Altcoin Season Resurgence: XRP and Dogecoin Drive Week-Long Gains Amid Bitcoin’s Pause
Following its fresh all-time high earlier this week, Bitcoin took a breather during Thursday’s trading as altcoins led the charge, celebrating some substantial gains.
Key Highlights of Thursday’s Market
- XRP surged 33% week-on-week to hit a 4.8% all-time high (ATH) proximity ($3.26). This breakout followed a strong performance reaching $2.9292 mere days ago.
- Dogecoin surpassed $0.20 for the first time in over six weeks, fueled by a meme coin resurgence after a high-profile Pump.fun initial coin offering (ICO).
- Solana (+5.9%) and Cardano (+8%) also posted significant 24-hour increases.
- This widespread positivity saw 77 of the top 100 cryptocurrencies gain ground, with the altcoin market cap surging 47% to $1.44 trillion.
- Conversely, Bitcoin’s dominance collapsed from 65% to 61.5%, no longer leading the pack.
- Many altcoins remain distant from their historical peaks despite favorable trends.
XRP’s Record-Breaking Performance
The week started exceptionally well for XRP. Having broken free of its exchange-traded fund (ETF)-fueled trading range and decisively clearing the $2.60 resistance barrier mere days ago, XRP implemented a powerful rally. By Thursday morning (UTC time), it had reached $3.25, representing the sixth consecutive day of price appreciation and putting its all-time high from January 2018 within striking distance.
Dogecoin Resurgence Fuels Broader Meme Coin Rally
Dogecoin’s price increase clearly marks one of the “meme coin” market’s more enduring upswings this year. Both Dogecoin and “BONK” have benefited from burn mechanisms, with BONK being lauded as the standout performer building on its post-weekend IPO momentum from Pump.fun.
Expert Opinion: Altcoin Season Persists?
Despite long-standing, feverish debate on social platforms, the recent behavior signals continued conviction in an “altcoin season.” Galaxy’s head of franchise trading, Michael Harvey, highlighted strong rallies in SOL, XRP, HYPE, and SUI. He also attributed a steadier trend in Ethereum DeFi protocols like AAVE and UNI to favorable signs of stablecoin adoption. Notably, while Bitcoin is holding its last bulls-only position in the top-100 list, Ether’s market share has climbed above 10% for the first time since March, a notable shift given the altcoin outperformance.
Perspective: Distance to Historical Peaks
The broader altcoin celebration, while impressive, hasn’t erased the distance some key cryptos have yet to cover from their historical peaks. While XRP remains just 15% shy of a significant prior record, neither Dogecoin (70.8% below its 2021 ATH) nor Ether (at a 30% discount to its 2021 high) appears positioned to reclaim multi-year tops in the immediate future, despite the current positive cycle.
