By CCN Markets: Bitcoin raged back into a bull market in 2019, leaving the rest of the cryptocurrency market in the dust.
While bitcoin is up 178 percent this year alone, Ripple (XRP) and Stellar (XLM), are down more than 15 percent. Despite desperate hopes of an ‘altseason’ surge, most altcoins remain stagnant while bitcoin’s dominance has gone from strength to strength, currently sitting at 71 percent according to Messari.
One chart, created by on-chain analyst Willy Woo, perfectly captures bitcoin’s brutal dominance over the last seven months. It’s almost artistic, like a Jackson Pollock painting.
“Shit runs downhill”, 2019 bull season edition.
This is the performance of the the top 200 coins measured in satoshi value (performance against BTC).
Note alts got particularly rekted after BTC broke out on 1st Apr. pic.twitter.com/lN3Jdnsfni
— Willy Woo (@woonomic) August 13, 2019
Bitcoin dominance destroys most altcoins
The chart tracks altcoin prices measured against BTC, with the bitcoin / USD chart layered over the top for reference. As you can see, the broad trend shows altcoin prices collapsing against bitcoin.
In particular, the entire altcoin market began to slide in April 2019, the moment bitcoin popped higher. It appears traders pulled money out of altcoins and allocated it to bitcoin instead.
“Sh*t runs downhill”
As Willy Woo eloquently put it, “sh*t runs downhill.” The implication being that the vast majority of altcoins have been exposed as useless, over-hyped, or pure scams over the last 18 months.
Ark Invest crypto analyst Yassine Elmandjra paints a similar picture to Willy Woo. He explains that, when priced in BTC terms, every major cryptocurrency has plunged against bitcoin.
“Pricing coins in USD terms is extremely misleading. Pricing them in BTC paints a much different picture. At current USD price levels, EVERY coin in the top 10 is at all time lows in BTC terms.”
2/ In BTC terms:
– ETH is down 77%
– XRP is down 67%
– BCH is down 50%
– LTC is down 90%
– BNB is down 25%
– EOS is down 60%
– BSV is down 26%
– XMR is down 60%from when their current USD price levels were at highs in BTC terms.
— Yassine Elmandjra (@yassineARK) August 12, 2019
As ARK founder Cathie Wood went on to confirm:
“Bitcoin is the reserve currency of the crypto asset ecosystem, an exalted role.”
Will bitcoin give way to an altseason?
As CCN reported, we may not see another so-called ‘altseason’ like the hype-cycle of 2017. None of the same triggers exist in today’s digital asset ecosystem and the narrative seems to be tightening around bitcoin.
That doesn’t mean all altcoins are dead. Those with strong utility and communities will likely find strength in the next bull run. But, we’re unlikely to see a major altcoin resurgence until BTC surpasses $20,000 and attracts new money. As trader Cantering Clark put it:
“Alts don’t crush it again until BTC draws people in with a new ATH.”
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