Binance Research: Altcoin Season Might Come Soon, ETHDenver Drives ETH Surge

The most recent Global Markets report from Binance Research focused on the latest crypto trends during February 2020, including an ETH dominated surge in altcoin trading during the month, potentially owing to ETH Denver. 

Binance Research, the market research and analysis arm of Binance, released the February 2020 edition of its Global Markets report series, which mainly focuses on the potential return of altcoin season in the cryptoassets market, based on recent trading trends shown on Binance, particularly the surge in trading volumes for Ethereum last month.

February 2020 was not only a volatile month for crypto, but also an active month for altcoins, according to Binance Research and Binance Trading, which contributed to the report. Bitcoin dominance fluctuated from 66%, down to 61% by mid-February, and back up to 64% as the month ended. Coincidentally, aggregate spot exchange volumes for altcoins were up in February 2020, with a +69% increase in daily average volume.

The lead driver of the altcoin volume rally on the Binance spot market in February was ETH, with a total monthly volume increase of +158.6%. “The top event of the month was ETHDenver, with many hackathon projects on Ethereum building various projects. Many of them highlighted Ethereum’s pending switchover to Proof-of-Stake and the composability of smart contracts built on top of each other,” Binance Research noted. The report also highlighted 9 noteworthy projects from the hackathon.

Overall, the cryptoassets market rose, corrected, and fell, all within the span of one month. Bitcoin started the month at $9,300 before reaching $10,400 highs, then closing the month at $8,600. The fluctuation in BTC dominance is one of a few notable indicators of altcoins’ trading surge during the past month. “Bitcoin’s trading dominance on Binance moved from 40% to 27% in February, one of its sharpest month-over-month changes. If this trend were to continue, it would signify a greater appetite for altcoins from market participants,” Binance Research noted. 

“[We] saw some of its highest buy flows in recent months during this time. Flows were not just BTC related, as alts across the board picked up significant steam with traders, perhaps buying in to chase rallies,” Binance Trading added.

Here are some other observations noted in the report:

• Total volume across altcoin perpetual contracts increased by 160% from $12.6 billion to $32.8 billion in February. During that month, Binance Futures added 13 new pairs.

• Sentiment on Binance Futures remains bullish as traders continue to pile on long positions throughout February. Binance Futures’ Long/Short ratio climbed to its highest of 1.7x despite the recent selloff in crypto-markets. 

• Flash loans stole the spotlight in the decentralized finance (DeFi) space, after two significant attacks leveraged the smart contract functionality of Ethereum and resulted in profits of $360,000 in ETH and $630,000 in ETH from an opportunistic trader. 

Read the full report here.