Altcoin Market Poised for Major Breakout—But What’s Holding It Back?

The crypto markets are trying to stabilise after the latest crash that dragged the Bitcoin price below $110,000. Although the token has not yet recovered above the range, the bulls have prevented excess bearish action. Meanwhile, the other popular tokens also experienced a minor rise, while the global market capitalisation is around $3.61 trillion. The current market dynamics are revolving around Bitcoin as the dominance is yet again rising. However, it is comparable to the stage of Q3, 2019, wherein it experienced its first breakdown and structure break. 

Similar to 2019, BTC dominance appears to have reached a resistance point, with more upward movement expected as levels bounce back to the 20-weekly SMA. Therefore, this was when the ETH price and Altcoins gained momentum. However, it has to be considered that the final correction in the dominance impacted the altcoins as well, wherein they plunged heavily during the 2022 bear market. However, the key difference this time is the DeFi yields and L2 ecosystems, creating strong altcoin fundamentals. 

Altcoin Market at the Foothill of a Major Explosion. 

Similar to Bitcoin, Altcoins have also been following a certain cycle, which helps to determine the next possible price action. The chart shared by a popular analyst, Moustache, shows the altcoin market capitalisation has reached the support and hence a rebound could be fast approaching. 

The current cycle, beginning in early 2024, has been characterised by three distinct pump-and-dump phases rather than a sustained bull market.

• The first occurred in Q1 2024, when liquidity briefly returned before fading as global tightening resumed.

• The second came during November–December 2024, aligning with gold entering a mild correction, which temporarily shifted attention toward crypto.

• The third surge appeared between May and August 2025, when Ethereum unexpectedly rallied—partly fueled by ETF inflows and treasury allocations—but again, the momentum didn’t last.

Each time, the altcoin market rallied sharply, only to retrace once macro liquidity tightened or Bitcoin reasserted dominance.

What’s Needed for the Next True Altcoin Bull Market

For the altcoin market cap to finally break above the $1.7 trillion barrier and sustain a long-term uptrend, several macro and regulatory conditions must align:

• End of Quantitative Tightening (QT) and early signs of Quantitative Easing (QE) returning to boost global liquidity.

• Interest rate cuts, enabling risk-on sentiment to return to the crypto market.

• Stabilization in gold and silver, reducing competition for investor capital.

• Acceleration in tokenization efforts, which would drive real-world utility and institutional involvement.

• Approval of Altcoin ETFs, a crucial yet delayed step that could unleash new institutional inflows.

Only when these catalysts converge can the altcoin market transition from fragmented rallies into a cohesive bull phase.