Crypto KOL Community & Market Trends

David Hoffman, co-founder of Bankless, posted on X on September 18:
“We have now entered altcoin season, and the real market moment has arrived earlier than expected.”
On May 21, he liquidated all his ETH and turned around to buy LIT, ZEC, NEAR, HYPE, and VVV. By September 18:
LIT +272%. ZEC +170%. NEAR +149%. HYPE +92%.
ETH rose only about 16% over the same period.
ZEC was around $560 when he entered, and surged to $1,512 on September 18. HYPE broke above $90 to reach a new all-time high. NEAR soared 30% in a single day to $3.54.
He does indeed have the credentials to say that.
But there is one data point he may have overlooked.
BlockchainCenter’s Altcoin Season Index had a latest September reading of 37.
How is this index calculated? It’s simple: among the top 50 coins by market capitalization, how many have outperformed Bitcoin over the past 90 days? Only when more than 75% have outperformed does it count as altcoin season.
What is it now? 37.
Not even half the passing mark.
This means that more than 60% of the top 50 coins by market capitalization have underperformed Bitcoin.
What about BTC dominance? The September 15 reading was 58.4%. It is holding near its highs, completely unmoved.
So whose altcoin season is the “altcoin season” Hoffman is talking about?
It is his altcoin season.
It is the altcoin season of those five coins of his. Not yours, not mine, and not that of most people in the market.
You open Twitter and see KOLs showing off their gains: LIT is up, ZEC is up, HYPE is up.
You open your own wallet: your positions have barely moved, or are even falling.
You start wondering whether you chose the wrong coins.
No. The market has changed.
This cycle is not a “broad-based altcoin season.” Capital has not spilled over from BTC into all altcoins. Capital is selectively flowing into a very small number of assets—those with ETF access, buyback mechanisms, and narrative engines.
Hyperliquid has fee-based buybacks, ZEC has a repricing of its privacy narrative, and LIT has staking lockups. They are rising not because “altcoin season has arrived,” but because they are strong on their own.
And most altcoins do not even qualify for capital to take a look at them.
Hoffman is not wrong—for himself.
But for you, it may be an entirely different story.
Have the altcoins you hold outperformed BTC over the past three months?#Gate广场中秋团圆局 #美股AI概念股全线反弹 #每周来晒 $BTC $ZEC $HYPE

$VVV ‌ Perp — 1H Chart Read 📊
VVV is showing a clean recovery back toward the local high. After the rejection from $27.70, buyers absorbed the pullback and the price has climbed back to $27.62.
That’s constructive, but the price is now basically sitting at resistance, so I wouldn’t chase this candle.
Current price: $27.62
Supertrend: $25.155 🟢
24H high: $27.699
Resistance: $27.70 → $27.96
Support: $27.00 → $26.60 → $25.15
Order book: 80.12% bids vs 19.88% asks
Long setup
Preferred entry: $26.90–$27.20
SL: $26.50
TP1: $27.70
TP2: $28.00
TP3: $28.80–$29.50
The cleaner momentum setup is a 1H close above $27.70, followed by a retest that holds. That would turn the current resistance into support.
If the price loses $26.60, I’d become more cautious. Below the $25.15 Supertrend, the current 1H bullish structure is no longer as clean.
The broader move is also supported by recent market data: VVV has been climbing strongly over the last few sessions, with Sep. 17–18 data showing continued upside and elevated trading activity.
Bias: Bullish above $25.15.
Key level: $27.70.
Best approach: breakout + retest or a controlled pullback into $27.00.
$NVDA ‌#NEARSurgesOver21Breaking3 #USHouseAdvancesBitcoinReserveBill

our previous perfect gain $PUMP is getting interesting here again 👀
After months of grinding under that major downtrend, we got the breakout.
Now price is pulling back and testing a smaller descending trendline.
This is the part I’m watching closely.
If $PUMP breaks and holds above it, the next areas I’d watch are $0.0050 → $0.0065 → $0.0080.
No need to chase the candle.
Let the chart confirm the move first. 🔥
Old trend broken.
New trend loading

After TapeOut went viral, I started wondering: What exactly is this kid doing? Beyond that, the hardest question for TapeOut to answer is probably why the world needs these machines at all. What initially drew people in, of course, was the highly shareable story: a very young programmer building a CPU and running Linux on BNB Chain, then releasing something new every few days.

