Bitcoin Withstood Direct Hit, But Why Altcoins Couldn't Escape

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Analysis suggests that Bitcoin's market share in the cryptocurrency market has reached its highest level in the past four years, continuously narrowing the space for altcoins.

According to TradingView data on the 15th, Bitcoin dominance (Bitcoin's market share within the cryptocurrency market) this month is approximately 62%, marking the highest level since February 2021.

Recently, the asset market has been hit by the aggressive tariff policies of the Donald Trump administration in the United States and geopolitical crises around the world, but Bitcoin, with its relatively abundant liquidity, withstood the downward pressure. However, altcoins with less liquidity could not avoid a crash, leading to an increase in Bitcoin's market share.

According to CoinMarketCap, Bitcoin has fallen about 6.59% over the past seven days, while Ethereum (ranked 2nd by market cap) dropped 13.31%, XRP (ranked 4th) fell 8.62%, and Solana (ranked 6th) declined 10.53% during the same period. Cryptocurrency analysis platform Matrixport analyzed, "Bitcoin dominance has risen sharply in a short time from around 54% in December last year," adding, "This suggests that the short-term bullish trend for altcoins has faded."

Experts diagnose that as global hedge funds and institutional money flow into spot cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds (ETFs) with stable product structures, the flow of funds into altcoins is not occurring smoothly as in past market trends. Institutions prefer regulatory-based structural investments such as spot ETFs, and with the recent market cooling trend, speculative demand from individuals has also decreased, further narrowing the space for altcoins.

Cryptocurrency specialized media Cointelegraph analyzed, "After the launch of spot Bitcoin ETFs in the market, accessibility to Bitcoin for retail and institutional investors has improved, but the flow of funds in the speculative altcoin market has inevitably decreased," adding, "Institutional investors have come to prefer safer methods to invest in cryptocurrencies without the risks of the altcoin market."

Young-min Lee, BloomingBit reporter