Polkadot grows 34 percent in first week of “old season”

Bitcoin rally cools down: Polkadot grows 34 percent in first week of “old season”

Bitcoin dominance has probably peaked, says Michaël van de Poppe. Now the season of the top 10 altcoins is upon us.

Bitcoin (BTC) fell below US$26,000 on 29 December. The impact of the looming legal battle between Ripple and the US securities regulator was felt across the crypto market.

Data from Cointelegraph Markets, Coin360 and TradingView shows that the BTC/USD pair hit a low of US$25,830 during Tuesday.

Support at US$27,000 failed to hold overnight, triggering a retest of the lower levels. Now the level around 26,000 US dollars becomes important. Over the weekend, Bitcoin Machine reached all-time highs of US$28,400 and quickly retreated.

XRP is the fourth largest cryptocurrency by market capitalisation and the decision by major US exchange Coinbase to suspend trading from next month left a clear mark. The coin fell to US$0.23. If the SEC’s lawsuit against the token succeeds, XRP will be classified as an unlicensed security, making it illegal to trade.

“There will be a range after which there will most likely be another breakout in 2021,” Cointelegraph Markets analyst Michaël van de Poppe summarised in a video update on Monday on bitcoin’s near-term trajectory.

Analyst sees alt season coming

Van de Poppe predicts that altcoins will make big gains next. Apart from XRP, the market is already showing signs of life. Ether (ETH) climbed above US$700 this week for the first time since May 2018.

Another winner on Tuesday was Polkadot (DOT). It is currently the seventh-largest token by market capitalisation and has seen a 22.5 per cent rise over the day. This means it has made a gain of almost 34 per cent for the week.

For Van de Poppe, the next “momentum wave” will probably take Bitcoin to US$40,000 or US$50,000 in 2021. But “until then, altcoins will most likely do well”.

He also pointed to a likely peak in bitcoin market cap dominance. It is close to 70 per cent and will likely have to give way to altcoins soon. BTC dominance usually peaks in December. A notable comparison is 2017, when Bitcoin first attempted to crack the US$20,000 mark.