Another volatile and eventful week passed by in the cryptocurrency markets, but the overall sentiment is that the winds are changing as altcoins have emerged in the spotlight.

This is mostly because bitcoin has started to lose traction. Recall that the primary cryptocurrency skyrocketed to a new all-time high at the beginning of last week when it briefly exceeded $123,000. While that was spectacular on its own, it didn’t last long, and the asset retraced almost immediately by seven grand.

What followed for the next ten days or so was sideways trading. BTC remained confined in a relatively tight range between $117,000 and $120,000 as each attempt for a breakout was met with a forceful rejection.

The most violent one took place in the past day. Following reports that Galaxy Digital has started to dispose of its assets by offloading $1.5 billion worth of BTC, the cryptocurrency’s price tumbled and slipped below $115,000 for the first time in two weeks.

Although it has recovered some ground, it’s still struggling to reclaim $116,000 as of press time, and it’s down by over 2.5% on a weekly scale. At the same time, many altcoins, such as LTC, ENA, and CRO, have produced mindblowing gains within the same timeframe. Binance Coin, on the other hand, shot up to a fresh ATH at over $800 before retracing slightly.

Ethereum is also in the green since this time last week. Perhaps driven by the substantial inflows in the spot Ethereum ETFs, the largest altcoin blasted to $3,850 earlier this week. It has lost some ground, but it’s still 1.2% up weekly and now sits close to $3,700.

Some of the altseason speculations that ran rampant for the past week or so came to a halt due to violent corrections from assets like XRP, XLM, HBAR, PEPE, and AAVE, all of which have plunged by double-digits since last Friday.

Market Data

Market Cap: $3.876T | 24H Vol: $265B | BTC Dominance: 59.4%

BTC: $115,670 (-2.6%) | ETH: $3,684 (+1.2%) | XRP: $3.06 (-13%)

This Week’s Crypto Headlines You Can’t Miss

BlackRock’s Ether ETF Becomes 3rd Fastest Fund to Hit $10B in a Year. As mentioned above, the Ethereum ETFs have enjoyed the past few weeks, attracting billions of dollars in net inflows. As usual, BlackRock’s ETHA has stood out the most as it became the 3rd-fastest fund to reach the $10 billion AUM milestone within its initial year.

XRP Longs Crushed on Binance as Analyst Flags Ripple Co-Founder’s $140M Sell-Off. Ripple’s native token was among the top performers lately, but its price suddenly crashed from over $3.4 to $3 within 48 hours. At first, the community blamed it on a speculative move by Upbit, but further reports suggested that one of the company’s co-founders might have sold $140 million worth of XRP.

Robert Kiyosaki Recommends Owning Real BTC, Not ‘Paper’ ETFs. The now-permanent bitcoin proponent, Kiyosaki, believes people should aim to distinguish themselves from the ‘regular investor’ stereotype. As such, they need to focus on accumulating real bitcoin, gold, and silver, instead of opting for ETFs.

Hash Ribbons Signal Ends – Here’s What It Could Mean for Bitcoin’s Next Move. As it appears that BTC’s consolidation may have come to an end, one indicator suggests the asset’s future price performance. The now-completed Hash Ribbons signal indicates that miners may have finished their capitulation phase, which is typically good news for bitcoin’s price.

Retail or Whales? CryptoQuant Analyzes the Forces Behind Bitcoin’s Latest Rally. Whenever BTC pumps hard, analysts and monitoring resources try to determine what’s the primary fuel for that surge. According to CryptoQuant, the latest price revival that took bitcoin to over $123,000 was driven mostly by institutions, as retail is nowhere to be found.

Bitcoin Shows Near-term Fragility as Investors Shift to Altcoins: Bitfinex. The altseason hype really caught on in the past several days as many reps surged to new peaks, including BNB. Analysts at Bitfinex confirmed the narrative, stating that investors have shifted their focus to more speculative digital assets instead of the market leader.

Charts

This week, we have a chart analysis of Ethereum, Ripple, Cardano, Solana, and HYPE – click here for the complete price analysis.

CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju has declared that the long-standing Bitcoin (BTC) cycle theory is “dead,” and has issued a public apology for his earlier bearish predictions.

Ju, once a proponent of cycle-based forecasting, where he advocated buying when whales accumulate and selling when retail floods in, acknowledged that “the pattern no longer holds” amid a structural transformation led by institutional investors.

