While many crypto traders are still waiting for the next altcoin season to begin, BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes said it’s been underway all along.
“There is always an altcoin season happening... and [if you’re] always saying altcoin season isn’t there, [it’s] because you didn’t own what went up,” Hayes said during a podcast interview published to YouTube on Thursday.
Hayes said many traders are still expecting the altcoin season to play out the same way it did in previous years, assuming the same cryptocurrencies and narratives will repeat. “You wanted it to be like last altcoin season, because then you felt like you knew what you had to do,” Hayes said.
Hayes warns that traders should “adjust” and not look at the past
“Oh, I gotta buy these things because that is what pumped in the last season,” he added.
Hayes said that crypto traders should rethink their approach and pay attention to what’s new in the market, rather than relying on history. “This is a new season, new things pump,” he emphasized.
Hayes pointed to Hyperliquid (HYPE) as being the “best story” of this crypto cycle so far, pointing to launching at “two or three bucks,” before “ripping all the way to $60.”
He also cited Solana (SOL), which shed most of its gains in 2022 down to almost “seven bucks,” before surging to nearly $300 at the beginning of this year.
“Again, there’s been altcoin season. You just didn’t participate in it,” he said.
Not everyone agrees with Hayes, however. CoinQuant CEO Maen Ftoui recently told Cointelegraph that older cryptocurrencies with an exchange-traded fund (ETF) or expected to receive an ETF will soak up much of the capital deployed during the next altcoin season.
Industry debates what the next altcoin season will look like
Many in the industry have differing views on how and when the next altcoin season will unfold.
Related: Bitwise exec says 2026 will be crypto’s real bull year; here’s why
Some traders are still waiting for the traditional rotation, starting with Bitcoin (BTC) reaching new highs before capital rotates into Ether (ETH) and then into smaller altcoins.
Meanwhile, Bitfinex analysts said in August that altcoins are unlikely to see a broad, outsized rally until ETFs offering exposure beyond the largest cryptocurrencies are approved.
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