According to the analysis of cryptocurrency market analyst Michaël van de Poppe, the altcoin market—currently valued at over $879 billion—is preparing for another strong growth phase, heading towards the all-time high near $1.2 trillion.
The Total3 market capitalization, a measure of the total value of the entire cryptocurrency token ecosystem excluding Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH), has remained firmly around the important support level of $784 billion. Van de Poppe states that the Total3 value is also gradually recovering, approaching the 365-day moving average— a key technical support level, according to TradingView data.
Last October, Total3 reached an all-time high of nearly $1.2 trillion, but soon after, it experienced a sharp decline when the market underwent a historic shock, causing the total altcoin market cap to drop about 33% in just one day.
Investors, traders, and analysts are currently trying to assess the potential start of the “altseason”—a prolonged growth period for altcoins—after a volatile 2025 with many changes in market patterns and dynamics.
2025: Patient investors await but “altseason” has not yet appeared
Previously, investors often moved profits from Bitcoin to higher-risk altcoins during the late stages of market cycles, partly based on Bitcoin’s 4-year cycle theory. However, 2025 marked the first time in history that Bitcoin closed the post-halving year with a red candle, casting doubt on the effectiveness of this cycle theory.
The cryptocurrency market also saw a remarkable increase in the number of coins, with over 29 million tokens listed on CoinMarketCap, all fiercely competing to attract investment capital and public attention.
Number of cryptocurrencies tracked on CoinMarketCap | Source: CoinMarketCap The explosion in the number of altcoins has saturated the market, with too many tokens appearing simultaneously, hindering the initiation of “altseason,” according to some experts.
Additionally, the launch of cryptocurrency ETF funds has fundamentally changed the market structure, creating “liquidity pools” for digital assets with ETFs, causing capital flows to be locked in and unable to circulate freely within the cryptocurrency ecosystem.
This has limited the ability of capital from Bitcoin profits or other tokens to shift into altcoins, weakening the “altseason” phase that veteran traders once expected in previous market cycles.
Ông Giáo
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