Altcoin Season Fizzles While Bitcoin Dominates—Can XRP and Cardano Lead the Recovery?

Altcoin Season Absent: While Bitcoin continues hitting new all-time highs, most altcoins are struggling, with the overall market cap growing 98.41% in 2024—but only 71% when excluding BTC, showing weak altcoin momentum.
Meme Coins vs. Utility Projects: Trader DonAlt suggests meme coins are draining liquidity before collapsing, arguing that stronger assets like XRP and Cardano (ADA) will lead the market’s recovery when investors shift toward real utility.
Potential ETF Catalyst: XRP and ADA could see a major boost if altcoin ETFs emerge, similar to how Bitcoin ETFs have absorbed $10 billion this year, potentially driving long-term capital into these assets.

The crypto market’s frustration is almost tangible. Bitcoin (BTC) keeps smashing all-time highs, hitting new peaks nearly every two months, yet the long-anticipated altcoin season? Nowhere in sight. While a few outliers—like Solana (SOL)—managed to reclaim their past highs, most altcoins remain stuck in the shadows, trailing far behind.

To put it into perspective: The total crypto market cap has surged 98.41% in 2024, but when you strip Bitcoin out of the equation? The growth drops to 71%—a stark reminder that the broader altcoin market isn’t exactly thriving.

Top Trader: “Forget the Meme Coins, Look at Quality”

For veteran trader DonAlt, the issue isn’t just about the missing altcoin season—it’s about where the money is flowing. Instead of hoping for a broad rally, he argues that investors should focus on quality assets like XRP and Cardano (ADA).

Meanwhile, meme coins continue to hijack liquidity, sucking in funds only to crash into irrelevance. DonAlt suggests that for the market to truly heal, capital must shift away from speculative fads and into projects with real utility—not just hype.

And there’s another challenge: There are now over 33 million different tokens, a staggering 10x increase from previous cycles. With so much dilution, expecting a broad-based altcoin rally is wishful thinking. Investors have to be more selective than ever.

ETFs: The Lifeline for XRP and Cardano?

Interestingly, both XRP and ADA could benefit from the next big trend in crypto: Altcoin ETFs. Bitcoin ETFs have already sucked in $10 billion this year, and analysts believe that when XRP ETFs and Cardano ETFs inevitably arrive, they’ll see a natural influx of capital.

That’s the theory, at least.

For now, the market remains caught between short-term meme coin pumps and long-term fundamental plays. Traders like DonAlt argue that the real shift will come when capital starts sticking to high-value projects, not just chasing the latest Pump.Fun casino run.

Will it happen? That’s the million-dollar question.