Altcoin Market Cap Holds ‘Critical’ Support, Set Up: Analyst

The altcoin market, valued at more than $879 billion at the time of writing, is poised for its next big leg at nearly $1.2 trillion, according to crypto trader and market analyst Michael Van de Pop.

Total3's market capitalization, which tracks the total market capitalization of the entire crypto token ecosystem excluding Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH), has given significant support to around $784 billion, van de Pop said.

Total3's price is also returning to its 365-day moving average, another key support level, according to TradingView data.

In October, Total 3 hit an all-time high of nearly $1.2 trillion, but quickly bounced back after a historic market crash rocked the digital asset, sending the overall altcoin market down 33 percent in one day.

Investors, traders and analysts are trying to gauge the potential for the next altseason to begin following a dismal 2025 marked by changes in crypto market volatility and historical patterns.

Related: Are altcoins coming back? Why ‘Bitcoin season' will remain in force in 2026

Investors waited patiently through 2025, but the altseason never arrived.

Investors typically turned BTC gains into high-risk altcoins during the latter parts of previous crypto market cycles, which were partly driven by Bitcoin's four-year cycle theory.

However, when the annual candle closes red after a disappointing 2025 for BTC – the first for BTC in a post-half year, the theory of a 4-year cycle has been rejected, analysts say.

The number of cryptocurrencies has also grown exponentially. There are over 29 million listed coins on CoinMarketCap, all competing for a certain investor's capital and attention.

Some crypto analysts say that the altcoin boom has flooded the market with so many tokens, preventing the altseason from starting.

Analysts also say that the introduction of crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) has changed the market by organizing the liquidity of digital assets through ETFs, preventing funds from being locked up and freely circulating in the crypto ecosystem.

This prevented capital from flowing into altcoins from any Bitcoin profits or other tokens and slowed down the altseason phase of the market cycle that seasoned crypto traders expect.

Magazine: Altcoin season 2025 is almost here… but the rules have changed