As Bitcoin (BTC) inches closer to $70,000, its dominance in the wider crypto market has risen to a cycle high of 58.9%.<\/p>\n
Bitcoin dominance (BTC.D), a metric that measures the proportion of the total cryptocurrency market cap commanded by the leading digital asset, has hit<\/a> a new cycle high of 58.9%. The last time the crypto market witnessed this level of BTC.D was in April 2021.<\/p>\n After a slight pullback following Iran\u2019s attack on Israel earlier this month, Bitcoin has risen by almost 10% in the past week, trading at $67,769 at the time of writing.\u00a0<\/p>\n Concurrently, the total crypto market cap has surged from $2.26 trillion on October 8, to $2.41 trillion on October 16, according to data<\/a> from CoinGecko. However, the rise in the total crypto market cap is largely buoyed by the upward movement in BTC price.<\/p>\n At the start of October, BTC.D hovered around 57.1%. Since then, it has risen by approximately 1.8%, showcasing Bitcoin\u2019s strong performance relative to altcoins such as Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), Binance Coin (BNB), and others.<\/p>\n The current level of BTC.D has cast doubt on the prospects for the much-anticipated \u201caltseason,\u201d typically characterized by parabolic price increases in altcoins and a decline in BTC.D. Notably, BTC.D peaked at 70% during the post-COVID bull market in 2020-21 before dropping to 40% by mid-2021.<\/p>\n In late 2022, BTC.D bottomed out at around 39% amid the collapse of FTX, which halted operations due to fraud charges against its leadership. Since then, BTC.D has been on a gradual rise, as shown in the chart below.<\/p>\n As BTC.D continues to rise, it is important to consider the ETH\/BTC trading pair. For the uninitiated, the ETH\/BTC trading pair \u2013 colloquially known as the ETH\/BTC ratio \u2013 tracks Ethereum\u2019s (ETH) performance against BTC.<\/p>\n At press time, ETH\/BTC trading pair stands at 0.0385, a level last seen in April 2021. The chart below shows that Ethereum has failed to establish a higher high against Bitcoin since at least November 2022, reflecting weak<\/a> ETH price action over the past two years.<\/p>\n A strong ETH performance against BTC often precedes an altseason, but there are no clear signs of a meaningful trend reversal.<\/p>\n Further, the total value locked (TVL) in decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols across all blockchains has slid<\/a> from almost $110 billion in June 2024 to $88 billion, indicating weak demand for altcoins among crypto investors.<\/p>\n However, some crypto analysts and technical indicators still suggest a potential altseason may be on the horizon.<\/p>\n For example, earlier this month, the altcoin market cap surpassed<\/a> its 200-day exponential moving average (EMA), a key resistance level that signals strong altcoin performance in recent days.<\/p>\nETH\/BTC Ratio Must Rebound For A Potential Altseason<\/h2>\n