Crypto Traders Rotate Into Select Altcoins as Bitcoin Stalls

In brief

• Altcoins including Bittensor, Zcash, and Pepe gained double digits over the past seven days despite Bitcoin’s rangebound trade.
• Five liquidation events have wiped out over $1B in positions so far in 2026.
• February 20 PCE data will factor into the Fed’s March rate decision, per CME FedWatch.

A selection of altcoins have posted double-digit gains over the past week, while Bitcoin remains less volatile and range-bound. Bitcoin has been trading below $71,000 since February 6, when it briefly touched $62,822, according to CoinGecko data. That indecision—coupled with five separate liquidation events that wiped out over $1 billion in positions in 2026, per CoinGlass—has prompted investors to scan the altcoin landscape for speculative trading opportunities. The result is a selective rotation into tokens with specific narratives, rather than a broad-based altseason.

Among the top 50 coins by market cap, Zcash is up 24.1% over the past week, followed by Pepe, Bittensor and Aster, up 21.9%, 19.8% and 18.5%  over the same period. Lai Yuen, investment analyst at Fisher8 Capital, said weekend price action briefly flashed risk-on signals before fizzling. “There were some attempts at rallies over the weekend after Bitcoin broke $70,000 and Solana went above $90,” Yuen told Decrypt. “Probably some people took that as a risk-on signal over an illiquid weekend to pump altcoins. But now that the breakout on majors has failed, I think altcoins are returning their wins.” Improving macro sentiment—particularly softer U.S. inflation data has boosted risk appetite across assets, according to Ignacio, CMO at Bitget. “Capital is rotating selectively into high-conviction altcoins with strong narratives, such as ETF speculation and ecosystem momentum in sectors such as DeFi, AI agents, and gaming,” he told Decrypt. “This has triggered short-term relief rallies and double-digit gains in select tokens as traders regain confidence after earlier volatility.” Interestingly, though, each of these altcoins remains dramatically below all-time highs set years ago.

Despite the green candles, Zcash trades more than 90% below its 2016 all-time high of $3,191. Pepe and Bittensor are both 84% and 75% off their respective ATHs formed in December 2024 and March 2024. Even Aster, the recently launched decentralized exchange token, sits some 70% below its September 2025 high—underscoring how much ground most altcoins still need to recover. The pessimism is aptly captured in prediction market Myriad, with users assigning a mere 9% chance to the possibility of an altcoin season before April 2026. (Disclaimer: Myriad is owned by Decrypt’s parent company Dastan.) A targeted altcoin narrative The current move isn’t narrative-free—it’s just more targeted than past cycles, Ryan Yoon, senior analyst at Seoul-based Tiger Research, told Decrypt. “While 2025 saw massive narratives without short-term outcomes, institutional-grade sectors like stablecoins, RWA, and privacy chains have focused on long-term growth,” Yoon said. The sustainability of recent altcoin gains depends on continued favorable macroeconomic tailwinds, such as stable or improving liquidity conditions and positive U.S. economic indicators in the coming weeks, analysts agreed. “While short-term momentum looks constructive with rising stablecoin inflows and neutral-to-positive altcoin impulse signals, a broader sustained rally would require Bitcoin to stabilize or break higher while dominance eases gradually,” Ignacio explained.

All eyes are on the U.S. Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge, the PCE price index, on February 20. That event, along with the inflation and jobs data, will play a pivotal role in the interest rate decision scheduled for March 18.  So far, the markets have assigned a 90% probability that the Federal Funds Rate will remain unchanged at 3.50%-3.75%, according to CME’s FedWatch tool. Myriad predictors put just a 31% chance on the Fed cutting rates by more than 25bps before July.