Key Takeaways:

Declining Bitcoin dominance and rising strength in altcoins and memecoins could be a sign that it’s altseason.

USDT dominance could drop to 2022 lows, indicating an accelerating capital rotation into Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

The cryptocurrency market shows signs that an altseason, a period where altcoins significantly outperform Bitcoin (BTC), could be on the horizon. Technical charts and market sentiment align to suggest that May 2025 might start a broader altcoin rally, driven by key indicators and shifting capital flows.

The TOTAL2 chart, representing the total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies, excluding Bitcoin, has broken above a downtrend line in place since January 2025. This breakout is accompanied by a bullish break of structure (BOS) on the daily chart, forming higher-low patterns.

TOTAL2 chart 1-day. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

A decisive move above the $1.25 trillion resistance level could support a decisive uptrend comprised of higher lows and higher highs. This shift signals capital rotation from Bitcoin into altcoins.

Similarly, the Bitcoin Dominance (BTC.D) chart is signaling a potential market peak, having declined 4% over the past six days—the steepest drop since November 2024. A falling BTC.D typically indicates capital flowing from Bitcoin to altcoins, enabling altcoins to gain market share and drive collective price surges.

Michael Van Poppe, founder of MN Capital, highlighted this trend, noting a bearish divergence accompanied by declining volume. The analyst said,

“Strong bearish divergence on the weekly timeframe, indicating that the #Bitcoin dominance has peaked. The end of the bear market for #Altcoins.”Bitcoin dominance analysis by Michael Van Poppe. Source: X.com

Related: History rhymes? XRP price gained 400% the last time whale flows flipped

USDT dominance could dip to new lows

The tether (USDT) dominance chart has dropped to its lowest level since early February, at 4.59% on May 13. As illustrated below, the USDT.D chart may find support around 3.90%, as it exhibits a descending triangle pattern. A bearish breakout could lead to new lows since 2021, matching previous altseason levels.

USDT. Dominance 1-week chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

USDT dominance declines imply capital rotation occurs in other assets like Bitcoin and altcoins. Over the past seven days, Ether (ETH), XRP (XRP) and Solana (SOL) have gained 44.3%, 20.6% and 22% respectively, compared to BTC’s 10% rise.

Complementing the recovery with a deeper analysis, crypto trader ZERO IKA observed that many altcoins have formed a higher time frame break of structure above their February and March highs.

The analyst noted that despite recent upside, most altcoins remain 70% to 90% below their all-time highs, indicating a “relatively early” opportunity for a recovery.

The weakening stablecoin and Bitcoin dominance, coupled with a rise in altcoin market cap, opens the door for an altseason, as long as the above key trends remain intact.

Related: Dogecoin traders predict 180% DOGE price rally if Bitcoin gains continue

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

Investment firm VanEck is launching a tokenized real-world asset (RWA) fund that offers exposure to US Treasury bills, developed in partnership with tokenization platform Securitize. The initiative places VanEck among a growing number of traditional finance firms entering the RWA tokenization space.

The fund, called VBILL, will be initially available on Avalanche, BNB Chain, Ethereum and Solana blockchains, VanEck said in a May 13 statement. The fund’s minimum subscriptions start at $100,000 for investments running on Avalanche, BNB Chain, and Solana, while the minimum subscription on Ethereum is $1 million.

VanEck joins a burgeoning field of traditional financial firms that have launched RWA tokenized funds, with competitors including BlackRock and Franklin Templeton. In January, Apollo, an investment firm with $751 billion in assets under management, also launched a private credit tokenized fund.

With a market capitalization of $6.9 billion, US Treasurys are among the largest asset classes in tokenized funds, second only to private credit, according to data from RWA.xyz.

VanEck’s partner, Securitize, has tokenized over $3.9 billion in assets. In May 2024, it raised $47 million in a strategic funding round led by BlackRock.

US Treasury tokenized market over time. Source: RWA.xyz

Tokenization of real-world assets has many benefits that outpace traditional finance systems, including faster settlement times and liquidity to previously illiquid assets, advocates say.

