets, which implies that both are reducing risk by avoiding volatile altcoins.
Crypto Market Saturation and Slower Growth
While the number of tokens and exchanges has increased, the majority of the market is still illiquid. Over 818 active exchanges are listed on CoinMarketCap, but only a few of them have a consistent volume. Most of the 100K+ trading pairs are inactive or listed for speculation.
Looking at token performance, only less than 10% of altcoins from the 2021 bull cycle have recovered their all-time highs. However, this trend indicates that a lot of projects either lost traction or couldn’t maintain user interest after initial launches.
Token creation in this cycle is often based on trends or narratives with little fundamental basis. The broad market is less interested in speculative bets, and investors have become more selective.
Retail Interest and Narrative Shift
Furthermore, Google Trends data for the term ‘Altcoins’ also shows retail participation has dropped. Interest was high in late 2024 but has fallen sharply into April 2025. This means that the search volume is reduced, which implies less general interest in speculative crypto assets and meme tokens.
Retail investors are being drawn toward BTC rather than smaller tokens or decentralized apps thanks to platforms such as Robinhood, PayPal, and ETF brokers, which have made Bitcoin more accessible. This in turn also affects developer activity, as fewer users are interacting with altcoin-focused ecosystems.
Electric Capital developer reports decreased growth on many alt L1s such as Avalanche, Algorand, and NEAR. This shift is happening at the same time as new narratives are gaining traction, like real-world assets (RWAs), Bitcoin Layer 2 networks and Ordinals.
A broader movement of Bitcoin native applications is being contributed to by projects such as Stacks, BOB, and BitVM. However, most of the RWAs are being developed on Ethereum or Bitcoin-adjacent platforms, not on emerging altcoins. These trends continue to divert attention away from traditional altcoin projects.
Disclaimer
In this article, the views and opinions stated by the author or any people named are for informational purposes only, and they don’t establish the investment, financial, or any other advice. Trading or investing in cryptocurrency assets comes with a risk of financial loss.
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