Is Altseason Here? Cardano, Solana and Polkadot Soar in the Web 3.0 Era

On Dec. 11, Bitcoin (BTC) suffered a sharp decline, falling up to 8% to a four-month low of $40,150, erasing the gains from the previous seven days.

This price crash has sparked a re-examination of the market, leading to a discussion about whether altcoins could drive the next major surge in the crypto space.

Market analysts and experts think this drop is part of the ongoing cycle, and after two months of growth, a correction was inevitable.

Many people are now wondering how they can invest in Web 3.0, and whether Web 3.0 is based on blockchain technology. They also want to know if Metaverse is part of Web 3.0, if Polkadot is Web 3.0, and if Metaverse and Web 3.0 are the same. Additionally, people are interested in the evolution of Web 1.0 to 3.0 and the evolution of the Web 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0.

Analysts’ insights into Bitcoin’s recent pull-back

Will Clemente, co-founder of Reflexivity Research, suggested that the market correction is a way to get rid of weak positions and reduce the highly leveraged crypto markets, which is a necessary step in the evolution of web 3.0.

Kaleo, co-founder of the LedgArt NFT project, expressed his opinion that the recent downturn was “nothing more than a healthy correction after a massive parabolic extension”, and that Bitcoin is likely to remain in its current range for the next few months.

Bankless, a user of X social platform, noted that the crypto market had its “worst day” in months on Dec. 11, but it is a great opportunity to buy the dip.

Santiment’s market intelligence firm highlighted a significant surge in social media posts advocating for ‘buying the dip’, adding that “#Crypto has experienced its fastest drop in 4 months as markets have corrected and caused mild trader concerns. There is a high level of #buythedip calls, which typically means that there is a bit of overeagerness and #FOMO on these low prices.”

Altcoins have been the major winners of the recent downturn, as many cryptocurrencies have outperformed Bitcoin in the last week.

Altcoins have outperformed Bitcoin on multiple timeframes

Altcoins have demonstrated impressive returns in the last week, outperforming Bitcoin. Some of them have even performed better over longer timeframes.

Data from CoinMarketCap shows that Bitcoin has decreased by 1% over the last seven days while Cardano (ADA) has increased by 49%. Avalanche (AVAX), Polkadot (DOT), Solana (SOL), and Binance Coin (BNB) have also outperformed Bitcoin in the last week.

Moreover, while Bitcoin has grown by around 60% over the last 90 days to reach $44,000, many altcoins have outperformed it over the same period. AVAX has particularly outshone BTC, almost tripling in the last three months. SOL and ADA have surged 267% and 150% respectively.

On a shorter timeframe, Cardano is the top gainer among the largest cryptocurrencies by market cap after rising 12% in the last 24 hours. The other major layer 1 token Solana follows with 10% gains on the day, while Polkadot’s DOT has increased by 9.2% over the same period.

Despite reclaiming the key $42,000 level, Bitcoin’s 3% gains on Dec. 13 suggest that it is still lagging behind the altcoins. Is this the beginning of another altcoin season?

Has altcoin season arrived?

Crypto trader Remen wrote in an X (formerly Twitter) post that he believes the recent dump could push altcoins into another bull run. He added that it would take a long period of chops for the big crypto to resume an uptrend, as BTC dominance has topped out.

Even though some signs are there, it may still be too early to confirm the altcoin season. Altcoins are digital assets other than Bitcoin and the crypto community recognizes an altcoin season when the majority (at least 75%) of the top 50 coins by market cap outperform Bitcoin for 90 days. This has only been seen for a few altcoins, and it remains to be seen if more will follow suit.

According to Data from Blockchain Center, only 53% of the top altcoins have outperformed BTC during the last three-month period. Although this is a positive sign, it is still not enough to declare an altcoin season.

In addition, Bitcoin’s market cap dominance is still above 50% since crossing this level on Oct. 1, reaching a high of 55.26% on Oct. 6, the highest in over two and a half years.

Bitcoin dominance fell to 52% on Dec.11 and as the price continued to dump, the crypto community began chanting the start of “altcoin season.” At the time of writing, BTC dominance is back to around 53.06%, just above its 50-day exponential moving average (EMA).

However, it remains to be seen if the oldest crypto will hold its position or if altcoins will continue rallying, with the shorter-term view showing that crypto markets could remain range-bound. It is still uncertain if investing in Web 3.0, such as Polkadot, Metaverse, or other blockchain technologies, will be part of the evolution of the web from 1.0 to 3.0.