Altcoin Season: Retail Interest Returns as Altcoins OI Hit $2.80B

Key Insights

• Altcoin season open interest, excluding Ethereum, rose by $2.8 billion within five days.
• Ethereum network transaction activity climbed to record levels as whale accumulation increased.
• Analysts remain bullish on altcoins, although market positioning still carries elevated risk.

The altcoin market has strengthened alongside Bitcoin since mid-April, reviving speculation around a possible altcoin season.

Several market indicators now show rising speculative activity across major altcoins. Open interest has climbed sharply, Ethereum network activity has accelerated, and liquidity has rotated into higher-risk crypto assets during the past week.

Still, analysts warned that aggressive positioning often appears near local cycle peaks.

Altcoin Season: Open Interest in Altcoins Surge to $2.80B in 5 Days

The altcoin season may be near more than many traders think. As per the latest data from Coinalyze, the Open Interest (OI) of altcoins excluding Ethereum (ETH) has risen to around $2.80 billion. This spike in interest occurred in only five days, suggesting that degens, or in other words, retailers, were back.

The dominance chart for OI showed that interest in altcoins increased from around 28% to about 32%. On the other hand, Bitcoin’s OI had declined to below 50%. This indicated that retailers preferred altcoins to BTC at the time.

Such observations denoted that the altcoin season was playing out. However, historical data showed that most traders jump into the trend when its about to end. This occurs especially when the altcoin season index hits 75, a full throttle altcoin season.

Atcoin Season Index Up to 47 as Daily Transaction Volume on ETH Peaks

The altcoin season index jumped to around 47 from this week’s opening reading of 40. This indicated that about 7 altcoins had outperformed Bitcoin over the past 3 months.

The number of transactions on the Ethereum Network reached a new peak this week. The network demonstrated the most inflow in its history hinting that this was its most active period. The activity coincided with whale accumulation.

Transaction on Ethereum Network data | Source: CW/X

Since Ethereum is the largest altcoin, its activity showed the surge was synchronized across the broader altcoin sector. In essence, this surge in activity on Ethereum was reflected in other altcoins.

Major Altcoins Outperform as Analysts Predict Further Upside

Several large-cap altcoins posted strong weekly gains as liquidity returned to the crypto market.

Solana led major assets with gains above 5%, while ZCash and Cardano followed with strong weekly performance. Dogecoin, Hyperliquid, TRON, Binance Coin, and WhiteBIT also posted notable advances.

Altcoin weekly performance data | Source: CoinMarketCap

Some analysts projected substantially larger upside targets if the broader rally continues.

Sidra Crypto argued that select altcoins could potentially deliver returns between 10x and 50x during a full market expansion. Michaël van de Poppe also maintained a bullish outlook, although he warned traders against ignoring profit-taking opportunities during strong rallies.

Van de Poppe said many investors focus too heavily on extreme upside targets and fail to secure gains during major advances. He added that crypto trading remains highly uncertain despite improving momentum.

Altogether, rising open interest, stronger Ethereum activity, and accelerating altcoin performance suggested liquidity was rotating deeper into the crypto market. However, elevated leverage and aggressive speculation continued to increase short-term market risk.

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