A phenomenon has emerged in the cryptocurrency market in 2025—the old rule of "Bitcoin surges, altcoins follow" has completely failed.

According to the latest OTC report released by market maker Wintermute, the flow of market funds has undergone a qualitative change. In the past, money was spread all over the place, with various competing coins taking turns to explode. Now? Capital is highly concentrated, mainly in leading coins like Bitcoin and Ethereum, with little to no activity in others.

Wintermute concluded from analyzing massive over-the-counter trading data: "Funds are no longer widely dispersed across all corners of the market." This reflects a fundamental restructuring of the entire market architecture.

The most shocking data— the average lifespan of gains in competing coins has shrunk to 19 days. Compared to 61 days in 2024, it has been halved in just one year, roughly one-third of the original duration. What does this mean? It indicates that the window for chasing altcoins has become extremely narrow.

The root cause is the rapid collapse of meme coins at the beginning of the year, which further froze the already limited incremental funds in the market. Market liquidity has tightened, making it difficult for assets outside mainstream coins to maintain popularity. Occasionally, there are some thematic short-term opportunities (such as meme coin issuance platform concepts), but these are fleeting and lack sustainability.