If you are an altcoin holder, you may be in for an exciting ride. February was a good month for bitcoin but it seems that altcoins had it way better. And according to Binance Research, several indicators imply that altcoin season may soon be upon us.
Increase In Volume For Altcoins
Binance Research published a report on March 6, analyzing the performance of cryptocurrencies in February 2020. The researchers found that last month was a very active month for alternative coins (or altcoins) besides being a volatile one.
Spot exchange volumes for altcoins rose in February. In particular, the altcoins registered a 69% increase in daily average volume. The report noted that the biggest contributor to the altcoin volume surge was ethereum (ETH). The second-most valuable cryptocurrency in the world saw a 158.6% increase in total monthly volume in February alone.
The most notable event last month was ETHDenver with many ethereum-based hackathons building a number of projects. The most talked about topic during ETHDenver was ethereum’s imminent transition to the proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus algorithm with ETH 2.0. The attendees also talked about the creation of smart contracts atop the ethereum blockchain.
The ethereum network is expected to undergo a hard fork in July to usher in ProgPoW (Programmatic Proof-of-Work) which will replace ETHhash and subsequently improve ASIC-resistance. This proposal is supposed to make the transition to PoS seamless, instead, it has become a serious bone of contention in the ethereum community.
Yet, as reported by ZyCrypto, whales seem to be accumulating ETH as the crypto markets continue consolidating. This implies that top ETH holders believe the cryptocurrency is about to stage a beautiful rally from the recent lows.
Bitcoin’s Trading Dominance Dropped
As mentioned above, February was a very volatile month for crypto markets. As such, cryptocurrencies rallied and experienced a strong pullback all in the span of a month. Bitcoin kicked off February trading at around $9,300 before surging to $10,500. The top crypto then closed the month trading in the $8,500 level.
As a result, BTC’s trading volume dominance dropped from 40% to 27% in February. This, per the report, was one of bitcoin’s steepest month-over-month drop. “If this trend were to continue, it would signify a greater appetite for altcoins from market participants,” the report added.
Binance Trading also chimed in on the report, positing that it witnessed one of the highest BTC buying flows in February. However, these flows were not just bitcoin-centered. Altcoins also saw high buying flows on the Binance OTC desk as investors bought in with the hopes of enjoying extended rallies.
