What is Alt Season in crypto trading?

Alt Season

Glossary · Macro & Cycles

Alt season is a market phase where most altcoins outperform Bitcoin — commonly defined as 75% of the top 50 coins beating BTC over the trailing 90 days. It typically follows a Bitcoin-led rally, as profits rotate from BTC into large caps, then mid and small caps, while Bitcoin dominance falls.

"Alt season is when everything you buy goes up — and the market's counting on you to forget it takes most of it back."

The rotation runs in a sequence: Bitcoin rallies first, then profits roll into ETH and large caps, then mid caps, then the micro-cap junk — dominance falling the whole way. The common yardstick is the Altcoin Season Index: 75% of the top 50 coins outperforming BTC over 90 days. Full alt seasons are rare — weeks, not months — and a lot of what feels like alt season is just a BTC rally dragging everything up at beta.

The trap is the timing of the last leg. By the time coins with no product are doubling, the rotation is nearly done, and those are exactly the coins that give back 80-90% and never reclaim the high. If you're rotating down the cap curve, do it with the sequence — not after it — and take profits into strength, because alt-season exits are crowded and the door is small. When your worst holding is your best performer, that's usually the bell.

Check if alts are actually beating BTC

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Questions

What is Alt Season in crypto trading?: Alt season is a market phase where most altcoins outperform Bitcoin — commonly defined as 75% of the top 50 coins beating BTC over the trailing 90 days. It typically follows a Bitcoin-led rally, as profits rotate from BTC into large caps, then mid and small caps, while Bitcoin dominance falls.
How would a trader say it?: Alt season is when everything you buy goes up — and the market's counting on you to forget it takes most of it back.

Part of the Crypto Jargon glossary — every term, decoded the way a trader would say it.

Crypto Jargon

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