Altcoins are quietly sucking up liquidity while Bitcoin struggles to maintain its share. As smaller tokens capture more volume, it’s clear that it’s not just hype-driven buying. Instead, real users move around, transact, and engage.
From 2025 to early 2026, there has been a decisive shift in volume leadership. Bitcoin [BTC] Volume dominance, which was around 45-50% at the beginning of 2025, has steadily declined towards the 30-35% range.
In contrast, altcoin volumes expanded aggressively, rising above 55% and frequently advancing towards 60-65%. This marks one of the strongest sustained periods of altcoin dominance on the charts.
During the same window, Ethereum [ETH] volume increased modestly, fluctuating between 20% and 30%.
Source: X
ETH benefited from ecosystem growth and adoption at scale, but did not fully capture the speculative flows that drive smaller altcoins. Meanwhile, Bitcoin’s price rose sharply in early 2025, but its volume lagged behind. This divergence hinted at a profit rotation, rather than fresh Bitcoin accumulation.
Increased risk appetite, expanding leverage, and narrative-driven trading have fueled the recent dominance of altcoins. To sustain this trend, liquidity and sentiment must remain strong.
A macroeconomic shock or increased Bitcoin volatility could quickly reverse this. Investors should closely monitor relative volume changes, BTC price-volume divergence, and ETH stake strength.
Information about on-chain data
A look at the on-chain data revealed a clear gap between wallet growth and actual usage. That gap is important for volume.
Ethereum address count steadily increased from about 300 million to 370 million. Growth remained fluid. There were no sudden spikes in his growth. This alluded to organic adoption, not hype.
However, Ethereum seems to be lagging behind on the daily active addresses front. As a result, many wallets remain dormant. That limits short-term transaction volume.
Source: TokenTerminal
In contrast, BNB Chain tells us a more solid usage story. Addresses exceeded 730 million. More importantly, daily active users led with approximately 4.4 million. As users transact frequently, volume remains high, reinforcing the reduction in fees this cycle.
Meanwhile, Tron [TRON]Near [NEAR]and sunny [SOL] I’ve also seen some consistency. For them, activity has neither increased nor collapsed dramatically. Rather, it has been maintained over time. Therefore, the transaction volume has remained stable.
In short, sustained activity drives sustained volume. Regular transactions deepen liquidity. Billing also improves. Such activity reflects commitment, not speculation. FOMO creates wallets while usage creates volume.
Technical description
Here it is worth noting that the dominance has compressed into a narrow falling wedge on the charts. While sellers have reached lower highs, buyers have been defending a converging support line.
The tension is increasing. With volatility falling, reactions are likely to be firm. Especially because the market energy has been skyrocketing. Historically, Bitcoin dominance breaks strongly with such structures.
Source: X
A decisive move above the wedge resistance would change the sentiment and accelerate the rotation. Then, marginalized capital can chase beta, driving a parabolic expansion in the market share of the non-top 10 towards the 16.24% marker from the current 7.09%.
Until then, compression rules. However, every little bounce increases the pressure. Consequently, a breakout would be close and the continuation will be explosive.
Final thoughts
- Rising volumes and steady on-chain activity highlighted the rotation of capital beyond Bitcoin, driven by real-world usage.
- The breakout direction of the narrow falling wedge will likely decide whether the altcoins’ outperformance continues or reverses.