Bitcoin distancing itself from the crowd; is the Altcoin bottom in?

Bitcoin and the altcoins, dominant and the dominated.

Since the Bitcoin bull-run began in early April taking the coin from $4,000 to well over $13,000 a few things have been constant. Resistance after resistance has been left in tatters, CNBC’s Bitcoin mentions have been off the charts, Pompliano’s ‘Long Bitcoin, short the bankers,’ is a rallying cry, and Bitcoin is absolutely clobbering its crypto-competitors.

The altcoins, barring a few isolated gainers, have been in a downward spiral compared to the surging Bitcoin. With many deeming an end to the ‘alt-season,’ weeks into the Bitcoin price rally, a few months ago, now the crypto-corner needs to be called in as many are speculating that altcoins are well and truly on their death-bed, with Bitcoin holding on to the five-figure mark.

Bitcoin’s dominance was on the verge of dropping below the majority prior to the April-attendance, but as the bulls arrived so did its market share increase. At press time, the Bitcoin market dominance over the past four days recorded consecutive green candlesticks, rising to over 68 percent market share for the first time since December 2017.

Grayscale’s Barry Silbert weighed in on the Bitcoin versus altcoin tussle calling a “bottom,” for the minority of the cryptocurrency market. He stated,

Starting to feel like it is time for the quality alt coins to begin catching up with BTC. I think the bottom is in — Barry Silbert (@barrysilbert) July 10, 2019

Even by the standard of the recent price shave, Bitcoin, despite dropping by over 12 percent, fared better compared to the altcoins. Following the Federal Reserve Chair’s hearing before the US House of Representatives, and his calling a halt to Libra, until concerns regarding money laundering, privacy, and data protection are met, the larger cryptocurrency market took a hit due to the domino effect.

Bitcoin dropped to under $11,500, after breaking past $13,000 less than 24-hours prior, but the real massacre was on the altcoins’ front. XRP, Bitcoin Cash, and EOS were the biggest losers in the market, dropping by over 10 percent in the hour, at its peak, or plummet rather, while the collective market saw a dipping price chart.

Adam Back, the CEO of Blockstream replied to Silbert, emphasizing on the myopic nature of speculative trade,

In my opinion, speculation without a value thesis is not sustainable. There is no hodler-floor because it’s almost all speculators, and the speculators are self-honest that they don’t have a long-term thesis to hodl for. So you get negative price reflexivity and the ongoing rout. — Adam Back (@adam3us) July 10, 2019

It should be noted that despite the price drop, Bitcoin’s dominance has not faltered, in fact, if anything, BTC dominance is rising. Altcoins beware.