Altcoin season is the stretch of a crypto cycle when most altcoins outperform Bitcoin. The Altcoin Season Index puts a number on it. A reading of 75 or higher means altcoin season. A reading of 25 or lower means Bitcoin season. Anything in between is neutral.
Right now the index sits at 47 with Bitcoin dominance near 60%. So no, it is not altcoin season yet.
I have traded through two full altcoin seasons, 2017 and 2021. Both felt like free money for about three months. Both ended with the same people holding bags they bought in the final week. This guide explains how the index works, what it misses, and which signals I check before I believe the rotation is real.
What Is Altcoin Season?
Altcoin season, or altseason, is a period where capital rotates out of Bitcoin and into everything else. Ethereum usually moves first. Large caps follow. Mid caps and meme coins come last and move the hardest.
The simple definition: most of the top altcoins beat Bitcoin over a 90-day window.
That rotation happens because Bitcoin leads every cycle. New money enters through BTC. Once Bitcoin stalls near a high, traders look for higher beta. They sell some BTC, buy alts, and the ratio charts flip. Bitcoin can still rise during altseason. It just rises slower than the rest of the market.
Altseasons are short. The 2021 run lasted roughly from February to May, with a second leg in the autumn. The 2017 version ran from December into January 2018. Three to four months each. The rest of the cycle, Bitcoin wins.
How the Altcoin Season Index Works
The Altcoin Season Index compares a basket of top altcoins against Bitcoin over the past 90 days. It counts how many of them outperformed BTC and turns that count into a score from 0 to 100.
A score of 47 means 47% of the basket beat Bitcoin over the last three months.
The thresholds are fixed:
- 75 to 100: altcoin season. At least three in four altcoins beat Bitcoin.
- 25 or below: Bitcoin season. Bitcoin beat at least three in four altcoins.
- 26 to 74: neutral. Mixed market, selective rotation.
Two versions exist, and they differ. CoinMarketCap uses the top 100 coins by market cap and strips out stablecoins and wrapped tokens. BlockchainCenter uses the top 50. Both update daily. Because the baskets differ, the two readings rarely match. Check which one a headline quotes before you react to it.
The 90-day window matters more than people think. It makes the index slow. A single violent week of alt outperformance barely moves it. Conversely, the index can stay above 75 for weeks after the rotation has already peaked. It is a thermometer, not a forecast.
Altcoin Season Index Today
As of early November, the CoinMarketCap index reads 47. Bitcoin dominance stands at 59.9%. The 2026 high was 64, printed on September 27. The index has not touched the 75 line at any point this year.
That is neutral territory. Some alts are working. Hyperliquid printed new highs, Zcash ran on its Grayscale ETF filing, and Ethena broke out on FalconX news. Yet the basket as a whole still trails Bitcoin. Capital is selective, not broad.
I update this reading on every refresh of this post, so the number above may move. The thresholds will not.
Bitcoin Dominance vs the Altcoin Season Index
People use these two terms as if they were the same thing. They are not.
Bitcoin dominance measures Bitcoin’s share of total crypto market cap. Right now that is about 60%. It tells you where the money sits.
The Altcoin Season Index measures how many altcoins beat Bitcoin recently. It tells you where the money is moving.
Both matter, and they can disagree. Dominance can fall because stablecoin supply grows, with no altcoin rally at all. The index can climb because ten mid caps pumped on catalysts while the other ninety flatlined.
Historically, altseason starts after dominance peaks and rolls over. In 2021 dominance ran from 70% in January to roughly 40% by May. We wrote about that pattern in our Bitcoin dominance comparison of 2021 and 2025. Dominance crossed 60% again in April 2025, the first time since March 2021. It topped out between 62% and 63% in mid-2025, dipped toward 54% late last year, and climbed back toward 60% this year. No sustained breakdown yet.
Three Signals I Check Before Calling Altseason
The index confirms late. I use it as the final checkbox, not the first. Here is what I watch before it.
1. A weekly close in Bitcoin dominance below the trendline
Daily wicks in dominance mean nothing. A weekly close under the multi-month trendline does. Analysts have watched the 59% to 60% zone all year. Dominance has tested it three times without a clean break. Until that candle closes, I treat every alt pump as a trade, not a regime change.
2. ETH/BTC turning up
Ethereum is the gateway for alt rotation. When ETH/BTC makes higher lows for a few weeks, large caps usually follow. When ETH keeps bleeding against Bitcoin, broad altseason is not close. Ethereum strengthened against Bitcoin in October, which is the most constructive signal of the three right now.
3. USDT dominance rolling over
Stablecoin dominance shows how much money sits on the sidelines. Falling USDT dominance means cash is going back to work. We flagged this chart in our post on six crypto tokens that had a big week back in May. The level to watch is the 7.2% area that capped the market in September. A rejection there, followed by the index climbing back above 50, would be the setup.
