A decade has passed and the crypto industry has expanded at an exceptional space. What started with Bitcoin, has now multiplied to more than 5000 unique cryptocurrencies popularly termed as altcoins. The present altcoin market is the perfect evidence of the industry’s progress and a solid example of the potential that it holds. Altcoins have thus become a major investment option for those venturing into the world of crypto.

The reason behind the popularity of altcoins is the drive to develop a better bitcoin without its flaws. Some projects claim to offer better anonymity and some coins aim to tackle a specific industry like entertainment. The altcoin market drew the most attention back in 2017 when Altcoins enjoyed immense gains for about 10 weeks.

Since then, crypto enthusiasts have been eagerly waiting for what is popularly known as ‘all-season,’ which is the time of the year when the majority of the people in the cryptocurrency market develop a very positive sentiment about Altcoins. Altcoins have exploded, reached their pinnacle, fallen back down sharply, but struggled to regenerate as well as Bitcoin.

Altseason is on the way

2020 started with a bubbling undercurrent of altcoins that managed to ride the coattails of the New Year rally. Many altcoins like Tezos and BSV, alongside some other small tokens, have outperformed Bitcoin by many multiples. This year is also the year of the BTC halving; past halvings have seen BTC rallying upward.

Usually, when there is a Bitcoin rally, certain smaller altcoins have been known to spike by huge amounts, but these coins are quite obscure and fall low in the market cap rankings. Despite BTC surpassing $10,000 multiple times this year, we haven’t seen altcoins move. However, Binance’s research department suggests that a so-called alt season may be approaching the cryptocurrency market.

As per the release, Bitcoin’s trading volume dominance has seen a sharp drop from 40% to 27% this February. According to the researchers, this is the steepest month-over-month change so far. The paper reads:

“If this trend were to continue, it would signify a greater appetite for altcoins from market participants.”

The researchers also noted the recent interest in the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency Ethereum, with a 158.6% increase in total monthly volume. The lead driver of the altcoin volume rally on the Binance spot market in February was ETH and the total spot trading volume on the Binance spot market also spiked by 69% of the daily average compared to January.

Recently, The Daily Chain reported that the top 100 Ethereum wallets are seeing increased ETH accumulation. As the top 100 wallets have totaled to account for 25% of total Ethereum in circulation, investor confidence on the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency is expected to be on the rise. These patterns are considered indications of a potential price upside for the digital asset, even though it might take some time before the upward rally to gain momentum.

Overall, February was a month of great volatility for the cryptocurrency market with ETH looking pretty bullish. The release states:

“The top event of the month was ETHDenver, with many hackathon projects on Ethereum building various projects. Many of them highlighted Ethereum’s pending switchover to Proof-of-Stake and the composability of smart contracts built on top of each other.”

Are we safe yet?

While the market looks solid for altcoins, with massive surges in trading volume, a two-year-long descending triangle has formed on the weekly Altcoin/BTC chart. This pattern is often considered bullish, but a downward break could result in massive damage for the altcoin market and the crypto market as a whole.

Furthermore, the Gann Double Band indicator has just issued the first-ever short signal in the altcoin/BTC chart’s history on weekly timeframes. According to analysts, this could be a dangerous region for altcoins as previous breaks below descending triangles have seen drops to new lows.