Bitcoin Dominance Slips as Altcoin Rally Takes Hold—How Low Will It Go?

Bitcoin dominance has been slipping and could go even lower than it is now—but experts still expect Bitcoin to rise to new highs this year.

Bitcoin dominance, or the ratio of BTC market capitalization to the rest of the crypto market, sits at 57.79% on Thursday morning. In the past day, the price of BTC has gained 1% after the Federal Open Markets Committee met expectations that it would lower federal interest rates with a 25 basis point cut.

In the immediate aftermath, Bitcoin held steady—but then rose to its highest price in more than a month Thursday morning, rising to a recent peak just shy of $118,000.

John Glover, chief investment officer at Bitcoin lender Ledn, said Bitcoin’s initially placid reaction to yesterday’s rate cut doesn’t mean it won’t still end the year strong.

“I’m forecasting a BTC price of circa $140K to $145K by year end,” he told Decrypt. “The rate cuts will help to push this narrative as money moves to BTC for safe haven among expectations of a USD devaluation.”

Other analysts have forecast that the long-term outlook for Bitcoin is still extremely bullish. But in the near-term, altcoins have taken the spotlight with larger gains ahead of expected SEC approvals of a wide variety of crypto ETFs.

“Short-term statistics may show that Bitcoin dominance is slipping as traders rotate into altcoins in the hope that the SEC will greenlight new spot ETFs,” BOB co-founder Dom Harz told Decrypt. “That rotation may play out in the short term, but it’s important to remember that Bitcoin remains the most secure network, the most proven digital asset, and the one with the deepest institutional conviction.”

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At the time of writing, XRP has gained 3% in the past day to trade for $3.12; crypto exchange Binance’s BNB has risen about 5% to $996 and set a new all-time high above $1,000 overnight.

Solana, which recently got a massive boost from billions worth of SOL being bought by corporate treasuries, has climbed almost 6% in the past day to $248, according to crypto price aggregator CoinGecko. Solana is one of the biggest gainers among top assets over the last month, rising 35% during that span.

Users on Myriad, a prediction market owned by Decrypt parent company Dastan, have swung bearish on Bitcoin dominance as enthusiasm for altcoins builds. At the time of writing, 53% of users think Bitcoin dominance will slip further to 53% before it manages to climb back to 63%.

Bitcoin dominance was last that high in the middle of July, when BTC set what was then a new all-time high above $112,000.

BTC broke that record a month later and topped out above $124,000, but it’s still given up some ground to altcoins. Even so, Harz said that doesn’t change much for institutional investors.

“ETFs alone have seen six straight days of inflows this week,” he added, “pulling in over $2 billion, while 7% of total supply now sits in corporate and government treasuries.”