Lately, I’ve been keeping an eye on what’s happening in the altcoin market. There’s no denying that Bitcoin is driving the bullish trend, but I want to think about why altcoins aren’t rising as much as people are expecting.

Looking at the current state of Bitcoin, it accounts for more than 57% of the entire market, and its circulating market cap exceeds 1.5 trillion dollars. Meanwhile, the overall size of the altcoin market is only about a little over 1 trillion dollars. As you can see from this setup, there’s a clear concentration of funds in Bitcoin.

Looking back at history, as of October 2020, Bitcoin made up 58% of the market. At that time, the altcoin market was around 180 billion dollars. Then the situation changed at the peak in 2021. At that point, Bitcoin’s share fell to 42%, and the altcoin market capitalization ballooned to 1.2 trillion dollars. In other words, it was a sixfold jump.

However, the developments that followed were, as you know, not like that. That level of frenzy—at a “mad cow disease” level of excitement—didn’t last, and the market entered a long-term decline phase. Compared with the peak in 2021, the current altcoin market may look like it’s recovering only slowly.

Why is it hard for altcoins to rise? The reason is simple. If the altcoin market were to return to the peak level of 2021, the amount of capital required would become unimaginably huge. With Bitcoin already absorbing a large amount of funds, it’s hard to secure that additional capital.

Given this reality, investment strategies also need to be adjusted significantly. Waiting for an altcoin season isn’t necessarily a bad idea, but you should understand that a substantial inflow of new funds into the entire market is needed as a prerequisite. Looking at the current market structure, it may not be that easy for it to happen.