Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) continues to consolidate its dominance at the end of the month, but analysts say altcoins may seem more upside soon.
What Happened: Crypto analyst Benjamin Cowen warned in his latest podcast update that altcoins may start underperforming Bitcoin by Q4, citing the Federal Reserve’s ongoing hawkish stance as a key headwind.
The Fed held rates steady at 4.5% in its latest FOMC meeting and reaffirmed its commitment to quantitative tightening, dimming hopes of near-term rate cuts.
Cowen says the altcoin rally was fueled by premature optimism around monetary easing, which now appears to be fading.
Drawing comparisons to 2017, he explained that in tightening cycles, capital tends to consolidate into lower-risk assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum, while smaller-cap altcoins typically lag.
Even Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH), while showing strong recovery and nearing the $4,000 level, is seeing rising dominance — not because it’s outperforming Bitcoin, but because smaller altcoins are bleeding against it.
Cowen anticipates this “blue-chip bias” will persist as investors seek relative safety amid macro uncertainty, including tariff-driven inflation risks and declining commodity prices.
He predicts a short-term continuation in altcoin strength, followed by a broad rollover against BTC by Q4.
Also Read: Bitcoin Steadies At $118,000 As Ethereum, XRP, Dogecoin Push Higher
Why It Matters: While macro pressure looms, on-chain signals point to altcoin strength in the near term.
CryptoQuant notes altcoins are surging as Bitcoin consolidates near all-time high levels, suggesting the early stages of an altseason.
Ethereum is now up 170% from recent lows, sitting just 23% below its all-time high of $4,871.
A major confidence boost came from SharpLink’s $1.3 billion ETH acquisition, adding 438,190 ETH to its balance sheet.
Retail traders are also re-entering the market as reflected by BTC transactions under $10,000 increasing 9.7% over the past 30 days, historically a precursor to broader crypto market rallies
This enthusiasm is not isolated.
Altcoin and ETH futures volumes have hit $223.6 billion, a 5-month high; BTC futures and spot volume on centralized exchanges are trending lower.
Altcoins now represent 83% of total futures volume, with Bitcoin making up just 17%.
Out of 424 futures pairs on Binance, only 23 are in the red since Bitcoin’s breakout — signalling broad altcoin strength.
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