Ever since Bitcoin (BTC) began to rally in April, altcoins fell out of favor with most in the crypto community. No longer were people looking for the next winner, they were instead trying to determine where the leading crypto asset would top out.
And top Bitcoin did earlier this week. After rallying by 20% in a single day — a daily gain not seen since early-April — BTC collapsed by over $3,000 in the following 36 hours, showing an uncharacteristic bout of weakness amid a wider uptrend.
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With this move, altcoins, for some reason, have become the talk of the town once again. In fact, as popular cryptocurrency trader Nik Patel has pointed out, worldwide “search interest” (as defined by Google) for the term “altcoins” is expected to reach 12-month highs this week.
It isn’t clear why exactly this is the case, but it could mark a migration of Bitcoin profits into smaller digital assets, many of which have suffered greatly as BTC has found itself up week-over-week. But, do analysts expect for altcoins to outperform the market leader?
— Nik (@cointradernik) June 29, 2019
Will Bitcoin be Outperformed by Altcoins?
Well, to answer the aforementioned question, yes and no. Yes in that some altcoins will likely outperform Bitcoin; no in that many are likely to underperform BTC, and may even be wiped off the face of the cryptocurrency market.
What this writer is referring to is the bifurcation between “good” altcoins and “bad” altcoins. Over 2016 and 2017’s crazy bull run, which saw Bitcoin appreciate by 2,000%, but altcoins simultaneously gain tens of thousands of percent, there were countless digital assets created.
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Each startup tried to fit a cryptocurrency into their business model, even if the viability of the asset or blockchain wasn’t there. Despite the array of uninspired coins, most rallied anyway, catalyzed off good marketing, social media manipulation tactics, and what is best known as “The Fear of Missing Out”, FOMO.
But, with the crypto asset market now maturing, especially in terms of institutional involvement, most analysts expect for a large rift to grow between those projects deemed promising and those deemed horrid.
For instance, in a recent interview with BlockTV, a Binance executive explained that in the coming market cycle, investors will start to determine the good assets from the bad, hence why many cryptocurrencies are performing differently.
Bitcoin, for instance, is up over 200% from the bottom; Litecoin, some 600%; Binance Coin, at least 400%. And at the same time, many assets have dwindled, losing traction for some reason or another. This bifurcation may continue according to notable commodities analyst Peter Brandt.
He says that the uptrend in Bitcoin dominance could continue, quipping that “crypto maniacs” who believe altcoins will “benefit from bull runs in Bitcoin… may be very disappointed.”
Backing his point, Brandt likens the previous bull run to the Nasdaq’s Dotcom boom and bust, but this surge to the subsequent rally, during which “altcoms” died out and “dotcoms with real value exploded.”
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