Bitcoin’s (BTC) dominance by market capitalization in the total crypto market posted its highest level in 2018 July 23, passing 46 percent for the first time.

According to data from CoinMarketCap, Bitcoin dominance — defined as the percentage of the total market cap of all cryptocurrencies that is Bitcoin’s market cap — currently constitutes 46.5 percent, a level last seen on December 22, 2017. At the time, Bitcoin was trading just below all-time highs around $20,000 per coin.

Percentage of total market cap (dominance) from CoinMarketCap

The move comes as sentiment surrounding Bitcoin in particular continues to improve after BTC/USD jumped in excess of 15 percent over the last five days.

At the same time, altcoin assets have struggled to achieve similar gains, posting losses against Bitcoin.

Despite market cap becoming a dubious metric for testing Bitcoin’s underlying health, the 2018 record did not escape media attention, while various industry players also appeared enthusiastic about Monday’s performance.

Market analysts have continued to be less positive, however, with crypto commentator WhalePanda continuing a narrative that dominance represents a meaningful statistic in crypto markets.

“Stop using [Bitcoin] dominance as an indicator,” he wrote on Twitter July 20. “As soon as people started with premines/ tokens and (BTC) airdrops it became irrelevant.”

At press time, BTC/USD was trading at $7,734 according to Cointelegraph’s price index, up 3 percent on the day and completing weekly gains of just under 16 percent.