It sounds like the ultimate investment story: a coin hardly anyone knows about rises by several hundred percent within a few days. Social media is full of charts where tokens like Solana, Doge, or Hyperliquid overshadow Bitcoin’s performance. Welcome to the so-called “Altcoin Season.” But reality often looks very different. For every investor who actually gets rich, dozens lose their invested capital. And this pattern repeats with almost tragic regularity. The crashes of 2017 and 2021 have shown this impressively. In 2025 the question arises: is history repeating itself — or is this time different?
What is Altcoin Season?
Altcoin Season refers to phases in which smaller cryptocurrencies — the so-called altcoins — on average perform significantly better than Bitcoin. Capital rotates: after Bitcoin has risen sharply, money flows into riskier coins, driven by the hope of catching the next hundredfold gain. A popular indicator is the Altcoin Season Index from Blockchaincenter. It flashes red when more than 75 percent of the top 50 coins outperform Bitcoin over the last 90 days. Historically, this was the case mainly in 2017 during the ICO boom and in 2021 during the DeFi and NFT wave.
The pattern of Altcoin Season in four phases
Altcoin Seasons usually follow a similar cycle. First, Bitcoin rises and pulls fresh capital into the market. In the second phase, profits rotate into larger altcoins like Ethereum or Solana, which temporarily outperform Bitcoin. In the third phase, capital flows further into smaller, riskier coins — all the way to meme coins or obscure projects with no fundamentals. The fourth phase is almost always the same: liquidity dries up, Bitcoin dominates again, and altcoins collapse — sometimes by up to 90 percent. This structure has repeated several times in the past. The pattern remained — and most lost money in the end.
Historic crashes: 2017 and 2021
At the end of 2017, Bitcoin hit around $19,783 on December 17, before prices collapsed just days later. By December 22, Bitcoin was already trading below $11,000 — a drop of over 45 percent from the high. At the same time, major altcoins fell sharply: Ethereum lost about 20 percent and Litecoin around 21 percent within 24 hours. This wave marked the beginning of a longer altcoin purge in which many hype tokens disappeared or were delisted.
In May 2021 the next turning point followed. The until-then strong altcoin rally abruptly reversed: gains in many segments were largely wiped out in a short time. In November 2021, another major crash occurred, wiping out hundreds of billions in market capitalization within days.
A clear sign that an Altcoin Season is entering its final phase is social hype. When suddenly everyone in your circle of friends is talking about the same coin, when TikTok is full of “next 100x” videos, and Lambo memes flood timelines, it’s usually too late. The illusion of “this time is different” is one of the most dangerous mistakes investors make every season. In reality, the same play repeats: lots of euphoria, little substance — and a painful crash.
The promise of a “Monster Altcoin Season”
Altcoin Season has always followed the same script: Bitcoin rallies, majors like Ethereum and Solana briefly outshine it, then capital floods into riskier tokens until the music stops and prices collapse. 2017 showed it. 2021 confirmed it. The question for 2025 is simple: will history repeat — or break?
Arthur Hayes, co-founder of BitMEX and CIO of Maelstrom, thinks this time could be different. On X he predicted nothing less than a “Monster Altcoin Season”, fueled by rate cuts and fresh liquidity spilling into crypto. Hayes has outlined the stakes before — in Trump’s Fed Overhaul Could Send Bitcoin Toward $3.4M he described how U.S. monetary shifts might ignite an unprecedented boom, while in Unrealistic Bitcoin Investors Risk Liquidation he warned that overleveraged bets could still face brutal wipeouts.
So the setup is explosive: altcoins may be on the verge of historic gains, but the same old risks linger. The next few months will show whether this cycle ends in triumph — or yet another painful crash.
There are indeed first signs: alongside Ethereum in August, projects like Hyperliquid and BNB have also recently hit new all-time highs.
The promise of a monster season has two sides. On one hand, outsized returns are possible — historically, many altcoins have seen 10x or more during such phases. On the other, the risks skyrocket. Smaller projects with low liquidity are especially risky, with double-digit swings possible within hours. Anyone seeking opportunities here needs not only luck but above all strict risk management. Taking profits early, setting exit levels, and diversifying broadly are essential.
Regulation as a game-changer
At the same time, the regulatory environment is changing. Two major laws — the GENIUS Act and the CLARITY Act — are expected to be passed in the U.S. with bipartisan support by the end of Q3 2025. Together they create what the industry has long awaited: a clear legal access path to crypto assets through regulated financial infrastructure in the world’s largest capital market.
For altcoins, this could be a turning point. Until now, many projects have existed in a regulatory no man’s land without clarity or institutional capital. With the new legislation, that is likely to change. Once clarity is established, a new playing field emerges. Altcoins will be regulated, infrastructure follows, institutional capital flows — not only into Bitcoin but into the entire asset class. Already, more than 70 ETF applications for crypto assets are pending at the SEC. The newly approved Ripple ETF, for example, recently set a record start.
This does not mean that everything will rise. The days when every coin went up with the hype are over. Institutional investors focus on substance, not narratives. They will selectively back projects that address real use cases, have proven themselves across cycles, and maintain transparent tokenomics. For many “gamble coins,” the air will get thin.
Conclusion
Altcoin Seasons are spectacular, exciting, and full of opportunity — but they almost always end the same: with a crash. 2017, 2021, and likely 2025 show: most investors lose because they enter too late, trust the wrong projects, or lack an exit strategy. Regulation and fundamentals improve the outlook, but they don’t override market logic. Whether a “Monster Altcoin Season” really lies ahead remains uncertain. What’s clear: only those who prepare, manage risks, and focus on substance have a chance of not ending up among the losers.
If you’re considering buying altcoins, it’s important to choose the right exchange. Not all trading platforms offer the same level of reliability, liquidity, or regulatory oversight. On our website, we’ve put together a comprehensive rating of crypto exchanges, where you can compare fees, supported assets, security measures, and overall user experience. This helps investors avoid risky or poorly regulated platforms and focus on those that provide transparent conditions and strong client protection.
But buying coins is only the first step. Equally important is how you store your assets. That’s why we also maintain a dedicated section with Crypto Wallet Reviews & Top Picks. There, you’ll find detailed comparisons of hardware, software, and mobile wallets — from ease of use and security features to multi-chain support and backup options. This way, you can select not only a trustworthy exchange for trading, but also a reliable wallet for long-term storage and daily operations.
Together, these two ratings give investors a full picture: where to buy and how to safely hold their crypto.
But remember: the landscape isn’t only about majors like Ethereum or Solana. Growth is also being driven by Layer-2 solutions such as Arbitrum, Optimism, Polygon, zkSync, Linea — all aiming to boost Ethereum’s scalability. On top of that, Layer-3 projects like StarkNet, Scroll, Manta, zkEVM-based networks are emerging, offering specialized environments for DeFi, gaming, and modular blockchain applications. These ecosystems are expected to play a key role in shaping the next phase of the altcoin market.
