Bitcoin is traded at a price of $67,000, while its dominance reaches new heights in conjunction with a weak altcoin market.
The main cryptocurrency in the sector seems to be intent on breaking upwards from the macro-range it has been traveling in for 7 months, opening the doors to the next bull market.
Various indicators suggest an imminent rise for Bitcoin, but how will the altcoins respond at the same time?
All the answers in this article.
The price of Bitcoin rises to 67,000 dollars, as expectations grow for the altcoin market
While on one hand, the crypto altcoins offer fluctuating price performances, Bitcoin confirms itself as the king of the market further increasing its dominance.
After reaching a new all-time high of 73,700 dollars in March, the cryptocurrency moved sideways in the following months, maintaining a solid chart structure.
The quotations have not fallen below the 50,000 dollar mark, except for a brief time through a spike, highlighting a bull outlook.
Now Bitcoin is trading at 67,000 dollars, up about 25% from the local bottom on August 5th.
The previous ATH of 2021 at 69,000 dollars serves as the upper limit for bull incursions with several sell orders positioned around.
It is likely that in the coming days Bitcoin will aim to attack this fateful price level, particularly watched by market analysts.
Pay attention also to the 70,500 dollar area because according to Coinglass data there are 5.5 billion dollars of positions at liquidation risk in case of a break.
The theories of a short-term rise in the price of Bitcoin find support from the metrics of reserves on cryptocurrency exchanges.
While the market sees its dominance increase to the detriment of altcoins, in the exchanges the cryptocurrency sees its presence decrease.
This is obviously a positive situation for the quotations as it suggests a scarcity of supply on the stock exchanges, increasing the likelihood of a bull rise.
In particular, the Bitcoin reserves on CEX, according to CryptoQuant data, have reached new lows at 2.69 million BTC.
It is not excluded that by the end of the year we will see a short squeeze on the price of the cryptocurrency that will lead it to register new highs.
Bitcoin dominance at 58.75%: it is the highest value in the last 3 years
As mentioned, while Bitcoin sees its price increase, the dominance reaches the highs of the last 3 years.
The capitalization of the currency now comprises 58.75% of the entire value of all crypto holdings.
More specifically, Bitcoin is worth today 1.3 trillion dollars compared to the 2.3 trillion of the market in its entirety. This is a value that ranks it as the 10th asset in the world by share value, just below Meta Platforms and Saudi Aramco.
Remaining within the cryptocurrency exchanges, we see how the dominance of Bitcoin has been on the rise since November 2022.
In recent months, it has experienced steady growth that has accompanied it in the sideways movement of prices, to the detriment of the altcoin sector.
In these days we are seeing an acceleration of the trend, with the indicator reaching 58.75% and aiming for the psychological level of 60%.
We are talking about the highest value since April 2021, when the currency began to lose market share in the midst of the last bull market phase of that year.
We will see if in the coming weeks the crypto will really manage to return to 60% dominance, while many analysts expect a collapse of the metric.
The impact of the growth of dominance on the price of altcoins
Clearly, a bullish dominance scenario for Bitcoin does not favor the price growth of the altcoin sector.
Usually, the “alternative coin”, conceived with a negative exception by the maximalists, find fertile ground for an increase when the king of the market steps aside momentarily.
First Bitcoin records an increase leading to a rise in dominance, then it gives way to altcoins that enjoy their moment in the spotlight.
At this moment we are still in a phase properly called “Bitcoin Season”, where the major gains are observed precisely on the first cryptocurrency.
It is not a coincidence, in fact, if the majority of crypto assets have underperformed the benchmark since the beginning of the year.
The altcoin Season Index marks a nominal value of 20, identifying a bear phase similar to that of late 2023, just before the bull of 2024.
Source: https://www.blockchaincenter.net/altcoin-season-index/
Despite the current dominance of Bitcoin, there are those who speculate that its dominance will soon collapse and will open the stage to other speculative solutions in the market.
In this regard, in a recent post, the founder of ICT Crypt Benjamin Cowen hypothesized a rise in dominance to 60% before a systematic collapse.
According to what was literally expressed by him:
“Quite soon, there will be a breakout […] This will lead to memecoin and other major altcoins having a taste”
All eyes are on the EMA50 on the weekly time frame of the dominance chart: in case of a break of the 54.78% level, we might see the first results on the altcoins.
Until then, the season of Altseason is postponed.
BTC dominance is at multi-year highs.
What we've seen so far is just a Bitcoin Season, with most altcoins bleeding against BTC.
The real fun starts when the dominance goes down. pic.twitter.com/9GsCa8BADG
— The DeFi Investor 
(@TheDeFinvestor) October 16, 2024
Market cycles: where are we with Bitcoin and altcoins?
Given the price trend of Bitcoin and the situation on the dominance/altcoin front, many are wondering what point of the market cycle we are in at this moment.
This appears as a more than legitimate doubt considering that Bitcoin this time has reached new highs before the halving, breaking the classic four-year pattern.
During the bull market phases of 2013, 2017, and 2020, the cryptocurrency indeed updated its price highs only after the halving update, and not before.
In 2024, however, also thanks to the ETFs that have brought more hype, Bitcoin broke the $69,000 level weeks ahead of the expected timing.
Despite this, in the following months it seems to have aligned with the trends of the last 2 cycles, fueling hopes of a new leg up in the bull market.
According to the latest report by NYDIG, the crypto just under 700 days from the last peak of 2021 is moving exactly like the bull phases of 2017 and 2021.
According to this hypothesis, shortly we will see an acceleration of the upward price trend, with a new break of the highs followed by a phase of price discovery.
In a similar scenario, the dominance would still have room for an increase, which should, however, leave room for the altcoins in the final weeks before the end of the cycle.
Indicatively, it will still be Bitcoin Season until the end of the year, and from 2025 onwards the altcoins will return to printing giant profits.
Source: https://nydig.com/research/q3-2024-review-and-look-ahead
