The end of crypto being an alt investment?If ever there was evidence that crypto has become normalized and absorbed into mainstream institutional behaviour—moving more like a unified asset class and less like a collection of wild outliers—this is it.
Across four randomly selected coins with very different purposes and market caps ( COINBASE:BTCUSD - top left, COINBASE:XRPUSD - top right, COINBASE:SOLUSD - bottom left and BINANCE:TRXUSD - bottom right):
2 out of 4 ranged 35–40% in an almost identical pattern over the same period
3 out of 4 ranged 35–48% in an almost identical pattern over the same period
4 out of 4 ranged 20–48% in an almost identical pattern over the same period
These similarities raise the question: are we now past the era of:
Huge, isolated crypto swings?
Crypto consistently moving counter to the S&P, FTSE and other indices?
Crypto acting as a true alternative asset class?
Not quite.
Yes, institutional capital is now clearly in the market, but how crypto behaves still depends heavily on how those institutions manage their allocations.
Crypto remains capable of sharp, counter-intuitive moves—but with less of the explosive upside (or catastrophic downside) that defined the early years. Crypto volatility is likely to be lower than before—but still far above that of major indices or mega-cap equities (the “Apple/Google/Amazon equivalents” of traditional markets). And crucially, crypto can still move counter to the stock market, as shown in the second image where BTC (and most major coins) fell while equities rallied.
This also leads us to the following - the three investor archetypes now dominating crypto:
The Whales – Formerly wealthy early adopters, but now overwhelmingly institutional players. Their capital, risk management structure and access to liquidity eclipse everyone beneath them.
The Sharks – Yesterday’s whales. Powerful enough to cause volatility and trigger widespread stop-loss cascades, but no longer able to dictate the market the way they once could.
The Nemos – Retail investors, small and scattered, swimming in the wake of the larger fishes while trying (often desperately) to “find Dory*.”
At the same time, crypto has shown increasing correlation with stock market trends—particularly between April and October—further evidence of institutional influence and a sign that crypto is becoming mainstream, integrated, and less viable as a true alternative asset class capable of life-changing returns (or losses).
Notes:
* Dory: Alpha – mythical, elusive, and mostly found in pixel form (cinemas, and charts on social media trading apps :-) ).
