Bitcoin is stable, and the meme sector is hot

On Friday, mainstream crypto tokens were stable. Among the top 20 tokens by market value, Bitcoin remained above $62,500, up 1.77% in 24 hours, and Ethereum was around $3,440, up 2.3% in 24 hours. Other top altcoins such as XRP , Cardano (ADA) and Solana (SOL) also rose slightly.

However, the gains of these currencies pale in comparison to those of Doge and SHIB. According to Bitpush terminal data, Doge's 24-hour increase was 18.5%, and SHIB's was 29.35%. The weekly increase of the two currencies reached 40%-50%.

Meme sector is hot, "early signs" of altcoin spring

In addition to DOGE and SHIB, the prices of new meme coins such as PEPE, BONK, and Dogwifhat (WIF) have doubled or more in a week. As of press time, WIF reached $1.23, a 24-hour increase of 65% and a 7-day increase of 312%; Pepe 24-hour increase of 44% and 7-day increase of 227.64%.

K33 Research analysts said in their latest market report that while BTC has been carrying the entire market higher recently, there are early signs that the so-called "altcoin season" is about to arrive, when smaller market capitalization tokens will perform well.

BTC is already approaching its all-time high set in 2021, hitting $64,000 this week, while a large amount of funds are flowing into spot Bitcoin ETFs. Up 48% since the beginning of the year, Research analysts believe that this situation may soon change.

K33 analysts believe: "From a historical perspective, altcoins will begin to outperform us now." Since the market bottomed in November 2022, Bitcoin's market capitalization has doubled relative to the total value of all cryptocurrencies except BTC and Ethereum. Analysts say this situation is similar to the situation before altcoins began to catch up with BTC in late 2020.

The analyst added that this week’s “huge” memecoin rally could be a “possible early sign” of an impending altcoin season.

PlanB, the creator of the Bitcoin S2F model, said on the X platform, “The bull run has begun. If history is a guide, we will see about 10 months of FOMO: extreme price increases coupled with multiple -30% declines.”

Macroeconomic factors are also an important indicator for the crypto market, and investors should pay attention to upcoming U.S. inflation reports (such as the CPI report on March 12 and the PPI report on March 14) as well as the Fed’s updated policy rate guidance at its next meeting on March 20.