Three checks, then the index. When all four line up, I rotate. Until then, I stay selective.
What 2017 and 2021 Taught Me
The first altcoin I ever bought was Litecoin, below 10 cents. I still remember the rush as it kept climbing that season, deep into the double digits. The next cycle took it past $100. Surges like that from a coin everyone had heard of are rare now. Today you mostly find them in the meme corner of the market. That is exactly why I wrote a memecoin due diligence checklist before touching any of them.
Dogecoin was my other early lesson. I mined it in 2014 with a friend and lost access to a wallet holding about 400,000 DOGE. The password is gone. The full story is in my Dogecoin miners post, and it still stings every time the chart pumps.
Big multipliers are not impossible outside memes, though. In 2017 the ICO wave carried everything, and dominance fell under 40% by January 2018. In 2021 DeFi tokens and Layer 1s did 20x to 50x before meme coins closed the show. Pick the right altcoin early and the move can still be serious.
The lesson from both runs was identical. Altseason rewards people who were positioned before it started and sold into strength while it ran. The index crossing 75 is when the crowd arrives. By then the smart exits are already happening. Our market structure guide shows how those tops look on a chart.
How Altseason Changes Airdrop Farming
This part matters for AirdropAlert readers more than any price chart.
Airdrop payouts track the market. In a bear market a mid-tier airdrop pays tens of dollars per wallet. In altseason the same effort pays three or four figures, because the token lists at an inflated valuation and attention is everywhere. Same grind, very different result.
Project behaviour changes too. Teams rush token launches to catch the window. Points programs convert faster. Snapshots land with less warning. Farmers who built positions during the quiet months collect while new entrants scramble to qualify.
So the index doubles as a farming calendar. Neutral readings like today are the time to farm. Keep your wallets active across the protocols you believe in. New to this? Start with how airdrops work and why they still pay. When the index pushes toward 75, shift from farming to harvesting. Claim, sell most of it, keep a runner.
Want to see what is live right now? Check the latest airdrops and start building history before the crowd shows up.
Altcoin Airdrops
Altcoins are what sparked our niche in the first place. New projects needed users, and the fastest way to get them was giving coins away. That logic has not changed since 2017. Every live campaign we list sits in one of our airdrop categories. Some are free and take five minutes. Others are real farming, paid for with time and effort or with capital.
The most popular categories for stacking altcoins before a rotation:
Common Altcoin Season Mistakes
Chasing the 75 print. By the time the index confirms, the easy part of the move is done. Build positions in neutral territory with a DCA strategy instead of lump-summing on the headline.
Buying meme coins first. Memes run last in every cycle. Buying them before large caps have moved means holding through months of nothing. Our ultimate meme coin shill list explains how we rank them when the time comes.
Ignoring the exit. Altseason ends faster than it starts. Decide your sell levels before you enter. If you have never set one, our guide on how to start trading crypto walks through it.
Trusting one number. The index is one input. Pair it with dominance, ETH/BTC, and stablecoin flows. Learn to read all four on a chart with Trading Fundamentals Part 27.
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Trading in neutral territory while you wait for the rotation? Every active exchange competition, perp DEX points program and trading reward sits in our trading airdrops overview.
Final Words
The Altcoin Season Index is useful because it is boring. It does not predict anything. It simply counts how many altcoins beat Bitcoin over 90 days and tells you where the market stands.
Today that answer is 47. Neutral. Selective. Not altseason.
Use the quiet to farm, build positions slowly, and watch the three signals above. When dominance breaks on a weekly close, ETH/BTC trends up, and stablecoins start flowing back in, the index will follow. By then you want to be done buying, not starting.
For the rest of the series, the Trading Fundamentals tag has every part in order.
FAQ
What is the Altcoin Season Index?
The Altcoin Season Index is a daily metric scored from 0 to 100. It shows how many top altcoins outperformed Bitcoin over the past 90 days.
What reading counts as altcoin season?
A reading of 75 or higher. That means at least 75% of the tracked altcoins beat Bitcoin over the last 90 days. A reading of 25 or lower is Bitcoin season.
Is it altcoin season right now?
No. As of early November 2026 the index reads 47 and Bitcoin dominance is near 60%, which is neutral territory.
How is the Altcoin Season Index different from Bitcoin dominance?
Bitcoin dominance measures Bitcoin’s share of total crypto market cap. The index measures how many altcoins beat Bitcoin recently. One shows where money sits, the other shows where it is moving.
How long does an altcoin season last?
Historically three to four months. The 2017 and 2021 runs both fit that range before Bitcoin regained the lead.
Does altcoin season affect airdrops?
Yes. Airdrop payouts rise sharply during altseason because tokens launch at higher valuations and more buyers show up. Positions built in neutral periods pay out when the rotation hits.
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