Key takeaways
What It Is
Risk dial
BTC's share of total market cap
Regimes
4
Direction × price tells the story
Before Alt Charts
Check it
Most alt moves are regime moves
Bitcoin dominance — BTC's share of total crypto market capitalization — is the single most-watched ratio in the asset class. It is also one of the most misread.
The four regimes
Rising dominance with rising prices means capital is entering through the front door — the classic early-cycle pattern. Rising dominance with falling prices is flight to relative safety inside the asset class. Falling dominance with rising prices is risk appetite broadening into alts. Falling dominance with falling prices is the exit — everything sold, BTC last.
Why it matters for allocation
Most altcoin drawdowns are not idiosyncratic — they are dominance-regime moves wearing a project-specific costume. Checking the dominance trend before judging any single alt chart saves a remarkable amount of confusion. The series above updates hourly from our own data pipeline.
Daniel Kim
DeFi and policy correspondent. Tracks TVL rotations, yields and the regulatory landscape.
