Bitcoin

Filecoin

Pyth Network

<h2 id="header-0">Key Facts</h2>
<ul>
 <li>CoinMarketCap’s Altcoin Season Index read 65 at 8:41 a.m. ET Monday, up from 39 a month earlier, before easing back to 63 by 12:45 p.m. ET.</li>
 <li>Over 24 hours, 71 of the 97 largest altcoins outside stablecoins beat Bitcoin, led by Pyth Network, Filecoin and LayerZero with gains of 12% or more.</li>
 <li>The index sat as few as 10 points below the 75 that marks an altcoin season, and fewer than half of the top tokens beat Bitcoin over the past week.</li>
</ul>
CoinMarketCap's Altcoin Season Index rose to 65 on Monday as smaller tokens rallied while Bitcoin (<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/bitcoin/">BTC</a>) held near $83,000. It still sits 10 points short of 75, the level CMC uses to mark an altcoin season.
Smaller tokens did the lifting, and several leaders carried their own supply news. Analysts are split on what comes next. Alphractal founder Joao Wedson says the season has already peaked. Glassnode has warned that stretched altcoin bets would deepen any fall if Bitcoin loses the large buy orders below its price.
MN Capital founder Michaël van de Poppe wrote that Bitcoin's low volatility favors altcoins.
"That's why you see a lot more momentum coming into those altcoins where I think that this won't stop," he wrote on X.
<h2 id="header-1">Has Altcoin Season Started? The Index Is Getting Close</h2>
The index counts how many of the top 100 <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://coinmarketcap.com/academy/glossary/altcoin">altcoins</a> have beaten Bitcoin over 90 days.
The signal reflects the late-summer run as much as this weekend's moves. The reading jumped in late September and has held close to its current level since, CoinMarketCap data show.
Bitcoin's market share has also held steady. Over the past week, fewer than half of the top tokens beat Bitcoin as smaller names fell <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://coinmarketcap.com/academy/article/altcoin-season-fading-alts-trail-bitcoin">harder</a>.
<h2 id="header-2">What Lifted the Index? Small Tokens Rallying as Bitcoin Stalled</h2>
Bitcoin has traded in a range of under $2,000 since Saturday, CoinMarketCap data show. It rose more than 1% on Sunday after Ukraine's president backed an "energy ceasefire" with Russia that President Donald Trump declared, CoinDesk <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2026/10/11/president-trump-declares-energy-ceasefire-between-russia-and-ukraine">reported</a>.<tweet-embed url="https://x.com/CryptoMichNL/status/2109548777526960430"></tweet-embed>
Smaller tokens moved further. CoinDesk's small-cap index rose more than twice as much as its large-cap index over 24 hours, the outlet <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2026/10/12/altcoins-rally-on-thin-trading-as-bitcoin-holds-near-usd84-000">reported</a>.
The gains are coming in the thinnest part of the market. Order books for smaller tokens hold about a third less money near the price than at the start of 2025, CoinDesk Research <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2026/10/10/one-year-after-10-10-bitcoin-and-ether-liquidity-have-rebuilt-but-other-altcoins-still-face-risks">found</a>. Bitcoin's have deepened.
Thinner <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://coinmarketcap.com/academy/glossary/liquidity">liquidity</a> means a given trade moves the price further, in either direction.
"Market makers have returned to majors, with liquidity above pre-crash levels, whilst altcoin liquidity continues to trend down as a whole," said Joshua de Vos, research lead at CoinDesk.
<h2 id="header-3">Which Tokens Led? Pyth, Filecoin and LayerZero, Up Double Digits</h2>
Pyth Network (<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/pyth-network/">PYTH</a>) rose about 13% over 24 hours. Its DAO now spends every dollar of revenue it receives buying PYTH each month, the project <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://x.com/PythNetwork/status/2108203369340993767">announced</a> on Oct. 8.<tweet-embed url="https://x.com/PythNetwork/status/2108203369340993767"></tweet-embed>
Filecoin (<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/filecoin/">FIL</a>) rose almost as much ahead of Thursday, when <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://coinmarketcap.com/academy/glossary/token">token</a> vesting for Protocol Labs and the Filecoin Foundation ends. That cuts new FIL supply by roughly three-quarters, FilecoinTLDR <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://filecointldr.io/blog/filecoin-network-2026-overview-update">estimated</a>.
LayerZero (<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/layerzero/">ZRO</a>) also climbed, which CoinDesk described as a bounce from oversold levels. NEAR Protocol (<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/near-protocol/">NEAR</a>) gained too, with <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://coinmarketcap.com/academy/glossary/futures">futures</a> traders opening new positions alongside it, CoinDesk found.
<h2 id="header-4">What Would Confirm It? The Index Climbing Through 75</h2>
Altcoin <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://coinmarketcap.com/academy/glossary/leverage">leverage</a> is the main risk. The share of large altcoins carrying heavy futures bets against their market value is the highest since the run-up to the October 2025 crash, Glassnode <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://research.glassnode.com/the-week-onchain-week-40-2026/">found</a> last week.
A settled Bitcoin close above $85,500, backed by spot and ETF buying, would show real support, according to the firm. A break of the bids near $81,000 would spread the selling to altcoins.
The index's last two climbs to this level, in late 2024 and September 2025, carried into altcoin season before reversing within weeks, CMC data show.
"The altcoin season we experienced in September is already over!" Wedson <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://x.com/joao_wedson/status/2108629568680865830">wrote</a> on X on Friday. "Historically, after such peaks, some liquidity tends to rotate back into Bitcoin and stablecoins."
Further Reading: <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://coinmarketcap.com/academy/article/bitcoin-100k-target-cpi-test-80k-drop">Bitcoin Price Risks Tumble Below $80K: Can Bulls Still Reach $100K?</a>

Altcoin Season Index Climbs as Small Caps Outrun Bitcoin

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