The Great Altcoin Devastation 🪚
Hello, y'all. Happy Saturday.
"This is the last dip before the rally begins"; “Get ready for new highs” and so on.
If you've spent any time on Crypto Twitter lately, you've seen this hopeful mantra repeated daily by altcoin loyalists, even as their portfolios continue bleeding red. "Tomorrow will be better", “altcoins will soon start to catch up” and similar other desperate pleas masquerading as analysis.
The carnage in the altcoin market has been brutal.
For context, if you had bought the dip and put $100 in Bitcoin on February 1, it would have been $82 today. The same $100-bill put in Ethereum would have turned $55, Solana - $53, Cardano’s ADA at $70 and Ripple’s XRP would be down to petty $33. Elon Musk’s favourite DOGE would have been cut into half at $52.
Many smaller altcoins have seen worse, a 70-80% of value erosion.
In today's Wormhole, we dive into this altcoin devastation, examine what's really happening beneath the Twitter hopium, and ask the uncomfortable question: Is this just another dip in the crypto cycle, or are we witnessing a fundamental shift in the crypto landscape?
Special Deal for Traders: Big Funds, Bigger Profits!
Tired of trading small? What if you could trade with serious capital — without risking your own? That’s where Propexito comes in.
Here’s the deal
Pass the challenge & prove you’ve got the skills
Get funded and trade with Propexito’s capital
Keep up to 90% of your profits—because you earned it
TTD exclusive: 20% off your challenge with code TTD20
No more excuses. No more small trades. Just pure profit potential.
Grab your 20% discount & start trading with Propexito!
The Scale of the Devastation
The divergence between Bitcoin and altcoins has been striking. While Bitcoin has certainly faced pressure – dropping 15-20% from its early-February highs – altcoins have been absolutely hammered.
Even while shedding almost a fifth of its market cap, Bitcoin’s dominance surged to 62% in the past month — a level not seen since January 2021, from 57.7% on February 1. This flight to Bitcoin's relative safety amid macro uncertainties has come at the direct expense of altcoins.
Altcoins’ collective market share continues to diminish as it fell from 42% on February 1 to 37% today.
Get 17% discount on our annual plans and access our weekly premium features (HashedIn, Wormhole, Rabbit hole and Mempool) and subscribers only posts. Also, show us some love on Twitter and Telegram.
The Altcoin Season Index, which measures performance of altcoins against Bitcoin, also has plummeted to its lowest level since July 2023.
Looking at specific altcoins reveals the extent of the damage.
Ethereum, Solana and Dogecoin — three of the top eight cryptocurrencies by market cap — have crashed more than 40% as of today, from the start of February. ETH was trading in the range of $3,300 and SOL at around $236. Today, these “blue chips” are trading in the ranges of $1,800 and $121, respectively.
Ripple’s XRP that was flying high not so long ago had to go through absolute battering.
Beyond the price drops, ETH, SOL and XRP collectively contributed to a massive $470+ billion erasure of altcoin market capitalisation in just two months.
Despite this, Crypto Twitter remains filled with relentless optimism. Every temporary 5% bounce triggers declarations that "the bottom is in" and "alt season is imminent."
That’s a crypto influencer with more than a million followers. Meanwhile, altcoins are still waiting to “catch up”.
What really is strangling the altcoins then?
Tariff Tremors and Macro Uncertainty
President Trump's aggressive tariff announcements have sent shockwaves through financial markets. The proposed 25% levies on Mexican and Canadian goods (effective April 2 – "Liberation Day") have reignited trade war anxieties, triggering risk aversion across all asset classes, Bitget's Chief Analyst Ryan Lee told *The Block.*
"Bitcoin's 0.67 correlation coefficient with the Nasdaq suggests equities weakness could continue dragging crypto prices lower." This correlation hits altcoins even harder, as they typically amplify Bitcoin's movements in both directions.
The Liberation Day tariff announcements by Trump alone triggered a $50 billion market cap erosion among altcoins.
Platform-Level Policies
An often overlooked factor in this devastation was Binance's leverage adjustments on April 1, which triggered a significant market crash. With Binance controlling approximately 78% of altcoin trading volume, its policy changes have an outsized impact on the market.
The April Fools' Day crash saw altcoins "dipping heavily" while Bitcoin held relatively better, highlighting the vulnerability of altcoins to exchange-level decisions.
Sector-Specific Challenges
The DeFi sector, once the crown jewel of the altcoin ecosystem, has experienced a significant decline. Daily Total value locked (TVL) on April 4 is down 22% to $95 billion from the February 1 value TVL of $22 billion, driven by security breaches (like Bybit's $1.4 billion exploit), falling crypto prices, and macroeconomic uncertainty.
Ethereum faces its own unique challenges. The rise of Layer-2 networks has diverted transaction fees away from the Ethereum mainnet, reducing the blockchain's "GDP." The upcoming Pectra upgrade is anticipated to further reduce blob fees, inadvertently boosting Layer-2 profitability at Ethereum's expense.
