Altseason nears as traders favour revenue-generating tokens
CoinTelegraph reports early signs of an altcoin rotation, with capital clustering around a narrower set of tokens and revenue-generating protocols rather than the long tail.
Key points
- PONS rose over 350% in 30 days, while UNI gained more than 110%, ARB over 150% and NEAR around 180%
- Zcash hit a record high above $1,600 last week, per CoinMarketCap data
- CoinMarketCap's Altcoin Season Index sits at 64 of 100, below the 75 threshold for an official altseason
- The top 10 altcoins now account for roughly 80% of altcoin market capitalisation, up from about 70% at the end of 2024
- Talos data shows dealer participation in altcoin trading fell from around 65% at the end of 2024 to about 32% in September
Altseason is edging closer, and CoinTelegraph reports that traders are rotating into altcoins more selectively than in past cycles. The rotation is visible in a 30-day stretch of sharp gains across very different sectors, from memecoin launchpads to DeFi and privacy tokens. CoinMarketCap's Altcoin Season Index stood at 64 out of 100, up from 48 a week earlier but still below the 75 level that marks an official altseason.
The biggest movers over the past 30 days include memecoin launchpad PONS, which climbed more than 350%, according to CoinMarketCap. In DeFi, Uniswap's UNI gained over 110% and Arbitrum's ARB jumped more than 150%, while AI-focused NEAR rose around 180%. Privacy token Zcash hit a record high above $1,600 last week, and Bitcoin Layer-2 token LIT and launchpad token PUMP also ranked among the period's top gainers.
Bankless podcast host David Hoffman said on Friday that tokens such as ARB, UNI, Jupiter's JUP and Ondo's ONDO share one trait: they generate revenue. He suggested the rally could be driven by utility rather than pure speculation. Among the top 20 gainers last week, only two were memecoins, with Pudgy Penguins the sole memecoin on the list in the past week.
Gains spread across sectors
Not everyone frames it as a fundamental shift. 1inch co-founder Sergej Kunz told the outlet that memecoins have shown the strongest buyer growth over 30 days, though DeFi protocols, privacy tokens, AI projects and tokenised assets are also drawing attention. He described the pattern as breadth before depth, with more wallets buying a wider range of tokens in smaller amounts, and called the participation selective rather than all-in.
Talos data shows capital clustering rather than rotating broadly. The top 10 altcoins now account for roughly 80% of total altcoin market capitalisation, up from about 70% at the end of 2024. Samar Sen, Talos's head of international markets, said September flow data shows a notably strong buying tilt, with buying dominating on almost every day, unlike late 2024 when buyers and sellers were more evenly matched.
Sen said the strongest performance sits around specific themes: revenue-generating protocols, onchain perpetuals and DeFi names such as HYPE, LIT, UNI and MORPHO. Privacy assets including ZEC, NEAR and XMR are also performing well, alongside AI-adjacent tokens VVV and TAO, plus memecoin launchpads PUMP and PONS and the Robinhood ecosystem. Dealer participation in altcoin trading fell from around 65% at the end of 2024 to about 32% in September, suggesting market makers have played a smaller role this time.
Capital clusters in top coins
Curve Finance and Yield Basis founder Michael Egorov said he sees more attention on real use cases and institutional demand than in previous cycles, pointing to stablecoins in onchain foreign exchange and fintech. He believes the biggest driver will be crypto infrastructure integrating with the real economy, though he frames that as a big if. CoinTelegraph notes categories are already overlapping, with tokenised stocks traded against memecoins on Robinhood pairs such as BONER/HIMS, one of which generated more than $425 million in 24-hour volume in early September.