Falling Bitcoin (BTC) Dominance And Rising Altcoin Interest (Analysis)

Bitcoin (BTC) dominance is currently at 37.95% which is just 5.49% away from its all time low of 32.46% in June 2017. Bitcoin’s dominance of the total market cap of cryptocurrencies might continue to fall further in June 2018. This fall in market dominance of Bitcoin is directly linked to a rising interest in altcoins (which are cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin) and for good reason. As the market cap of Bitcoin has grown, it has become difficult to achieve 20x and 50x gains as before. Cryptocurrency traders have thus switched to altcoins to enjoy higher returns on their investments. The level of excitement in altcoins after the recent correction is unprecedented. While Bitcoin has not made any significant post correction gains, most altcoins have already recorded at least 30% gains with coins like Verge (XVG), EOS (EOS) and Stellar (XLM) leading the altcoin rally. As more new projects come into the market, more investment flows into those projects in the form of ICOs. The increasing interest in altcoins is natural when you consider the number of new projects that are available to invest in. Back in July 2013 when Bitcoin (BTC) dominance was at its peak, we did not have as many projects to invest in. The lack of options made Bitcoin the only choice and it monopolized the market. However, as more and more altcoins came into the market, money did flow into those projects for the time being but it channeled back to Bitcoin when most investors took profit at the peak of the altcoin cycle. Whether or not something similar will happen this time is hard to predict but it does not seem likely. The dynamics of the market seem to have changed for good. Bitcoin (BTC) dominance never fell by such a large percentage as it did in 2017. The chart above shows that Bitcoin dominance did fall every year but it rose back up. However, the overall Bitcoin dominance is on a constant decline as the ATH keeps getting lower every year. Bitcoin currently trades close to the $9000 resistance after having broken the historical downtrend resistance line (log scale) which marked a big accomplishment for the bulls. The price has now broken both the linear and logarithmic downtrend resistance lines and is considered to be in the clear. It may continue to struggle with the $9000 resistance breaking which a path to $11,000 will be cleared. Whether or not Bitcoin will see enough momentum to rise past its ATH by the end of the year remains to be seen. However, altcoins on the other hand seem to be close to their previous ATHs and might very well see new highs by the end of the year as long as Bitcoin remains bullish. A very serious implication of falling Bitcoin dominance could be the decoupling of the altcoin markets which will break them free off Bitcoin’s pull and allow every project to lose or gain on the basis of its own merits and performance.