Crypto trading activity has hit a yearly low as the holiday bubble dampens markets

The data marks the weakest fortnight of trading for bitcoin and major altcoins since last year as range-bound prices continued to dominate.

The markets failed to see a year-end rally or a significant rally in December. Bitcoin and other crypto-assets ended the year on a quiet note as investors expressed risk appetite and avoided aggressive buying.

Top altcoins, in particular, lost significant momentum despite similar year-end conditions.

Flexibility is lost

Sentiment said that crypto trading activity will slow significantly in the final weeks of 2025, as prices become region-bound and distract traders away from the holiday season. According to the analyst firm, Bitcoin and major altcoins are experiencing their weakest two-week trading stretch since the same period last year, and no major volatility appears to be in the offing. However, the analyst firm pointed out a significant difference from 2024 onwards.

At that time, Ethereum and altcoins such as Solana, Cardano and Dogecoin still showed strong participation. However, these assets are now registering less than half of their previous weekly trading volumes.

SOL, for one, was unchanged last month and was trading at $126. The Solana ETF, in contrast, has seen significant gains recently. Lookonchain said these funds saw a one-day net increase of 36,533 SOL, recording $4.6 million, while the seven-day net profit stood at 87,667 SOL, which is about $11.05 million. This positive trend indicates that institutional investors' appetite remains intact despite the underperformance in spot prices.

ADA, on the other hand, fell 8% after falling from $0.417 to $0.349.

Meanwhile, the OG meme coin, DOGE, has shared a similar fate after dropping nearly 10% on a monthly basis as it trades near $0.122. Amidst signs of continued weakness, technical patterns such as death crosses and head and shoulders show further declines to $0.08. Investors' interest in the investment vehicle appears to be low and the decline in open interest futures adds to the bearish sentiment, experts say.

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Altcoin season in 2026?

Altseason doesn't actually arrive until 2025. Despite occasional increases in individual coins, the altcoin market, as a whole, has lost the momentum seen in previous cycles. Many major assets have struggled to even gain traction on Bitcoin.

This is the year It has darkened the hopes of market watchers like ‘Rekt Fencer' who believed that 2026 could witness a big altcoin season. As he tweeted, altcoins are currently in a macro bottom with BTC, and the dominance of “others” is at levels seen in previous alt rallies in 2017 and 2020.

Analysts note that 12-13% dominance historically marks the start of a strong altcoin run, while 18-20% dominance coincides with major alt periods.