The idea of buying “second-tier” assets at a time when the leading asset has lost momentum is not new. It was invented long before Bitcoin and other cryptos appeared in the financial marketplace. The logic behind the idea is simple: investors take profits in the market’s key growth engine and transfer funds into undervalued assets, hoping to profit from their robust growth.
Let’s take a look at a historic example and study the times when crypto went mainstream. Back in 2017, Bitcoin’s strong rally reached its local peak in the first half of December. This peak was followed by a strong correction. Meanwhile, Ethereum, which was the altcoin at that point in time, peaked in the first half of January 2018.Traders took profits after Bitcoin’s rally and transferred some of the funds to bet on Ethereum, pushing its price to new highs.
The crypto industry has been developing at an astonishing pace since 2017, and the market has changed materially. Back at the start of 2017, there were just several hundred coins in the market. In 2025, this number has grown to almost 37 million and continues to expand at a robust pace.
Theoretically, each one of these coins is an altcoin, since they are not Bitcoin. From a practical point of view, the term “altcoin” is starting to lose its meaning. This term now covers millions of coins, most of which will never gain any momentum.
When talking about the altcoin season, one has to clarify what they mean. Investors can focus on a specific sector: memecoins, AI tokens, coins issued in the U.S. (a bet on a diversified crypto reserve that will include tokens that were launched in the United States), DeFi, GameFi, or others.
The range of projects within each market sector is so big that coins’ trends may be multidirectional. For example, the recently launched memecoins TRUMP and MELANIA may not move in sync with the memecoin sector leaders like DOGE and SHIB. Any popular memecoins that could be launched in the future will have their own path in the market, which becomes increasingly fragmented as more coins are launched.
What should an investor do in the modern market landscape? Put simply, a thorough homework is a must. Investors should carefully select the projects they want to invest in, paying attention to fundamentals and the outlook for a specific project. Gone are the times when a wave of money lifted all crypto boats. There are too many “boats” now, so investors have to choose their bets wisely. From a big picture point of view, this is good for the industry, as investor selectiveness will force teams to focus on the development of their projects rather than on hype and marketing activity.