BitMex co-founder Arthur Hayes has argued that the altcoin season is an ongoing process that never truly ends. He mentioned that traders often miss identifying the winners. Hayes urged traders to reconsider their approach to altcoins and pay closer attention to new, high-performing tokens, rather than relying solely on historical trends.
Hayes mentioned this during a podcast interview with crypto influencer Kyle Chasse, noting that many traders are busy waiting for the next altcoin to happen, but fail to realize that it is always happening. He further argued that the only reason they think altcoin is not there is that they do not know the tokens that went up. Hayes added that traders are looking out for an altcoin season that resembles the last one, as this gives them a sense of familiarity.
Arthur Hayes uses Hyperliquid to prove his point
Hayes, making his point, mentioned Hyperliquid (HYPE) as one of the best stories of this crypto cycle, noting that it launched at $2 or $3 before skyrocketing to $60. He also noted that Solana crashed in 2022 to about $7 before jumping periodically to reach nearly $300 early this year. However, not everyone agrees with Hayes’ views on altcoin season.
Some traders with differing perspectives are still waiting for the traditional crypto market to unfold in the same way, starting with Bitcoin, before capital shifts to Ethereum, and later to other smaller altcoins. Meanwhile, CoinQuant CEO Maen Ftoui recently claimed that older altcoins with ETFs will dominate a significant portion of the capital deployed in the next altcoin season.
Bitfinex analysts previously claimed that altcoins were unlikely to see a meaningful rally until ETFs start offering exposure beyond the largest crypto assets. However, Hayes still believes that asking when or how the next altcoin season will occur is the wrong question. He noted that new products are introduced all the time, and it is up to traders to use their own judgment to determine what is good and what is not.
He further urges traders to adjust to the times, rather than being stuck in the past. Meanwhile, altcoin season index data retrieved from the BlockchainCenter.Net shows a score of 35, indicating that it is not yet an altcoin season. A quick summary reveals that it has been approximately 85 days since the last altcoin season, and the longest streak without an altcoin season was 486 days. Meanwhile, the longest season lasted 117 days, while the average length of an altcoin season has been around 17 days.
