The Bitcoin spot ETF approval could have sparked an altcoin rally, with other cryptocurrencies outperforming the leader Bitcoin (BTC). With an institutional focus on BTC, the cryptocurrency market opens the door for what might be an altcoins’ weekend.
In particular, traditional institutions only work on weekdays, and ETFs are not exchanged on weekends. Therefore, self-custody cryptocurrency investors could migrate their focus to assets unrelated to Wall Street action — the altcoins.
Notably, Bitcoin market cap dominance rose from 51% on December 28 to over 55% on January 9 in the expectation of the spot ETF approval. However, it immediately dropped following the news, currently at 52.20%, signaling an ‘altseason.’
Bitcoin Dominance Index (BTC.D). Source: TradingView
Nano (XNO) is the most trending word in the market
The first altcoin to watch is Nano (XNO), which has been in the market’s spotlight in the last 24 hours. Surprisingly, the word ‘nano’ outperformed Bitcoin spot ETF-related words from January 11 to January 12, according to Santiment’s social trends.
Nano reached first place among the 24-hour trending words, with a 0.89% social dominance in the last seven days. Connected words are node, learn, questions, watch, faucets, nanocurrency, try, and use.
Hourly social trends. Source: Santiment
In this context, the AI summary for why the word nano is trending is as follows:
“Nano is trending because it is being mentioned in various texts related to its usage, such as sending Nano successfully, learning more about Nano, trying Nano faucets, using Nano for payments and development, and asking questions about Nano on r/nanocurrency. It is also mentioned that Nano was originally distributed for free via faucets.”
— Santiment’s AI summary
AI Summary for the word: nano. Source: Santiment
It is worth mentioning that XNO is a $160 million market-cap cryptocurrency and, thus, prone to higher volatility events. Currently, nano trades at $1.21 per coin with over 100% gains since August 2023’s lows of $0.55.
Nano (XNO) daily price chart. Source: Finbold
Sei Network (SEI) is among the trending altcoins
In the meantime, Sei Network (SEI) continues to trend among altcoins focused on offering a more scalable Web3. Specifically, CoinMarketCap featured SEI as the 3rd most trending cryptocurrency of the last 24 hours, behind Bitcoin and Inspect (INSP). The token is up 226% in the last 30 days.
Trending cryptocurrencies. Source: CoinMarketCap
This recently created layer-1 blockchain is already highly backed by crypto venture capitalists (VCs), including Circle and Coinbase Ventures. Nevertheless, having such a massive amount of tokens in the hands of these whales also exposes new retail investors to higher sell-off risks.
SEI funding rounds. Source: CryptoRank
Therefore, SEI is a trending cryptocurrency to watch for the weekend, but investors must remain cautious due to a highly concentrated distribution.
In conclusion, the altcoins market is full of risks and opportunities. Altcoins are expected to outperform Bitcoin on bull rallies while also bleeding more when it turns bearish. Moreover, cryptocurrencies might trend for multiple reasons, and due diligence is required to understand what motivates each trend.
Disclaimer: The content on this site should not be considered investment advice. Investing is speculative. When investing, your capital is at risk.
