70% of Binance Altcoins Gain Strength as Traders Move Away From Bitcoin

Highlights:

• Around 70% of Binance altcoins are now trading above their 200-day average, showing stronger market momentum.
• The altcoin market has climbed above $800 billion for the first time in more than eight months.
• Altcoins now make up about 53% of Binance trading volume as traders move some capital away from Bitcoin.

Altcoins are showing their strongest momentum in months as more capital moves away from Bitcoin and into the wider crypto market. CryptoQuant analyst Darkfost said on September 19 that 70% of altcoins listed on Binance have moved back above their 200-day moving average, a level traders often use to judge whether a longer-term trend is improving.

Darkfost also pointed to TOTAL3, which tracks the total crypto market value excluding Bitcoin and Ethereum. According to his analysis, TOTAL3 has climbed back above $800 billion for the first time in more than eight months. The move also pushed the index above its May high, backed by a strong daily close.

🗞️ Altcoins outperform BTC as 70% climb back above their 200-day average

Altcoin momentum is surging those days.

Total3, which represents altcoin market cap excluding ETH, has just moved back above the $800B threshold, a level not seen in over 8 months. This move structurally… pic.twitter.com/xqKJTREcqv

— Darkfost (@Darkfost_Coc) September 19, 2026

Altcoin Market Cap Breaks Back Above $800 Billion

The $800 billion recovery comes while Bitcoin remains inside a broad range between $75,600 and $82,000. With BTC struggling to break clearly above the upper end of that range, trading activity has increasingly shifted toward altcoins. Darkfost said altcoins now account for around 53% of trading volume onBinance. He added that the rotation has been building for several weeks and has lifted altcoin performance to levels last seen around the October 2025 market peak.

The 200-day moving average has become another key part of the move. It tracks an asset’s average price over the previous 200 days and helps traders follow longer-term market trends. “On Binance, 70% of altcoins have moved back above their 200-dma, a key level closely watched by investors to confirm a trend,” Darkfost said. That marks a major change from the previous bear-market period. Darkfost said altcoins as a group had spent almost a year trading roughly 65% to 85% below that average.

Separate research also points to stronger altcoin performance. In a September 18 market report, 10x Research said Bitcoin and major assets remained below key moving averages while several altcoins gained between 20% and 35%. The firm linked some of those gains to project-specific catalysts, including DeFi fee burns and growing institutional adoption.

If you think crypto is boring and going nowhere, you're not paying attention.

ZEC led with a 36% weekly gain, trailed by UNI (30%) and ARB (25%).

But the story doesn't stop at the top, even the 20th name on this list, BNB, still returned 3% for the week.

That's a… pic.twitter.com/874jdBU9GY

— 10x Research (@10xResearch) September 18, 2026

Bitcoin Rebounds Above $81,000 as ETF Demand Returns

Bitcoin was trading near $81,251, up about 4.08% over the past 24 hours, while its seven-day gain stood at roughly 5.1%, according to CoinMarketCap.

BTC’s recovery came after a rough few days for the market. The U.S. Senate failed to advance the CLARITY Act on September 15, followed by a 25-basis-point rate increase from the Federal Reserve. Bitcoin came under pressure after both events but soon regained the $80,000 level.

Spot Bitcoin ETF flows improved later in the week. U.S. funds posted about $6.1 million in net inflows from September 14 to 18. They recorded a combined $746.3 million in outflows on Tuesday and Wednesday before taking in $159.5 million on Thursday and another $433 million on Friday.

Regulatory developments also remained in focus. The SEC moved ahead with its tokenized securities framework, while the CFTC continued work on broader crypto market rules. The return of ETF inflows helped support Bitcoin’s latest move higher.