Crypto’s subsequent altcoin season could produce fewer winners as institutional buyers focus their exercise in a narrower group of digital belongings, based on crypto market maker Wintermute.
In its over-the-counter (OTC) circulation report for the primary half of 2026, Wintermute said institutional counterparties generated 72% of spot circulation throughout all tokens on its OTC desk, the best share on report. That was up from 61% within the second half of 2025 and 59% within the first half of final yr.
With institutional exercise concentrated in fewer tokens and fading sooner after value surges, the findings recommend future altcoin rallies may turn into narrower and extra selective. Wintermute stated liquidity was concentrating within the belongings establishments favored whereas exercise throughout the market’s “lengthy tail” weakened.
Between the primary half of 2024 and the primary half of 2026, the variety of distinctive tokens traded by Wintermute’s institutional counterparties grew by simply 24%, in contrast with 76% amongst retail purchasers. The agency additionally discovered that institutional exercise following a surge in a token’s value and quantity light after roughly sooner or later. In distinction, retail exercise sometimes remained elevated for about three days.
Share of institutional spot OTC circulation. Supply: Wintermute
Altcoin capital was already changing into extra concentrated
Wintermute’s findings add proprietary OTC information to indicators that capital has been clustering round a smaller group of altcoins throughout the broader market.
On June 20, CryptoQuant CEO Ki Younger Ju stated the traditional rotation of Bitcoin profits into smaller crypto belongings had “mainly disappeared.” CryptoQuant information confirmed buying and selling quantity in Bitcoin-denominated altcoin pairs close to its weakest stage since 2021.
In the meantime, the ten largest non-stablecoin altcoins accounted for about 80.5% of the non-Bitcoin, non-stablecoin market’s capitalization.
Associated: Crypto altseason unlikely in 2026 as ‘blue-chip survivors’ to win out: Analyst
Kaiko recognized an analogous focus in alternate buying and selling. In July 2025, the information supplier said that the ten largest altcoins accounted for 63% of altcoin buying and selling quantity, up from about 50% a number of months earlier, as exercise in smaller tokens weakened.
DWF Labs managing accomplice Andrei Grachev additionally argued that broad altcoin rallies have been giving option to selective sector strikes. On March 15, Grachev stated too many tokens have been competing for limited capital, whereas institutional buyers remained targeted on Bitcoin, Ether and tokenized real-world belongings.
Journal: The 100x obsession: Fundamentals grow in importance as crypto matures
