Did Altcoin Season Just Make a Comeback?

Key Insights:

• Altcoin season hype has been building up as multiple coins secure robust liquidity inflows.
• Binance-listed altcoins have recovered to pre-September 2025 levels.
• Solana and XRP ETFs outperform Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs in a surprising turn of events.

Altcoin season sentiments have been on the rise across the crypto market over the last 2 weeks. Consequently, analysts have been allocating more to stablecoins, but is it really back, or could this be another smoke-and-mirrors scenario?

Altseason mentions have been rising since 5 May. This was around the same time that Bitcoin dominance reverted after entering a zone where it previously pivoted.

In addition, numerous altcoins have experienced impressive gains over the last few weeks. This reflected liquidity rotation, another major characteristic of altcoin season, especially after Bitcoin pulled off a bullish move.

A Major Technical Signal Triggered Altcoin Season Hopes

The altcoin season mentions were also perpetuated by the fact that they reclaimed a major level. According to a recent CryptoQuant analysis, roughly 21% of the Binance-listed altcoins reclaimed a technical level underpinned by the 200-day moving average.

The last time altcoins reclaimed that level was in September 2025. This suggests that altseason has been gaining momentum.

However, the same analysis noted that it might be too early to make a clear conclusion. Especially considering that liquidity inflows still remained relatively weak over the last few weeks compared to a full-blown altseason.

In other words, investors remain cautious, largely due to elevated uncertainty driven by macro conditions. The altcoin season index on CoinGlass revealed a jump from as low as 34 points at the start of May. The same indicator jumped to 46 points as of 12 May.

Despite the rising altcoin index in the first few days of May, the market has cooled down. The altcoin season has also retreated to 38 at press time.

It is worth noting that the latest altseason index surge earlier this month was not as aggressive as its March rise. This suggests that investor sentiment around altseason this month has not reached levels observed in March.

This could be because investors are not yet fully convinced that the market is ready for a full recovery. The latest pullback in the Altcoin season index suggests investors remain cautious about potential profit-taking and downside risk.

ETF Flows Demonstrate Surprising Market Move

The market has already pulled back substantially so far this week. However, this outcome could still be a normal correction before achieving more recovery. Institutional activity may support this possibility.

Institutional liquidity inflows offer yet another important metric for the altcoin season. During the altseason, liquidity flows down the altcoin hierarchy. The top altcoins benefit first, followed by more liquidity injection down the chain.

Recent observations highlight institutional flows that underscore such scenarios. For example, Solana and XRP ETFs registered heavy inflows on 12 May, compared with Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs saw outflows during the same period. This could signal that ETFs were pumping their liquidity into other crypto assets and cryptocurrencies that were more likely to achieve a deeper recovery.

Institutions favoring alternative altcoins over ETH was a curveball the market did not anticipate. This suggests that whales have bullish expectations and thus more breakouts could be on the cards.

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