Bitcoin dominance
Bitcoin dominance (BTC.D) is Bitcoin's market capitalization divided by the total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies, shown as a percentage. It describes how much of the value in crypto sits in Bitcoin rather than in altcoins and stablecoins.
Bitcoin dominance now
- 90-day low
- 58.4%
- Average
- 59.2%
- High
- 60.2%
How it works
Bitcoin dominance is a ratio:
Bitcoin dominance = Bitcoin market cap ÷ total crypto market cap × 100
If dominance is 55%, Bitcoin makes up 55% of the value of every coin and token the data provider tracks. Traders often refer to it by its TradingView ticker, BTC.D.
Because it is a ratio, dominance moves when either part moves. Bitcoin can rise in price while its dominance falls, as long as the rest of the market rises faster. It can also fall while nothing happens to Bitcoin at all, if the denominator grows.
The denominator is the weak point. Total market cap includes:
- Altcoins, including Ethereum, whose prices move against Bitcoin's.
- Stablecoins such as USDT and USDC, which are dollars on a blockchain and do not move with the market.
- Newly listed tokens, which add market cap the day a data provider starts counting them.
Data providers do not count exactly the same set of coins, so CoinMarketCap and CoinGecko often publish different dominance figures on the same day, sometimes a couple of percentage points apart. SwapHunt uses CoinMarketCap throughout, so the history is comparable with itself. Mixing sources from one month to the next would create jumps that are only a change in method.
A worked example
Take a simplified market: Bitcoin $1,200 billion, stablecoins $250 billion, all other coins $750 billion. Total market cap is $2,200 billion.
- Dominance: 1,200 ÷ 2,200 = 54.5%
- Excluding stablecoins: 1,200 ÷ 1,950 = 61.5%
Case 1: Bitcoin up, dominance down. Bitcoin rises 10% to $1,320 billion and the other coins rise 25% to $937.5 billion. Stablecoins are unchanged. Total is $2,507.5 billion, and dominance is 1,320 ÷ 2,507.5 = 52.6%. Bitcoin gained, yet its share fell almost two points, because altcoins gained more.
Case 2: Nothing moves, dominance still drops. Prices stay flat, but $50 billion of new stablecoins is minted. Total becomes $2,250 billion and dominance falls to 1,200 ÷ 2,250 = 53.3%. No one rotated into altcoins. The denominator simply grew.
The second case is why a drop in dominance is not, on its own, proof that money is moving from Bitcoin into altcoins.
What it tells you
The box above shows the latest daily reading from CoinMarketCap, with its 90-day range. The label (high, neutral, low) is SwapHunt's own banding: above 55% is high, 45–55% neutral, below 45% low.
Read the direction together with total market cap, not the level alone:
| Dominance | Total market cap | Usual reading |
|---|---|---|
| Rising | Rising | New money is going mostly into Bitcoin. Common early in a cycle. |
| Rising | Falling | Altcoins are being sold harder than Bitcoin. Risk-off inside crypto. |
| Falling | Rising | Altcoins are growing faster. The textbook setup for an altcoin season. |
| Falling | Falling | Bitcoin is dropping faster than the rest, or stablecoins are absorbing the exits. |
Rotation, when it happens, tends to move down the liquidity ladder: Bitcoin first, then Ethereum, then large-cap altcoins, then smaller and thinner tokens. Falling dominance is the result of that rotation, not its trigger. By the time the chart shows a clear downtrend, the move has usually been under way for weeks. Earlier signs tend to appear in the ETH/BTC pair and in how large-cap altcoins behave on days Bitcoin rises.
Dominance moves slowly compared with individual prices, because it is a ratio of two large aggregates. It is better at describing the current phase than at timing the next one.
When it matters most
Dominance matters most at turns. After a long altcoin rally, dominance that stops falling and starts rising is a structural warning, often visible before altcoin charts break. Late in a rotation, altcoin moves rely more on leverage than on fresh money, so a Bitcoin sell-off tends to close leveraged altcoin longs first, and the reversal comes faster than the rally did.
It is most useful alongside the Altcoin Season Index, which measures returns rather than market cap. A falling dominance reading carries more weight when that index is also rising. In the 2021 cycle, for example, CoinMarketCap's dominance fell from roughly 70% in early January to around 40% by May while Ethereum and large-cap altcoins outperformed.
It matters least during periods of heavy stablecoin issuance or redemption, and during waves of new token listings. Then much of the movement comes from the denominator.
Common misconceptions
"Falling dominance means Bitcoin is weak." Dominance is a share, not a price. Bitcoin can set new highs while its dominance falls, if altcoins rise faster.
"Falling dominance proves money is rotating into altcoins." It may only mean that stablecoin supply grew or that new tokens were added to the total. Check total market cap and stablecoin supply before drawing that conclusion.
"There is one correct dominance number." Each provider counts a different set of coins, so CoinMarketCap and CoinGecko can disagree by a couple of points on the same day. Compare readings only within one source.
"Altseason starts at a specific level, like 40%." No threshold has held across cycles. The direction and speed of the change carry more information than any fixed level, and waiting for a round number usually means arriving late.