ETF Filings: Hope vs. Reality
One bright spot that altcoin enthusiasts cling to is the wave of ETF filings from major financial institutions.
Financial giants like Fidelity, VanEck, CoinShares, and Grayscale continue filing for altcoin ETFs despite the market downturn. Fidelity's recent Solana ETF filing (March 25), VanEck's move to register the first Binance Coin ETF (April 2), and Grayscale's efforts to convert its Litecoin and Solana trusts into ETFs all signal continued institutional interest.
This persistence reflects that traditional finance heavyweights aren't deterred by short-term price action. Each filing represents a bet that regulatory clarity is coming, potentially opening altcoins to a broader investor base.
Except that filings don’t equate a rally.
Crypto influencer VirtualBacon succinctly put it.
The institutional landscape reveals a clear preference for Bitcoin over altcoins.
While Bitcoin funds added $195 million in a recent week, altcoin products collectively saw just $33 million in inflows after five consecutive weeks of outflows.
This gap between filing excitement and actual capital flows highlights why "ETF optimism" alone cannot rescue altcoins from their current devastation.
The ETH-to-BTC ratio will continue declining until the end of 2027, Standard Chartered analyst Geoff Kendrick told Decrypt. This indicates that even if Ethereum's absolute price increases, it will likely lag behind Bitcoin in relative performance.
The liquidity crisis has been particularly severe for altcoins. Overall market liquidations reached $914 million during acute periods of stress, with Ethereum seeing $195 million in liquidations over a single 24-hour period.
Is This Time Different?
Altcoin investors ponder if this devastation represents just another cycle or something structurally different.
Historically, crypto market cycles have seen periods of Bitcoin dominance followed by altcoin seasons. Yet, some factors suggest this time could be different.
Institutional Preference: The entrance of traditional finance through ETFs and other regulated products has changed market dynamics, potentially cementing Bitcoin's position as the institutional on-ramp of choice. For instance, Ethereum ETFs continue to disappoint as they recorded only four positive daily net flows since February 20.
Market Concentration: Binance's 78% control of altcoin trading creates systemic vulnerability that didn't exist in previous cycles.
Technological Evolution: Layer-2 solutions are changing the economics of blockchain usage, particularly for Ethereum-based projects, creating structural challenges for the altcoin leader.
Token Dispatch View 🔍
The altcoin devastation of early 2025 is forcing investors to confront uncomfortable realities beyond the hopeful tweets.
It’s now clear that it is more than another temporary dip in the cycle. We're witnessing a fundamental market restructuring driven by institutional capital flows, regulatory uncertainties, and changing technological landscapes. Bitcoin's dominance surge to 62% despite its own price decline reveals a move of smart money to relative safety that transcends traditional crypto narratives.
The disconnect between social media optimism and market reality has reached almost comical proportions. For every "this is the bottom" declaration, markets have responded with further capitulation. This psychological pattern – where hope repeatedly collides with reality – suggests many investors haven't yet reached the true capitulation necessary for a sustainable bottom.
The behaviour of institutional capital says what to expect in the future. While retail investors cling to "alt season soon" narratives, institutions have voted decisively with their wallets. The $195 million flowing into Bitcoin funds versus just $33 million for all altcoins combined reveals a stark preference that ETF filing excitement cannot overcome. Even approved Ethereum ETFs struggle to attract consistent inflows, challenging the notion that regulatory approval alone can trigger a recovery.
Writing off altcoins entirely would be misguided. The continued ETF filings from established financial players like Fidelity, VanEck, and Grayscale signal long-term institutional conviction beyond current market conditions. Selective accumulation in projects with genuine utility suggests smart money is positioning for eventual differentiation rather than abandoning the sector entirely.
More than the “end of altcoins” narrative, we are going through a necessary and overdue market maturation. The era when all altcoins rose together regardless of fundamentals is ending. In its place, a more discerning market is emerging – one that demands actual utility, sustainable tokenomics, and genuine adoption rather than mere speculation.
For investors navigating this landscape, three principles become essential: patience, selectivity, and realistic expectations. The next altcoin cycle – whenever it arrives – will likely reward fundamentals over narratives, actual revenue over theoretical potential, and proven solutions over speculative promises.
The true "last dip before the rally" won't announce itself with a tweet. It will form quietly in the shadows when most have abandoned hope, when capitulation is complete, and when the fundamentals finally align with technical exhaustion.
Until then, the mantra of "this is the last dip" remains what it has always been – wishful thinking masquerading as analysis.
Token Dispatch is a daily crypto newsletter handpicked and crafted with love by human bots. You can find all about us here 🙌
If you want to reach out to 200,000+ subscriber community of the Token Dispatch, you can explore the partnership opportunities with us.
📩 Fill out this form to submit your details and book a meeting with us directly.
Disclaimer: This newsletter contains sponsored content and affiliate links. All sponsored content is clearly marked. Opinions expressed by sponsors or in sponsored content are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of this newsletter or its authors. We may receive compensation from featured products/services. Content is for informational purposes only, not financial advice. Trading crypto involves substantial risk - your capital is at risk. Do your own research.