First, let’s lay out the known information clearly: XERA has completed approximately $9 million in seed and strategic funding rounds, with investors including Astra and Archer. Its core focus is bringing ordinary people into blockchain through a real-world ecosystem. The unknown information is also clear: KBW Lotte World M

This post was published before the rocket took off. I originally expected the market to turn sometime next week, but it turned the very night U.S. stocks opened after I posted it. It looks like the market maker and Guilin are both impatient. The current pace is basically in line with my expectations. The timing matches up; now we just need to see whether the gains of the various coins match up as well.
The crypto market is generally moving in the same direction, but different coins are following different rhythms. There will be divergence after the market moves for a while.

Crypto stocks are moving like the market just flipped risk-on.
$MSTR, $COIN, $CRCL and $BMNR all pushing together.
broad strength across the sector, now watch if the breakout holds.

Ethereum didn’t moon, Bitcoin mooned, $MSTR mooned 🤣

The market is still showing me plenty of respect✌️ Keep lying flat🙏

The market is still being pretty nice to me in Guilin✌️ Keep lying flat🙏

It’s been a long time since I’ve seen such an intense short squeeze. That’s what the early stages of a bull market are like: those who missed the move are still stuck in a bear-market mindset, trading with the same old bear-market playbook.
Missing the move isn’t a big deal. The real danger is stubbornly holding on to the end, only to miss the bull market and, led astray by an ingrained short-selling mindset, lose the coins in your hands as well.

Sleeping well is important; for investments, being able to sleep well essentially means aligning knowledge with action
At the end of August, I identified the arrival of a difficult choppy market pattern and realized that until the FOMC, the market would remain in a weak, volatile pricing phase as it digested uncertainty over rate hikes, so I promptly stepped back and even took a small short position
I waited patiently until the night of the FOMC. At 3 a.m., I realized that this was actually the scenario I had anticipated at the end of August—only one or two rate hikes, and after the CPI data was released, the market began pricing in a 90% probability of a rate hike. That made the risk-reward ratio for buying the dip very attractive
Looking back, I’m still quite surprised by the change in my investment rhythm, so I’m making a brief record. Over the past six months, I’ve learned to adjust my mindset and wait for opportunities. After reviewing this experience, I truly aligned knowledge with action. Patient capital means moving slowly and steadily. Going forward, I’m thinking that a trading frequency measured in months and weeks may best ensure quality of life. In the AI era, change is happening rapidly, and a healthy body is the foundation for responding to it.