Related: ‘Everything is lining up’ — Tokenization is having its breakout moment

SEC Chair Atkins on RWA tokenization

At the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC’s) roundtable on May 12, Chair Paul Atkins compared the moving of securities onchain to the transition of songs from analog to digital. 

“Just as the shift to digital audio revolutionized the music industry, the migration to onchain securities has the potential to remodel aspects of the securities market by enabling entirely new methods of issuing, trading, owning, and using securities,” Atkins said.

“Blockchain technology holds the promise to allow for a broad swath of novel use cases for securities, fostering new kinds of market activities that many of the Commission’s legacy rules and regulations do not contemplate today,” he added.

Magazine: Ethereum is destroying the competition in the $16.1T TradFi tokenization race

Key points:

Bitcoin fails to capitalize on lower-than-expected US CPI data, seeing a Wall Street sell-off for a second day.

Traders see BTC/USD buying time before its next move, and a trip below $100,000 is on the cards.

Bitcoin is showing “undeniable” momentum against gold and stocks, Binance’s Richard Teng says.

Bitcoin (BTC) saw a repeat sell-off at the May 13 Wall Street open as bears ignored positive US inflation data.

BTC/USD 1-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

BTC price stagnates after CPI inflation cools

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD again heading lower after failing to reclaim $104,000 as support.

The downside came despite the April print of the US Consumer Price Index (CPI) coming in below expectations in what should be good news for risk assets.

“The all items index rose 2.3 percent for the 12 months ending April, after rising 2.4 percent over the 12 months ending March,” an official release from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) confirmed. 

“The April change was the smallest 12-month increase in the all items index since February 2021.”US CPI 12-month % change. Source: BLS

US stocks opened higher, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite Index up 0.7% and 1.4%, respectively, at the time of writing.

Reacting, trading resource The Kobeissi Letter noted that the S&P 500 had now delivered net upside year-to-date.

“The S&P 500 has technically entered a new bull market, up 20% since April. We are seeing historic moves to both directions in both stocks and commodities,” it wrote in part of a thread on X.

S&P 500 1-day chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

BTC/USD meanwhile surfed nearby order book liquidity around spot price. For popular trader Daan Crypto Trades, the stage was now being set for fresh volatility.

“That’s all the big clusters above and below taken out now. Good liquidity grab on both sides,” he summarized alongside data from monitoring resource CoinGlass. 

“From here on out we’ll just have to wait and see as the market ranges a bit and figures out what it wants to do. No massive liquidity levels nearby so spot will have to be leading.”BTC liquidation heatmap (screenshot). Source: CoinGlass

The day prior, Daan Crypto Trades had forecast a retest of $102,000 based on liquidity clusters, a move which subsequently played out.

“Bitcoin is stalling here for a little bit, which is completely fine,” crypto analyst and entrepreneur Michaël van de Poppe continued. 

“Even if it goes back to $97.5-98K, we’ll still be in an uptrend and building up for new ATHs.”BTC/USDT 6-hour chart with RSI data. Source: Michaël van de Poppe/X

Teng: Bitcoin momentum “undeniable”

Assessing the ongoing macro implications for BTC price action, trading firm QCP Capital considered the chances of the market trending sideways in the short term.

Related: Bitcoin illiquid supply hits 14M BTC as hodlers set bull market record

“BTC remains caught in a tug-of-war between its identity as ‘digital gold’ and its function as a risk-on proxy. This tension continues to obscure its directional conviction,” it wrote in its latest bulletin to Telegram channel subscribers on the day. 

“As the macro narrative moves from protectionism toward renewed trade optimism, BTC could remain range-bound.”

Others remained strong in their conviction over the general market trajectory, including Richard Teng, CEO of crypto exchange Binance.

“While traditional markets recover, Bitcoin’s already leading the pack,” he told X followers while comparing returns since the April 2 “Liberation Day” enacted by US President Donald Trump as he unveiled reciprocal trade tariffs. 

“With double-digit gains following key global events, BTC is reinforcing its position as a resilient alternative asset—outperforming gold, the S&P 500, and the Nasdaq year-to-date. The momentum is undeniable.”Macro asset comparison. Source: Richard Teng/X

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.