Altcoins have the longest depression streak since 2022
Altcoins are trading in a depressed range, the longest since the 2022 bear market. Over 84% of altcoins are trading below their 200-day moving average, with few signs of recovery.
The altcoin market remains stagnant, still affected by the October 2025 liquidation event. CryptoQuant analyst Darkfrost noted over 84% of altcoins are trading below their 200-day moving average, showing one of the longest continuous periods of weakness since 2022. According to the analyst, altcoins had the second-longest underperformance streak since 2020.
The analyst also warned that the current market cycle makes it much more difficult to select future winners. Unlike previous periods, in 2026 altcoins remain closely correlated with BTC sentiment. A weakening BTC is not encouraging traders to move to altcoins. In most cases, altcoins track the direction of BTC, but with bigger losses during downturns.
Since October 2025, altcoins have not shown any signs of momentum or a mass recovery. At the moment, sentiment is balanced between BTC and altcoin trading, as the altcoin season index sits at a neutral 49 points. The altcoin market has also lost support from Ethereum and Solana, as both ETH and SOL remain stagnant and user enthusiasm is much lower. Previously, altcoin rallies were triggered by ETH or SOL recoveries.
The current performance of altcoins shows that not even coins with strong fundamentals are recovering. Most of the top tokens linked to DeFi have underperformed in the past 90 days.
Altcoins have been drifting sideways in the past eight months since October 2025, wiping out over $1B during that time. The worsening crypto sentiment also raised the possibility that sentiment may not recover for some altcoins.
Altcoins rely on short-term liquidity
Despite the overall market slowdown, some altcoins outperformed BTC in the past 90 days. At the top are altcoins or assets traded on Binance, which achieve dramatic short-term pumps.
Other top performers with stronger fundamentals include HYPE and ZEC. Worldcoin(WLD) recovered with a boost from the AI narrative.
Some tokens also reflected the performance of DeFi platforms and chains. JTO and JUP reflect the relatively high activity on Solana. ONDO is outperforming based on carrying a growing number of tokenized assets and higher trading volumes.
Altcoins await another correction
Altcoins and tokens continue to be displaced by perpetual futures trading of stocks and commodities, as well as other tokenized real-world assets. Despite altcoins trading near historical lows, there are almost no expectations of an altcoin season to lift all assets.
Instead, most traders expect another sell-off or continued price weakness. The only exceptions are some altcoins with known sources of liquidity.
Despite the lowered sentiment, altcoin trading remains highly active on Binance. In the past months, altcoin volumes made up around 50% of all trading on the exchange.
Binance is also the venue for the most notable altcoin pumps. Despite this, traders are wary of those assets, as the pumps are usually due to a short squeeze and are quickly corrected. Binance also often carries altcoins and tokens with a minimal free float and insider control of the supply.
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