Ki Young Ju, the CEO of CryptoQuant, has made a bold statement about altcoins amid the early signs of a major rebound in the market. In an update on X, Young Ju shared this with crypto community members. According to him, the “alt season has begun.” This take is similar to that earlier expressed by Changpeng Zhao on altcoins.
Altcoins surge as trading volume outpaces Bitcoin
Notably, the “alt season” is when altcoins like Ethereum (ETH) and Solana (SOL) outperform Bitcoin (BTC), resulting in a significant shift in coin dominance.
Young Ju stated that this alt season has key differences from previous cycles as there is no direct BTC to altcoin rotation. This implies that the shift in dominance is not caused by traders moving their profit from Bitcoin trade into altcoins.
Rather than use Bitcoin as the base trading pair for altcoins, most traders have switched to stablecoins like USDT and USDC. These traders are buying altcoins directly and avoiding Bitcoin, which no longer reportedly poses a threat to the U.S. dollar. This marks a significant shift in market behavior among traders.
Young Ju noted that “alt volume is 2.7x BTC.” This implies that altcoins are currently witnessing a higher trading volume than Bitcoin. This clearly indicates stronger demand on the part of market participants.
Alt season has begun.
No direct BTC-to-alt rotation, but stablecoin holders are favoring alts. Alt volume is 2.7x BTC. BTC Dominance no longer defines alt season—trading volume does.
Its a very selective alt season tho. DYOR. pic.twitter.com/7lSffDuuM8
— Ki Young Ju (@ki_young_ju) February 21, 2025
Interestingly, this shift differs from the traditional pattern where a drop in Bitcoin dominance signaled an alt season. In this case, trading volume is being used to measure dominance in altcoins.
Is this start of true alt season？
Young Ju, however, sounded a note of caution. Investors betting on altcoins should know that not all assets benefit equally. While some projects are witnessing big gains, others have continued to lag behind.
Hence, altcoin investors must engage in personal research to determine which altcoins have gained and are likely to remain viable.
However, a user, RobW, has questioned Young Jus observation that “a few tokens are pumping,” as being equivalent to an alt season. RobW argues that it might not really be the alt season yet.
Others acknowledged the rebound moves in some altcoins, although they are yet to reclaim past levels.