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Altcoin market indicators including Ethereum, Total 2, Total 3, and OTHERS have broken year-long downtrends, with analyst Matthew Hyland suggesting the largest altcoin bull run in history may be forming. Altcoin perpetual futures open interest has surpassed Bitcoin‘s for the first time since December 2024, while the combined value of altcoins outside the top ten has climbed past $200 billion. Zcash led the advance, surging past $1,200 to a market value of $20.44 billion and displacing Hyperliquid from ninth place. However, rising leverage poses risks, with Zcash alone triggering $24 million in liquidations as open interest reached $2.7 billion.
Key Elements
A cluster of long-dormant altcoin market indicators has broken through resistance levels that held for more than a year, prompting analyst Matthew Hyland to declare that the largest altcoin bull run in history may be taking shape. The moves come as speculative capital floods back into smaller digital assets, pushing several tokens to multi-month highs and reshaping the derivatives landscape.
Hyland pointed to four gauges — Ethereum (ETH), Total 2, Total 3, and OTHERS — all of which have printed higher highs after extended declines. Total 2 tracks the value of altcoins excluding Bitcoin (BTC), Total 3 removes both Bitcoin and Ether, and OTHERS focuses on assets outside the top ten by market capitalization, making it a barometer for smaller, more speculative tokens.
“The largest #Altcoin Bull Run of all time is loading,” Hyland wrote in a post on September 7. He argued the advance could surpass the rally traders rode through 2020 and 2021, basing the assessment on a chart that compares the dominance of cryptocurrencies outside the top ten against the S&P 500. That ratio has been sliding steadily since peaking during the initial coin offering frenzy of 2017 and 2018, and current readings sit near the lower end of that long decline. An oscillator on the same chart has dropped into oversold territory around 20 to 30, a stark contrast to the overbought reading near 80 seen in 2017.
The technical signals are being reinforced by tangible shifts in market positioning.
Derivatives Flip for the First Time Since 2024
Aggregate open interest in altcoin perpetual futures surpassed Bitcoin’s on Saturday for the first time since December 2024, according to data from Coinalyze. Bitcoin now accounts for roughly 37% of tracked perpetual positions, worth approximately $23.9 billion, a notable decline in its share of speculative capital.
Spot buyers have moved in tandem. The combined market value of altcoins outside the ten largest assets has climbed past $200 billion, gaining more than 10% this month. One report placed the figure at $213 billion, up nearly 12% since the start of September. Bitcoin itself traded near $79,575 on Sunday, down about 0.4% on the session, underscoring how the current move is being driven by smaller tokens rather than the market leader.
Zcash Leads the Charge, and the Leverage Warning
Zcash (ZEC) has become the clearest illustration of both the upside traders are chasing and the risk embedded in the rally. The privacy coin surged past $1,200 on Sunday and peaked at $1,249, its highest level since the fourth quarter of 2016. The move lifted its market capitalization to $20.44 billion, enough to displace Hyperliquid (HYPE) from ninth place. ZEC has now gained roughly 370% from its early-June low.
The rally has been fueled in part by institutional interest. Grayscale’s spot Zcash fund, which began trading in late August, has gathered about $463 million in assets.
Yet the same rally wiped out roughly $24 million in leveraged positions in a single day, with short sellers absorbing $17.5 million of that total. ZEC perpetual futures open interest reached $2.7 billion a level that has historically preceded corrections in mid-cap tokens
Other assets joined the advance. Dogecoin (DOGE) climbed about 12% from its Friday low to $0.094, while BNB approached $780, its highest level since early February. Both tokens posted gains exceeding 11% over a 24-hour stretch.
The current run follows a punishing stretch for the sector. Coins outside Bitcoin and Ether lost close to 23% of their combined value in the first half of 2026 as liquidity pooled in stablecoins. The rebound, therefore, starts from a low base rather than an established uptrend, which some analysts view as constructive for further gains.
Hyland acknowledged the possibility that the breakout could amount to a bear market rally before answering his own question with a bullish conclusion. The competing signals are clear: market breadth is improving and long-term charts have broken higher, but leverage is building quickly, raising the stakes for anyone buying at current prices.
The analyst, for now, sees the first signal as the more powerful one.
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Source: finance.biggo.com