Bitcoin (BTC) vs altcoin dominance history up until September 18, 2023

Bitcoin dominance increased in October 2021 after a long decline, following news that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission would decide on a Bitcoin ETF. Within the crypto world, this so-called "dominance" ratio is one of the oldest and most investigated metrices available. It measures the coin's market cap relative to the overall crypto market - effectively showing how strong Bitcoin compared to all the other cryptocurrencies that are not BTC, called "altcoins". Bitcoin's market share was over 50 percent in early 2021, but declined over the summer as NFTs and DeFi applications led to increasing market caps among these altcoins. Why dominance matters is because market caps of any crypto can change relatively quickly, either due to sudden price changes or a change of recorded trading volume. Essentially, the figure somewhat resembles somewhat of a trading sentiment, revealing whether Bitcoin investors are responding to certain events or whether Bitcoin is losing out on functions offered by, for example, stablecoins or NFT tokens.