Are Altcoins Cooling Off? Analyst Weighs In On This Cycle’s Market

Many investors expressed worries about the crypto market corrections during this cycle. Bitcoin’s price drop has dragged altcoins with them, and, as a result, a more pessimistic sentiment has started to brew among some sectors of the crypto community.

Analysts and traders have reassured investors that the market fluctuations are a normal part of the journey. Some urge the community to look at the bigger picture, as altcoins remain above levels not seen in years.

Renowned crypto analyst Altcoin Sherpa weighed in on the matter, exploring some of the reasons and differences that make this bull cycle different from the 2020s.

In an X post, Altcoin Sherpa asserted that there’s a high possibility “that altcoins are done for the next 1-4 months.” The analyst considers that, right now, most of the market needs “time to chill out and consolidate after such a big run.”

Despite recently falling below the $1 trillion market capitalization, altcoins have performed remarkably in the last few months. In 2024, cryptocurrencies’ market cap, excluding Bitcoin’s, has increased by 22.79%, according to TradingView data.

Altcoins market cap has also considerably surged in longer timeframes, with a 91.31% and 52.46% jump in the last six months and the past year. This “big run,” as Sherpa called it, sits the cryptocurrency market at levels like those seen in 2022.

However, what worries the crypto analyst is, despite the overall performance, “many alts didn’t even run that hard over the last few months.” He illustrated his point with Chainlink’s native token, LINK.

Despite the +500 days of accumulation, LINK investors only got 3-4x gains depending on when they go in. Now, the token’s price is “strongly pulling back.” Expectations for altcoins during this cycle seemingly play a significant role in the current sentiment.

As one X user pointed out, LINK was anticipated to be one of the biggest winners of this cycle, Sherpa replied that he “expected more lol.” The user playfully commented, “No dino coins and new and shiny coins are the better bet.”

The previous comment highlights what appears to be a significant difference between this bull run and the 2020s. Choosing your bag has become more difficult since the market has expanded significantly.

Sherpa considers that “now more than ever, it is super important to choose the altcoins that are going to run hard.” In 2020, the massive altseason made “everything go up consecutively.”

This time, the liquidity is more fragmented, and “only a few sectors are pumping.” The AI and memes sectors have been the hottest topic in 2024, and layer-1 (L1) tokens, like SEI, have also performed well. “Everything else? Not great,” remarked Sherpa.

The massive number of tokens, both newly launched and old ones, are finding it more difficult to “capture mindshare/attention.”

Regarding retail investors, the analyst is not surprised that the default choice is memecoins instead of “trying to learn about some DeFi veRewards type of stuff. Or Oracle or L1s or modular or anything else.”

The analyst suggested investors “move to real value” like ETH and SOL. He also considers that big token launches, with significant money behind them, “have some real value.” These coins, as stated in the post, have the potential to “do very well” once Bitcoin stabilizes.

Sherpa’s market analysis closes with a “pretty bearish” outlook for the following months. The growing difficulty in keeping user attention and “for people to become strong users/community members” for many projects has made the market a different playground.

Ultimately, the analyst pointed out that “portfolio rebalances are necessary” and said he still believes this run is not over.