It appears that the cryptocurrency market is mostly moving sideways throughout the first weeks of 2019. Since the start of the year, it has lost about $4 billion which represents a little less than 4 percent of its market capitalization. In general, though, except for the few more severe movements a few days ago, the market is mostly moving sideways.

However, a relatively wide group of mid-cap altcoins have seen substantial spikes over the last few days, begging the question – is altcoin season 2019 here already?

What is an Altcoins Season?

Altcoins Season is a term mainly used among crypto-oriented online communities on social media, to describe a period in the market cycle when altcoins experience a substantial spike in their value against Bitcoin (BTC), which usually also spikes the USD value of the coin.

Throughout this period, it’s not uncommon for many altcoins to enter a reasonably parabolic state, enabling them to grow at unparalleled rates.

Now, it’s important to note that this is generally an anticipated period in the market cycle because it can grant serious profits to the coin holders. At the same time, though, it can also be disastrous for those who are unable to time the market precisely, causing them to buy “the top” – to purchase an altcoin at its peak value and stay with the bags. This is also referred to as pumps and dumps.

Someone said once that Doge is the official opener of the Altcoin season. As can be seen, Dogecoin didn’t move much over the past days.

So, is the first Altcoin Season of 2019 here already?

Let’s have a look at a few top-performing altcoins as of the time as of writing this post:

Leading the march is Apollo Currency (APL). It’s currently 109.17% more expensive than it was yesterday. It’s worth noting that the project’s Twitter’s feed is full of announcements which may have triggered the price increase. For example, they announced an integration with cryptocurrency wallet Bitfi.

The second project which went through decent gains over the last 24 hours is Augur (REP). REP is currently up 32.69 percent. However, at some point during the previous 24 hours, it was up with more than 65 percent. The rapidly declining price might signal for a pump and dump move. There was a recent announcement on the project’s official Twitter page that they’ve launched some updates of their app.

Tierion (TNT) is another altcoin that went up 100% yesterday. However, it’s currently trading in the negative compared to yesterday’s price, signaling that it’s most likely a pump and dump.

Loopring (LRC) is currently trading about 20% in the positive. No apparent news might have triggered the increase, as LRC rocketed with more than 60% yesterday. Most of it is going away, however, which might yet be a signal for a pump and dump.

At the same time, looking at the top-20 altcoins, none of them had shown any significant signs of a rally. This is perhaps a sign that an altcoin season is yet to be seen in 2019. Additionally, for it to be categorized as an altcoin season, the period should see a decrease of Bitcoin’s dominance index. Not only hasn’t it decreased – in January it has marked a very slight increase of about 0.7%.

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