Analysts divided as meme coin rally sparks alt season speculation

Among analysts’ predictions for an upcoming altcoin season, meme coins PNUT, PEPE, WIF, and BRETT recorded the biggest gains among the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market cap on Nov. 14.

Squirrel Peanut (PNUT) increased by 122.5% in the past day, increasing its market value to over $2 billion. Meme coin hit an all-time high of $2.44 on Thursday before breaking out of some gains and fluctuating around $2.07 at the time of writing.

Pepe (PEPE) changed hands at $0.0000225, an increase of 75% in the last 24 hours, and its market value reached $9.4 billion. Early on November 14, the Ethereum-based meme coin reached an all-time high of $0.00002457, with a massive trading volume of over $25 billion at the time of this writing.

Other popular memecoins such as Dogwifhat (WIF), Brett (BRETT), Popcat (POPCAT), Bonk (BONK), and FLOKI (FLOKI) also reached the top of the daily gainers, gaining between 20-40%. Meanwhile, Dogecoin and Shiba Inu, the first meme coin ever launched, also posted more modest gains of 5.4% and 5.9%, respectively.

The recent surge in meme coins and other altcoins increased the sector’s market value by 9% in the past day, reaching a record level of $126.6 billion. This rally follows Donald Trump’s recent election victory and Bitcoin reaching new highs multiple times in recent days.

As Bitcoin moves through its price discovery phase, analysts are actively discussing the potential of its upcoming alt season and predict that this momentum could soon spark a broader altcoin rally.

According to crypto analyst Miles Deutscher, the market is currently still in the “Bitcoin phase” of the cycle, where the flagship cryptocurrency remains in price discovery and continues to rally and absorb liquidity until it reaches the top of the cycle. Altcoin season begins as BTC dominance begins to decline.

The analyst stated that although there has been an increase in altcoins recently, a full-fledged altcoin season has not yet arrived, and emphasized that BTC’s strong performance at this stage is very important to lay the groundwork for a sustainable altcoin rally. Deutscher noted that the higher BTC rises, the more aggressive the eventual capital rotation towards altcoins could be.

However, fellow analyst Ash Crypto believes Bitcoin dominance, currently hovering around 60.80%, has likely peaked this cycle and expects Bitcoin to start losing ground soon.

Ash Crypto said, “ALTS SEASON WILL START WHEN KAZ STARTS.”

Similarly, market commentator CryptoAmsterdam expects the alt season to begin in the coming weeks.

It starts with Bitcoin breaking its all-time high.

Hundreds of millions of dollars are flowing into Bitcoin.

A few weeks later, Bitcoin’s dominance broke down.

Now these millions are flying into your altcoins.

Subseason has arrived. pic.twitter.com/whNNscWp90

— CryptoAmsterdam (@damskotrades) November 13, 2024

Patric H, however, predicts a longer timeline and suggests that, assuming BTC’s momentum continues, the altcoin’s rally may not fully materialize until Bitcoin dominance reaches around 66%. Like Deutscher, he believes that this high level of dominance will pave the way for a much stronger altcoin season and advises his followers to hold their altcoin positions in anticipation.

While the altcoin index is currently showing a value of 35, it appears that the crypto community is still a long way from experiencing a true altcoin season, which usually occurs when the reading rises above 75, as previously seen in March 2021 and August 2022.