SOL at $110—are you chasing it?
First, on the surface: while others are fearful, SOL is quietly rising.
Up 7-8% over the past 24 hours, +30-38% on the monthly chart, closing above all major daily moving averages, with weekly DEX transaction count hitting 208 million and tokenized stocks exceeding $200 million in a single day. Trend strength ADX is above 41, and the upper Bollinger Band has been breached. SOL may be entering an independent bull run—don't look at it through outdated lenses.
First point: Rate hikes haven't killed Solana; they've actually helped shake out weak hands.
On September 16, the FOMC raised rates by 25bp to 3.75%-4.00%, the first hike since 2023. The new chair is hawkish, while CPI remains sticky at 3.4%.
Sounds like “risk assets are doomed”? But what happened? BTC and ETH ETFs saw heavy outflows, while the SOL ETF recorded a net inflow of $837,000, with AUM reaching $1.4 billion. Capital is rotating from “old money” into “high beta.”
Second point: The network upgrade has gone live, and Solana is taking business from Nasdaq.
Mainnet slot time has been cut from 300ms to 250ms, while Transaction v1 expanded the size of a single transaction from 1,232 bytes to 4,096 bytes.
Transaction confirmations are faster, and complex applications (ZK, RWA) can now run
Weekly DEX transaction count reached 208 million, surpassing the NYSE and approaching 88% of Nasdaq's level
Tokenized stocks reached $200 million in a single day, and U.S. bank Column has made Solana its default network for stablecoin banking
Third point: A signal has emerged on the technical chart that requires caution.
The daily chart shows a large bullish candle, recovering the 20-day, 50-day, and 200-day moving averages, with ADX above 41 indicating sufficient trend strength. But 4H RSI is at 71, and shorter timeframes are above 80, with the price hugging the upper Bollinger Band.
Overbought does not mean an immediate drop, but chasing the rally will definitely be uncomfortable. 110-112 is the local high from late August to early September, as well as a dense liquidation cluster.
You decide who wins the bull-bear battle
On one side:
The slot upgrade is live, transaction confirmations are faster, and the narrative is strong
DEX volume exceeds the NYSE, tokenized stocks are booming, and RWA net inflows are nearly $400 million
The SOL ETF is seeing inflows against the trend, while treasury companies continue accumulating tokens (Forward Industries holds 7.55 million tokens)
The daily chart is above all moving averages, with the monthly chart up more than 30%
On the other side:
Year-long holders remain deeply underwater, with SOL down more than 55% from its $295 ATH
The macro rate-hike cycle isn't over, and another hike may come in December
4H is overbought, resistance at 110-112 is formidable, and the short term is overheated
The network has experienced security incidents before, and restoring trust will take time
Resistance above: 110-112 (local high + liquidation cluster) → 115 → 130
Support below: 103-105 (breakout zone + dense liquidation area) → 100 (psychological level + 40 million tokens) → 96-97 (previous low)
Trading strategy
Short-term traders:
Aggressive bulls should wait for a pullback to 105-107 with volume and stabilization, then test a long position with a light allocation, setting a stop-loss below 103 and targeting 112-115, then 130. Conservative traders should wait for 100-103, or chase only after a high-volume move holds above 112. Shorts are suitable only for short-term trades; if 112-115 rejects a push higher, a small short can be attempted, but stop-losses must be tight—the trend is intact, and shorting is playing with fire.
Swing traders:
Accumulating on dips is preferable to chasing the rally. 100 is the key defense level; reassess if it breaks decisively. Fundamentals support a recovery toward 130, but with no macro shift yet, build positions in batches.
Long-term believers:
SOL's RWA + payments + high-frequency trading narrative is still in its early stages, so below 100, you can slowly dollar-cost average in.
You call it a bull market after an 8% rise, but forget it came from 295 after a 55% drop.
SOL isn't without value; you just always buy at the top and sell at the bottom.
Rate hikes can't kill Solana, but chasing the rally can kill you.
At 110, are you brave enough to chase it?#美股AI概念股全线反弹 #Gate广场中秋团圆局 #每周来晒 $BTC $ETH $SOL

Chen Guilin’s Trading Notes: September 18, 2020 At the beginning of September, I said futures trading was no longer playable and that the market might be entering a difficult phase. The subsequent movement developed as expected—it was indeed brutal. Now looking at Bitcoin (Figure 1): As for the indicators, on the daily chart, MACD has completed its pullback to the zero line and is about to form a bullish crossover above zero. The RSI indicator has pulled back to the midpoint and may form a bullish crossover even earlier;

Bitcoin is around $78K, and institutional custody flows have turned positive again.
That means more $BTC is moving into institutional custody than leaving.
It is not a huge inflow, but it shows big players are not rushing to exit.
Eyes Open 👀
@ForeDex_Global

🥔 Mr. Potato Head has entered.
New face.
New meme.
Same potato.
0x23017Af93Ca5Bc61AE67baA8044FF9E8d900c562

BREAKING: Altcoin market cap just hit $222 BILLION for the first time in 8 months.
That’s a major signal that money is starting to rotate back into altcoins.
After months of chop and weakness, the market is finally showing real strength. If this momentum holds, the next leg could get very interesting.
Altseason might be waking up.
#JapanRealEstatePowerChipStocksRise #GateTopsStockPerpetualCoverage #GateTrenchesExclusive0GasTrading #BOJHikesTo1.25%31YearHigh #ZECKeepsRisingBreaking1500

Tony said this color he dyed my hair is called burgundy😆😆

Momentum is picking up fast. Let’s see what $ZIG does next 🚀

$BCH is heating up again.
After the previous short call played out well, BCH has bounced back strongly and is now pushing toward the key $267 resistance.
This is the level to watch closely.
A rejection around $267 could give high-risk traders a short-term short setup. But if BCH breaks above $267 with strong momentum and holds it as support, the bullish move could have much more room to run.
Right now, $267 is the battleground. One clean breakout could change the whole setup.
#JapanRealEstatePowerChipStocksRise #GateTopsStockPerpetualCoverage #GateTrenchesExclusive0GasTrading #BOJHikesTo1.25%31YearHigh #ZECKeepsRisingBreaking1500