What does the surge in Bitcoin dominance mean?

Several cryptocurrency traders say a clear ascending triangle is forming on the Bitcoin dominance chart, suggesting that Bitcoin’s market share could surge. However, some believe things will go the other way.

“The BTC domination train is about to leave the station,” Benjamin Cowen, cryptocurrency trader and founder of Into The Cryptoverse, declared to his 810,700 followers in a March 27 post.

Cowen claims that Bitcoin’s market cap dominance has been in an ascending triangle pattern since September. Source: Benjamin Cowen/X

An ascending triangle pattern forms on a chart when the price consolidates between an uptrend line of support and a horizontal trendline of resistance.

On March 27, cryptocurrency trader “Beanie” on X told his 194,800 followers that Bitcoin dominance — a measure of Bitcoin’s share of the total cryptocurrency market cap — is “coming back in a big way.”

Beanie said Bitcoin’s dominance typically grows in bear markets as crypto-native investors flock to Bitcoin as a safe haven, preferring its stability to riskier and more speculative digital assets.

Although Bitcoin hit an all-time high this month, Beanie added that the current trend mirrors the 2018 bear market.

“This is very different from the 2021 bull run, when dominance dropped dramatically from 70% to 40%. It actually parallels the 2018-2019 bear run,” they said.

In March 2017, Bitcoin had an 85% market dominance, but by January 2018, Bitcoin dominance had plummeted to an all-time low of 32.45%.

According to CoinStats, Bitcoin dominance currently stands at 50.1%.

Not all traders agree with this view. Some argue that from a macro perspective, Bitcoin’s market share appears to be declining in the long term.

Cryptocurrency trader Zero Ika told his 43,500 X followers that Bitcoin’s dominance is actually in a “long-term downtrend.”

“If we look at the big picture on a logarithmic chart, we can clearly see that BTC D is in a long-term downtrend.”

BTC dominance chart on TradingView. Source: Zero Ika/X