The key index for small-cap crypto tokens has fallen to a four-year low, completely shattering the myth of the 'altcoin season' cycle?
According to MarketVector DA, which tracks the 50 smallest crypto tokens in a portfolio of 100 assets, this index has fallen to its lowest point in four years as of November 2025, directly declaring the long-awaited 'altcoin season' in the market has completely shattered.
In contrast, Bitcoin's market dominance (i.e., its market cap as a proportion of the total crypto market value) has risen to nearly 59%, approaching its highest level since April 2022.
This stark contrast clearly reveals the core characteristic of the current cryptocurrency market: funds are continuously fleeing from high-risk small projects and accelerating towards other 'core assets,' including BTC, which is often referred to as 'digital gold.'
The reason for this situation is primarily due to the systematic depletion of market liquidity in the current macro environment, combined with the approaching Christmas and New Year, leading to a decrease in overall activity in global financial markets.
In such a macro environment, the highest-risk and least liquid small-cap tokens have become the primary reason for investors to reduce holdings in favor of investments with better liquidity.
Secondly, the narrative-driven logic of the entire crypto market has undergone a fundamental shift. In the past few cycles, altcoins leveraged the external narrative of 'Bitcoin treasury companies' to achieve a correlation between stock prices and token prices. However, the business models of such companies are now facing widespread skepticism, compounded by the recent halving of stock prices, rendering this key external catalyst completely ineffective.
Overall, the market is transitioning from a speculative boom phase driven by excessive liquidity and a single grand narrative to a new development stage dominated by macro liquidity conditions, project fundamentals, and genuine usage demand.
For altcoins, this deep market correction is essentially a brutal market clearing, as it not only washes away speculative targets lacking value support but also squeezes out market speculation bubbles.
Although this process is filled with growing pains, it clears the way for the next cycle of truly innovative projects with technological barriers, real application demands, and commercial value, re-establishing the foundation for the healthy development of the crypto market.
