Bitcoin and Ethereum have posted sharp gains over the past week, but a key market measure suggests the wider cryptocurrency market has yet to enter a genuine “Altcoin Season”.
Bitcoin (BTC) has risen 23.6% in seven days, while Ethereum (ETH) has gained 31.2%. Some smaller tokens have performed even more strongly, with Pump.fun’s PUMP increasing by 99% and Ethena’s ENA climbing 98.57%.
However, despite those substantial advances, many crypto assets remain well below the record highs they previously reached. That leaves large parts of the market with significant ground to recover before the latest rally can be described as a broad-based altcoin boom.
Hundreds of billions of dollars have flowed back into the cryptocurrency market, helped by bitcoin’s surge towards $80,000. At the time of writing, bitcoin was consolidating around $77,400, although it remained 38.5% below its all-time high of $126,080, recorded on 6 October 2025.
Ethereum was trading at about $2,452. Despite recently outperforming bitcoin, it would still need to gain 50.4% to return to its record price of $4,946.
The Altcoin Season Index, published by blockchaincenter.net, has risen to 43 from 25 in May as altcoins have made larger percentage gains than bitcoin. That improvement has encouraged some traders to suggest that Altcoin Season has already begun.
The measure uses a straightforward test: at least 75% of the top 50 cryptocurrencies must outperform bitcoin over a 90-day period for the market to officially enter Altcoin Season.
PUMP and ENA have been the strongest performers over three months, rising by 192% and 69% respectively. Yet both remain below their previous peaks. PUMP requires a further 39.7% increase to reclaim its all-time high, while ENA needs to rise by 89.2%.
Other large weekly gains have come from Stacks (STX), which increased by 94.55%, and official trump (TRUMP), up 91.55%. Their longer-term positions remain considerably weaker, however. STX is still 94% below its record high and TRUMP is 96.4% below its peak.
Zcash (ZEC) is one of the clearest exceptions. It rose 75.15% during the week and was trading at $851 at the time of writing, reaching a new peak on the day.
Aave (AAVE) gained 65.48% over seven days but still needs to add 78.5% to recover its all-time high, set more than five years ago on 18 May 2021. Meme token pepe coin (PEPE) advanced 59.61%, although it remains 85.4% below its record.
Not every cryptocurrency benefited from the rally. jelly (JELLY) fell 5.48% over the week, while just (JST) declined by 4.24%. Centrifuge (CFG) dropped 3.93% and quibic (QUIBIC) lost 3.36%. Fewer than 12 coins recorded weekly losses, with most of the market either consolidating or registering significant gains.
Some traders on social media, particularly on X, believe the market is heading for a much wider surge. “This is fing altseason,” The Crypto Dog wrote on X. “Everyone said there’d never be another altseason well WRONG it’s here look around it’s fing altseason.”
Three days earlier, another social media user also argued that Altcoin Season was under way, accompanying the claim with rocket emojis.
Retail search behaviour, however, is less enthusiastic. Google Trends data shows that worldwide searches for “altcoin” scored 26 out of 100 over the past 12 months. Google says that remains 80% higher than during the preceding year, but the term last approached a score of 100 in September 2025, shortly before bitcoin reached its all-time high.
The contrast between social media optimism and relatively modest search interest suggests that expectations of a full Altcoin Season remain uncertain. While individual tokens have produced spectacular gains, the broad market-wide speculation associated with a true “Altseason 3.0” has not yet emerged.
The feature image is via Google Trends.
A separate related report says Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse believes US cryptocurrency regulation is approaching a decisive point following meetings at the White House and with the CFTC.
