The markets failed to see a year-end rally or a notable uptick in December. Bitcoin and other crypto assets have ended the year quietly, as investors showed less appetite for risk and avoided aggressive buying.
Top altcoins, especially, have lost significant momentum despite similar year-end conditions.
Volatility Vanishes
Santiment said crypto trading activity has slowed sharply in the final weeks of 2025, as prices remain range-bound and holiday season distractions keep traders away. According to the analytics firm, Bitcoin and major altcoins are experiencing their weakest two-week trading stretch since the same period last year, and no major volatility catalyst appears to be in sight. However, the analytics firm pointed out a crucial difference from 2024.
At that time, Ethereum and altcoins such as Solana, Cardano, and Dogecoin still showed strong engagement. However, these assets are now recording less than half of their previous weekly trading volumes.
SOL, for one, remained unchanged over the past month and was trading at $126. Solana ETFs, in contrast, have seen notable inflows recently. Lookonchain found that these funds saw a one-day net increase of 36,533 SOL, recording $4.6 million, while a seven-day net gain stood at 87,667 SOL, which is around $11.05 million. This positive momentum indicates that institutional investor appetite remains intact despite the underperformance in spot prices.
ADA, on the other hand, lost 8% during the same period after falling from $0.417 to $0.349.
Meanwhile, the OG meme coin, DOGE, also shared a similar fate after declining by almost 10% monthly as it trades near $0.122. Amidst signs of continued weakness, technical patterns like a death cross and head-and-shoulders depict further declines toward $0.08. Experts say that investor interest in the investment vehicle appears low, and declining futures open interest adds to the bearish sentiment.
Altcoin Season in 2026?
Altseason never really arrived in 2025. Despite occasional spikes in individual coins, the altcoin market, as a whole, lacked the momentum seen in previous cycles. Many major assets even struggled to gain traction against Bitcoin.
This has dashed hopes of market watchers such as ‘Rekt Fencer,’ who believes that 2026 could witness a major altcoin season. According to the tweet, altcoins are currently near a macro bottom against BTC, and the dominance of “Others” is sitting at levels seen during previous alt rallies in 2017 and 2020.
The analyst also pointed out that a dominance range of 12-13% historically indicates the start of a strong altcoin run, while 18-20% dominance has coincided with the largest alt seasons.
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