Bitcoin Dominance Rate Reaches 70%, Altcoins Find New Lows

Bitcoin now represents almost 70 percent of the entire crypto market. Its dominance rate currently sits at 69.6%, which is the highest it has been since way back in March 2017. Altcoins continue to get crushed, especially when trading against Bitcoin. 

Bitcoin Is King

The cryptocurrency market has gone through many different cycles in its relatively brief existence. At some moments, it was even well-balanced. For instance, back in January 2018, Bitcoin represented only 33% of the total market, with the rest distributed among a variety of altcoins. 

That’s far from the case right now, as the BTC dominance rate touched 70% today for the first time in 26 months. The latest surge in Bitcoin’s price left altcoins hanging out to dry once again, as it managed to claim another 3% of the total market. With a current market dominance of around 69.6%, Bitcoin has established itself as the prevalent and definitively predominant cryptocurrency. 

At the time of this writing, Bitcoin is trading at around $11,819. As CryptoPotato reported, the cryptocurrency has been trading in this range for the past four days, testing the resistance area around $12,000. However, it’s also forming a triangle on the 4-hour chart which is likely to be breached, hence ending the short-term consolidation period. Given that the weekend is coming, this could be another sign that there is a sharp move ahead. 

Altcoins Continue to Bleed

While Bitcoin managed to gain upwards of $1,200 in the past 7 days, altcoins have been suffering significantly. 

Looking at the daily charts, we can see that all the major top 10 cryptocurrencies besides Bitcoin are actually in the red. Against BTC, Ethereum, XRP, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, and even Binance Coin are down 5.6%, 3%, 4.65%, 3.77%, and 1.3% respectively. 

But the struggles don’t end there. The situation is pretty much the same when looking at the way altcoins have performed against the US dollar. While most of them are still up year-to-date, the past couple of months have been more than tough for them. All of the top 10 altcoins by market cap are down against the dollar on the daily chart as well. 

Let’s have a look at Ethereum, for example. The cryptocurrency is down 5.6% on the day, 14.3% for the week and more than 68.3% over the last 12 months when trading against Bitcoin. 

Against the dollar, ETH is up around 60% since the beginning of the year, but it has struggled heavily in the past month, losing about 30% of its value. 

Unfortunately for alt-holders, it appears that altcoins remain unable to stage a comeback, regardless of how Bitcoin performs. As CryptoPotato reported earlier in July, when Bitcoin tanked in value, its dominance actually increased, showing investors’ confidence in the asset and their lack of belief in other cryptocurrencies. 

At times like this, it’s recommended to consider important altcoin trading tips in order to optimize your strategy, mitigate your losses and potentially maximize your profits.