Altcoin Season Doesn't Start With Altcoins — It Starts With Bitcoin

This is the part most retail traders miss every single cycle.

Altcoin season doesn't begin when altcoins pump. It begins when $BTC dominance peaks and starts declining in a healthy market structure — meaning Bitcoin is consolidating after a strong run, not crashing.

Here's the sequence that has played out historically:

1. $BTC makes new highs or tests resistance over several weeks
2. BTC dominance peaks as all capital parks in Bitcoin for safety
3. Profit rotates first into large-caps: $ETH typically leads, followed by $SOL
4. Then mid-caps get attention — chains with real ecosystems and developer activity
5. Only in the final leg does speculative capital reach small-caps and memes

The signal traders should watch: when $ETH/$BTC ratio starts turning upward while BTC price holds flat or grinds higher, rotation is quietly beginning.

What kills altcoin seasons early:
BTC sudden drawdown pulling everything down with it
— Macro shock resetting risk appetite
— Liquidity drying up before the rotation reaches mid-caps

Patience and sequence awareness beat FOMO every time.

Understand the order of operations, and you stop chasing pumps. You start positioning for them.

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