Altcoins must rise 16% for euphoria to begin in market

A crypto trader predicts that the altcoin market must rise by about 16% before entering a phase of “euphoria.”

Daan Crypto Trades, a pseudonymous trader, shared in a December 28 post that the "mania" phase would begin once the TOTAL3, the market capitalisation of all cryptocurrencies excluding Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC) and Ether (CRYPTO:ETH), exceeds its 2021 all-time high of $1.13 trillion.

Currently, the market cap stands at $962.78 billion, a 91.45% increase from the beginning of the year.

“As long as this trades between ~$840B and ~$1.1T, I think it will be choppy,” Daan said.

He also mentioned that if the market cap falls below $800 billion, caution would be necessary.

The market has been experiencing heightened volatility, partly due to traders adopting a more short-term approach compared to previous years.

Daniel Cheung, co-founder of Syncracy Capital, commented on the shift in trader behavior, noting that many traders are now focused on short-term charts and leveraging positions, which has slowed the pace of market breakouts compared to earlier cycles.

In the past week, altcoins have begun to gain more attention.

According to CoinMarketCap, Bitget Token (CRYPTO:BGB), Virtuals Protocol (CRYPTO:VIRTUAL), and Pudgy Penguins (CRYPTO:PENGU) are among the top gainers in the top 100 cryptocurrencies, seeing increases of 80.65%, 42.30%, and 31.63%, respectively.

With Bitcoin dominance now nearing 60%, traders are increasingly looking toward altcoins for better opportunities.

“Altcoins, at this juncture, offer a far more optimal risk-reward profile than Bitcoin does,” said another pseudonymous trader, Dyme.