Altcoin trading is showing broader rotation across DeFi, privacy, AI and memecoin sectors, even as an official altseason has not yet begun. Over the past 30 days, memecoin launchpad PONS rose more than 350%, while Uniswap’s UNI gained more than 110%, Arbitrum’s ARB jumped over 150% and AI-focused NEAR climbed around 180%. Privacy token Zcash reached a record high above $1,600 last week, and Bitcoin Layer-2 token LIT and memecoin launchpad token PUMP were also among the biggest gainers over the period, according to CoinMarketCap. According to Cointelegraph, the moves suggest traders are increasingly favoring tokens with clearer business cases rather than concentrating only on speculative themes. Bankless podcast host David Hoffman said Friday that tokens such as ARB, UNI, Jupiter’s JUP and Ondo’s ONDO share one trait: “They make money, they all print revenue,” implying the rally may be driven by utility. Among the top 20 biggest gainers last week, only two were memecoins, and in the past week only Pudgy Penguins made the list.

Still, the market is not being driven by fundamentals alone. 1inch co-founder Sergej Kunz said memecoins have shown the strongest growth among buyers over the last 30 days, while DeFi protocols, privacy tokens, AI projects and tokenized assets are also drawing attention. He described the pattern as “breadth before depth,” with more wallets buying a wider range of tokens but generally in smaller amounts. CoinMarketCap’s official Index remains below Altcoin Season, standing at 64 out of 100, up from 48 last week but still below the 75 threshold. Talos data also shows the top 10 altcoins now account for roughly 80% of total altcoin market capitalization, up from around 70% at the end of 2024. Talos head of international markets Samar Sen said capital is clustering around fewer assets rather than rotating broadly, and September flow data shows a strong buying tilt. He added that the strongest performance is concentrated in revenue-generating protocols, onchain perpetuals and DeFi projects, including HYPE, LIT, UNI and MORPHO, alongside privacy-related assets such as ZEC, NEAR and XMR, and AI-adjacent tokens including VVV and TAO. Talos is also seeing activity around memecoin launchpads such as PUMP and PONS, while tokenized gold and tokenized stocks are attracting more buyers. Michael Egorov, founder of Curve Finance and Yield Basis, said there is more interest in protocols with real use cases and institutional demand than in previous cycles, especially stablecoins used in onchain foreign exchange and fintech applications. Talos also said dealer participation in altcoin trading has fallen from around 65% at the end of 2024 to about 32% in September, suggesting liquidity providers and market makers have played a smaller role in the current move.