BTC dominance steadily rising since 2023, is altseason now a relic?

Bitcoin (BTC) dominance, a measure of Bitcoin's overall share of the crypto market, has been steadily rising since 2023 amid a torrent of new cryptocurrency coins and tokens.

The current BTC market dominance is roughly 61.6%, down from the local peak of 64.3% recorded on Feb. 3.

BTC market dominance broke back above 60% on Feb. 2 amid a general market downturn over fears of a prolonged trade war between the United States and its trading partners.

Macroeconomic uncertainty typically takes a toll on risk-on assets, and the recent market downturn hit altcoins harder than BTC due to their lower liquidity and higher-risk profiles.

Bitcoin market dominance has been rising since 2023. Source: TradingView

The current market cycle also features Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which silo liquidity into these financial instruments — preventing capital rotation into altcoins, which crypto traders and investors have become accustomed to.

Previous cycles were characterized by investors rotating profits from less risky assets such as BTC into progressively higher-risk investments, starting with high market cap altcoins and eventually working their way into smaller cap tokens.

The liquidity siloed in traditional investment vehicles coupled with the proliferation of new coins and tokens competing for limited investor attention and capital has led some analysts to suggest that altcoin season is now a thing of the past and will not be a feature of the current or future market cycles.

Related: Bitcoin poised to reclaim $90,000, according to derivatives metrics

The total number of cryptocurrency tokens and coins listed on CoinMarketCap on Feb. 8 was below 11 million unique assets, as of March 15 the number of digital assets listed on the website has surged to over 12.7 million.

Tens of millions of unique digital assets are now floating around the markets. Source: Dune

Over 600,000 tokens were launched in January 2025 alone. The vast majority of these assets were memecoins created on fair launch platforms and low-cap altcoins.

According to market analyst Jesse Myers, when these coins fail, they do not go to $0. Instead, they linger around market capitalizations of $10,000 to $100,000 — permanently trapping capital inside illiquid pools.

The proliferation of new tokens and digital assets prompted Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong to reevaluate the exchange's token listing process to meet consumer demand.

Magazine: DeFi will rise again after memecoins die down: Sasha Ivanov, X Hall of Flame

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.