Altcoins Underperform Bitcoin for Fourth Consecutive Year in 2025

In 2025, altcoins continued their trend of underperformance against Bitcoin, marking the fourth consecutive year of decline in the TOTAL3/BTC ratio. This metric excludes both Bitcoin and Ethereum when assessing altcoin performance.

Key Points:

Bitcoin's market dominance reached approximately 59-60% by late 2025, limiting growth opportunities for altcoins.
The market saw significant losses, with the crypto sector losing over $1 trillion in market capitalization during 2025's downturn.
Institutional preference for liquidity and macroeconomic pressures were identified as key factors driving this trend.
For altcoins to rebound, fresh capital needs to flow into smaller tokens specifically.
Investors remain cautious due to high volatility and potential illiquidity in smaller tokens.

The downward trend in the TOTAL3/BTC ratio indicates that a unit of Bitcoin now buys more altcoin market cap than before, reflecting persistent underperformance relative to previous cycles. Analysts suggest that any substantial recovery for altcoins will depend on improved market sentiment and clear capital flows.