Altcoins, excluding Ether (ETH), recorded a net sales volume of $209 billion since January 2025, representing one in all the sharpest declines in speculative demand for crypto assets this cycle.
On Binance, altcoin trading volume has fallen by roughly 50% since November 2025, reflecting a gradual decline in activity. The decline can be accompanied by a rise in the quantity share of Bitcoin on the exchange.
Analysts said that the decline in altcoin demand, together with the increasing dominance of stablecoins, suggests that the broader market is shifting capital towards BTC in the course of the current downtrend.
The imbalance of altcoin spot volumes versus Bitcoin is getting worse
Crypto analyst IT Tech noted that the cumulative buy and sell difference for altcoins, excluding BTC and Ether (ETH), reached -$209 billion. The metric measures net spot demand on centralized exchanges for altcoin trading pairs. A positive value indicates increasing spot demand, which was briefly observed in January 2025.
Cumulative 1-year buying and selling volume for altcoins (excluding ETH). Source: CryptoQuant
A negative cumulative delta of this magnitude signals the absence of consistent spot buyers. The analyst noted that the metric reflects net flow imbalance and never price valuation and due to this fact doesn’t indicate a market bottom. Over the past 13 months, capital has exited the altcoin markets with none significant counterflows.
Binance volume data reinforces the shift. When BTC tested the $60,000 mark in early February, all trading volume was redistributed. On February 7, Bitcoin volume increased to 36.8% of total activity. Altcoin volume fell to 33.6% by mid-February from a peak of 59.2% in November.
According to crypto analyst Darkfost, similar rotations occurred in April 2025, August 2024 and October 2022. During these correction phases, capital in Bitcoin consolidated while altcoin volumes declined.
Volume activity in Bitcoin and altcoins. Source: CryptoQuant
Tether dominance is rising to an all-time high
Tether's USDt (USDT) market cap dominance reached the 8% level on the weekly chart, matching previous highs that lasted between June 2022 and October 2023. The increasing dominance of stablecoins typically comes with capital shifting to dollar-pegged assets reasonably than investing in tokens equivalent to BTC (BTC) and Ether (ETH).
Comparison of USDT.D and BTC price charts. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView
As observed, increased USDT dominance coincided with Bitcoin's consolidation near bear market lows as observed in 2022 and 2023. A decline in dominance was often one in all the earliest signals of a renewed uptrend.
Previously, the USDT dominance chart formed lows around 3.80-4% in March 2024, December 2024 and October 2025. These periods coincided with Bitcoin hitting latest all-time highs at $72,000, $104,000 and $126,000, respectively.
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