Bitcoin Dominance crosses 60%, why this is bad news for altcoins

• The rising Bitcoin Dominance was bad news for the altcoin markets.
• The Stablecoin Exchange Reserves showed potential for a rebound.

In the past 24 hours, $2.18 billion worth of liquidations were seen across the crypto market, the biggest-ever liquidation event. Bitcoin [BTC] saw $409 million worth of liquidations, but the altcoin market has taken a much harder hit.

The evidence for this was both the price action and the swift rise in Bitcoin Dominance (BTC.D) in recent hours.

The latter was a sign of relative BTC strength, or altcoin weakness. The BTC.D was not beyond the 60% resistance zone- and this was not good news for altcoins. Yet, stablecoin metrics showed there could be some hope.

There was too much blood on the streets to ask “when altseason” so we will ask the next best question — what can traders and investors expect in the coming months, and could an altseason be among the likely outcomes?

Dry powder and ammunition to “buy the dip”

Source: CryptoQuant

Before any panic sets in, it must be noted that Bitcoin has not yet lost the lows of the 2-month range lows at $92k.

The Tether [USDT] metrics were examined to see if buyers have any strength. The USDT Exchange Reserves have been growing over the past two years.

More stablecoins in Exchange Reserves imply greater buying power present in the market. However, it could take a while for the bulls to step in after the extreme liquidation event in recent hours.

Source: CryptoQuant

The Exchange Reserves showed some promise. The USDT netflows were positive in recent weeks, especially in November.

Transfer of stablecoins to exchanges was another sign of buying, but it has slowed down since December.

The worrying Bitcoin Dominance trend

Source: BTC.D on TradingView

The rejections from the 60% resistance zone on the BTC.D chart occurred in 2018 and 2019, during the bear years following the 2017 bull run.

The current retest occurs in a bull run year, assuming it isn’t all over, and none of the conventional BTC bull peak indicators have flashed positive yet.

From a technical perspective, BTC.D is likely to move higher to 63.84% and 72.5%. This could be excellent news for BTC and bad for the altcoin market.

It could come in the form of steady ETF and institutional demand for Bitcoin, while altcoins get overlooked.

Read Bitcoin’s [BTC] Price Prediction 2025-26

Later in the cycle, closer to the peak, an altcoin season could materialize. It would be characterized by a sharp BTC.D drop and mind-blowing gains across the rest of the market as capital rotates from BTC to the alts.

Alternatively, an altseason might not materialize at all. There are too many altcoins for them all to go up- this could see some blue chip coins and tokens with unique value be the biggest winners.

Only time would tell, but investors have to be prepared for both scenarios.