Key Takeaways
Will approval of altcoin ETFs spark an alt season?
Liquidity under $100 billion and BTC dominance near 60% still limit upside, but an ETH-led recovery could change that.
What do analysts think about the massive altcoin ETFs under review?
Over 150 ETF filings, led by Solana, suggest TradFi prefers diversified crypto index exposure over single tokens.
The altcoin rush seems to be building up. According to Bloomberg ETF Analyst Eric Balchunas, there are 155 crypto ETPs pending applications tracking 35 different digital assets, mostly dominated by Solana [SOL].
Solana filings waiting for the SEC decision were 23, Ripple [XRP] and new Ethereum [ETH] applications were at 20 and 10, respectively. Diversified or basket index tracking multiple crypto assets had significant interest from 10 issuers.
Balchunas added that this could be just the beginning of the crypto rush.
“Could easily end up seeing over 200 hit the market in the next 12 months. Total land rush.”
The most-awaited applications like Spot SOL and XRP ETFs were expected to be signed off on in October. But the ongoing U.S government shutdown has messed with the timeline.
Will SEC spark an altcoin season?
ETF Store’s Nate Geraci, however, doubted that TradFi will jump all those altcoins. Instead, he projected that they might go for indexes tracking a basket of crypto assets.
“No way tradfi investors ready to navigate all of these single tokens. They’re going to take a diversified, shotgun approach to an emerging asset class.”
That said, the recent altcoin sell-off was tapering off, as shown by the easing of Altcoins Exchange Inflow.
Easing inflows, shrinking liquidity
Source: CryptoQuant
While this could raise the odds of a broader altcoin market recovery, liquidity has dropped significantly since mid-October.
Stablecoins Exchange Inflow, which tracks ecosystem liquidity, dropped below $100 billion for the first time since July. Past liquidity declines coincided with Bitcoin [BTC] price consolidation or pullbacks that weighed on the altcoins, too.
In Q1 2025, for example, the liquidity dropped by half from over $160 billion to below $80 billion. BTC price slumped 30% from $109K to $70K.
Source: CryptoQuant
Interestingly, the liquidity environment improved in Q2, and BTC also recovered to over $126K, lifting some altcoins like Hyperliquid [HYPE] with it.
BTC dominance signals mixed setup
Another altcoin season tracker, the BTC dominance, stayed below 60% at press time, suggesting that an altcoin surge could be probable if liquidity improves and ETH leads the recovery.
Source: TradingView (BTC Dominance vs ETH/BTC ratio)
Meanwhile, the Altcoin Season Index reading was nearly neutral (at 43), indicating that it was a firm BTC season.