The Death of the Bitcoin Cycle Theory

In a July 25 post on X, Ju explained that old whales are selling to new long-term whales, adding that holders now outnumber traders and traditional trading strategies now feel “pointless.”

“My mistake was ignoring this shift in my ‘bull cycle is over’ call,” wrote the CQ founder. “I sincerely apologize if my prediction impacted your investment. I’ll be more careful with forecasts and focus on providing data-driven insights.”

For years, BTC’s price movements followed a familiar rhythm: whales accumulated early, retail FOMO kicked in near the top, and a bear market ensued. However, CryptoQuant’s latest on-chain analysis supports Ju’s new stance. The report shows that in contrast to past cycles where retail investors dominated euphoric peaks, today’s rally is characterized by their absence.

Retail selling has intensified, particularly on platforms like Binance, where inflows from small traders surged from $12 billion to $16 billion over the past month. Instead, it’s deep-pocketed investors, institutions, high-volume wallets, and ETFs that are aggressively accumulating. Whales Screener data from earlier in the week supports this, showing over $200 million in BTC was withdrawn from exchanges in one 24-hour period to signal long-term conviction further.

Google Trends has also shown muted retail interest, a stark contrast to the social media frenzy of 2021. “This cycle looks nothing like the madness of 2021,” CryptoQuant noted. “Quiet and smart money is currently on stage.”

Last year, Stockmoney Lizards, another prominent analyst account, made observations similar to Ju’s. They argued this current cycle “marks the beginning of something different,” with Wall Street and TradFi institutions entering the market in droves. “Mass adoption has started,” they claimed, suggesting future BTC market behavior may resemble the S&P 500 more than the boom-bust patterns of days gone by.

A Few Believers Remain

However, not everyone agrees. On July 16, pseudonymous analyst CryptoCon pushed back against the growing debate over Bitcoin’s future trajectory, asserting that the four-year halving cycle is still intact.

“People expect the 4-year cycle to die every time. It hasn’t,” they said, projecting a cycle top between October and December 2025.

Amid the debate, BTC is trading at $115,500, a 2.5% dip in the last 24 hours and a 4.7% decline over the past week. This means it is underperforming the broader crypto market, which is down just 1.5% in that period.

The flagship cryptocurrency is now 6.2% below its all-time high set on July 14, though it remains up 8.6% in the last 30 days and nearly 80% year-on-year.

After enduring months of criticism for lagging behind other crypto assets, Ethereum is making a strong return as it reclaims market share.

Despite the recent pullback, the altcoin appears to be closing in on $4,000.

Whale Accumulation Hints at Much Bigger Move

Underneath its price action, large holders are quietly gearing up to fuel the rally, new data from Santiment shows. Since early 2025, wallets holding 10,000 to 100,000 ETH have steadily accumulated, indicating institutional players are stepping in before mainstream retail hype takes over.

Alongside this, Santiment also observed a rise in ETH-related social discussions, which suggests that the current surge is rooted in on-chain fundamentals and strategic positioning rather than short-term retail FOMO.

The crypto analytic firm also found that, unlike previous cycles where ETH largely followed Bitcoin’s trajectory, Ethereum is showing its own independent momentum this time. Its market value ratio relative to Bitcoin has surged by 64% since May 8, 2025, which reflects how investor confidence is shifting back to the altcoin’s fundamentals.

Interestingly, it was the deep bearish sentiment at the start of 2025 that may have set the stage for this rebound.

ETH Sentiment Flips From Fear to Confidence

When Ethereum touched $1,450 on April 8 this year, sentiment across crypto forums and social platforms was bleak. On X, Reddit, and Telegram, bullish-to-bearish comment ratios sat around 3:5, which indicated fear and doubt at their peak.

Historically, such fear often precedes opportunity, and this cycle has been no exception. By late July, as Ethereum climbed, sentiment flipped decisively to a 2:1 bullish-to-bearish ratio, which pointed to a return of trader confidence.

Santiment notes that this transformation is a stark contrast to the panic seen in early spring, but it also hints at pockets of FOMO beginning to surface.

However, the current sentiment is cooler than the “frothy” 3.5:1 bullish ratio recorded in mid-June, which suggests that optimism has moderated while maintaining constructive momentum. This moderation could serve as a healthier foundation for the rally to resume if bullish commentary continues to cool.

Adding to the optimism are supportive headlines. Fundstrat’s Tom Lee recently predicted that the crypto asset could reach $10,000-$15,000, owing to ETF inflows, institutional demand, and AI infrastructure tailwinds as catalysts.