Bitcoin dominance: the indicator degens read backwards

Bitcoin dominance (BTC.D) is BTC's share of the crypto market's total capitalization. A simple number with a non-simple interpretation: it describes not price but flows between asset classes inside crypto.

Four market regimes

• BTC up, dominance up: money enters crypto through bitcoin - the classic start of a bull phase. Alts lag.
• BTC up, dominance down: capital rotates from BTC into alts - the mature bull phase, the altseason window.
• BTC down, dominance up: flight to quality within crypto - alts fall harder. The classic of corrections.
• BTC down, dominance down: the rare and worst regime - capital leaves crypto entirely.

The nuances everyone forgets

Stablecoins sit in the denominator: their growth mechanically lowers dominance without moving either BTC or alts. Junk token emissions do too. That is why BTC.D levels from different years are not directly comparable: the composition of "the market" has changed. What works is not absolute levels but the direction and speed of change.

Our engine samples dominance and other macro metrics hourly - live numbers in the header of the markets section.