Glassnode Altseason Signal Flips as Bitcoin Dominance Stalls Below 60%

Onchain analytics firm Glassnode has printed a new altseason signal this week, as Bitcoin's push to $86,000 dragged the broader altcoin market higher and lifted total crypto capitalization back above $3 trillion. Glassnode's proprietary Altcoin Cycle Signal — which measures the relative market-cap growth of the 250 largest cryptocurrencies excluding stablecoins against Bitcoin — reached 81.25 on its normalized 0-100 scale as of Monday, crossing the threshold that flags periods of altcoin outperformance. "The first rally in August saw altcoins stay relatively flat while BTC moved. However, today's rally has ignited the full breadth of the altcoin market," Glassnode reported on X.

The combined altcoin market cap climbed to $1.19 trillion on Tuesday, its highest level since late January and a 33% increase since Aug. 19, when crypto markets rallied sharply on the back of a US Treasury announcement regarding bond market interventions. Bitcoin dominance, the metric tracking BTC's share of total crypto market cap, has failed to break above 60% during the latest leg up, sitting at 59.7% compared with 59.2% on Aug. 19. Trader and commentator Matthew Hyland described the dynamic as "complacency" among Bitcoin holders, contending that dominance already set a macro high at 66% in June 2025 and that investors have resisted accepting Bitcoin's lack of relative progress since.

Adding fuel to the rally, both Bitcoin and Ether spot ETFs recorded their highest daily inflows since October 2025 on Monday, signaling renewed institutional appetite across the crypto complex. The convergence of Glassnode's bullish altseason reading, rangebound BTC dominance, and strong ETF flows points to a market structure increasingly tilted toward altcoins. Whether that momentum sustains depends on Bitcoin's next directional move and whether capital rotation into the altcoin basket deepens or fades as broader macro conditions evolve.