The crypto market is heating up again: little-known projects are taking off like rockets, social networks are awash with viral charts, and tokens like Solana, Dogecoin, and Hyperliquid are leaving Bitcoin behind. The “altseason” narrative is back — once again promising quick gains. But behind the flashy numbers lies an old story: while a few coins explode higher, hundreds of others turn negative. The 2017 and 2021 cycles already showed how quickly euphoria turns into pain. And now, in 2025, the key question returns: is this a rerun of the old script — or truly the start of a new era for altcoins?
What is Altcoin Season?
“Altseason” refers to periods when lower-cap cryptocurrencies — altcoins — significantly outperform Bitcoin in terms of returns. Capital rotates: after a strong Bitcoin rally, investor money flows into riskier coins in the hope of catching the next leg up. A popular gauge is Blockchaincenter’s Altcoin Season Index. It “sounds the alarm” when more than 75% of the top-50 coins have outperformed Bitcoin over the last 90 days. Historically, this was seen above all in 2017 amid the ICO boom and in 2021 during the DeFi and NFT euphoria.
The four-phase altseason playbook
Altcoin Season typically follows a familiar pattern. First, Bitcoin rallies and pulls fresh capital into the market. In phase two, profits rotate into large altcoins like Ethereum or Solana, which briefly outpace BTC. In phase three, money moves further out the risk curve — into smaller coins, all the way to memecoins and questionable projects with no fundamentals. The fourth phase is always the same: liquidity dries up, Bitcoin reasserts dominance, and altcoins crash — sometimes by 90% or more. This structure has repeated many times in the past. The outcome has remained the same — most participants ultimately lose money.
Historical meltdowns: 2017 and 2021
In late 2017, Bitcoin reached roughly $19,783 on December 17, only to plunge within days: by December 22 BTC was trading below $11,000 — a drop of more than 45% from the peak. Major altcoins fell sharply at the same time: Ethereum lost around 20%, and Litecoin about 21% in 24 hours. This downswing kicked off a prolonged “cleansing” of the altcoin market, with many cryptocurrencies disappearing for good.
In May 2021 came another turning point as the previously powerful altcoin rally reversed sharply. In November 2021 the market suffered another notable crash: hundreds of billions in market cap evaporated within days. In 2021, Ethereum fell first by roughly 60%, and then again by about 80%.
A foolproof sign of the final phase of altseason is social-media hype: suddenly all your friends are talking about the same coin, TikTok fills up with “100x” videos, and Lambo memes flood everyone’s feed. The “this time is different” illusion is one of the most dangerous mistakes investors repeat every season.
The promise of a powerful altseason
Arthur Hayes, co-founder and CIO of Maelstrom and co-founder of BitMEX, recently said on X that he expects nothing less than a “Monster-Altcoin-Season.” He attributes his outlook to falling rates bringing fresh capital into markets, from which altcoins could benefit disproportionately. Early signs are visible: beyond Ethereum’s August surge, projects like Hyperliquid and BNB posted new all-time highs in September.
On the one hand — outsized returns: historically, many altcoins have done 10x or more in such phases. On the other — rapidly rising risks. Small, illiquid projects are especially dangerous, capable of swinging by double-digit multiples within hours.
Regulation as a “turning point”
At the same time, the regulatory landscape is shifting. Two key laws — the GENIUS Act and the CLARITY Act — are slated for passage in the U.S. by the end of Q3 2025 with broad bipartisan support. Together they promise what the industry has awaited for years: a clear legal on-ramp into cryptoassets via regulated financial infrastructure in the world’s largest capital market.
For altcoins, this could be a game changer. Until now, many projects operated in a gray area — with little clarity and scant institutional capital. New rules would change that: a clearly defined playing field would emerge, followed by infrastructure and institutional inflows — not only into Bitcoin, but across the entire crypto market. The SEC already has over 70 ETF applications on its desk; the recently approved Ripple ETF delivered a record start! After these laws pass, the trend is likely to accelerate as banks, brokers, and asset managers gain the certainty they need to launch regulated products. This does not mean that “everything will go up.” The days when any coin could rise on general hype are fading. Institutional investors focus on fundamentals. They will selectively back projects with real use cases, multiple cycle-survivals, and transparent tokenomics.
In 2025 the market is far more differentiated than in 2017 or 2021; regulation provides clear rules, and many projects have solid technological and economic foundations. This doesn’t make altcoin investing risk-free, but it increases the odds that select coins can survive and establish themselves for the long haul like never before. The key is choosing wisely — and defining the right investment criteria in advance.
Conclusion
Altseasons are spectacular, fast-moving periods when opportunities abound and investors chase their “X” returns. And while the 2017, 2021, and even 2025 cycles have shown how quickly euphoria can give way to corrections, this cycle could be an exception. The market is more mature, regulation is clearer, and investors are savvier. More participants are arriving not for hype but for deliberate strategies and fundamentally sound projects.
At FORECK.INFO, we closely track the evolution of altseason and keep our rankings to only vetted crypto exchanges with real reviews and reliability scores. Here you can find platforms for safer trading and storage, compare fees, security measures, and liquidity.
We don’t just post news — we comb through the market, analyze trends, monitor institutional flows, and track the growth of the DeFi sector to give you the most objective picture. If a “Monster-Altcoin-Season” really begins, prepared investors will have a chance not just to survive, but to become its biggest winners — together with us!
