Asian markets are driving Ethereum’s weekend rallies, while DeFi activity and treasury demand further support the altcoin’s upward momentum across global sessions.
Ethereum climbed above $3,800 after recording a daily gain of nearly 3%. It extended a strong upward trend that has seen the altcoin rise over 55% in the past month. This momentum highlighted continued investor confidence, despite relatively low gas fees across the network.
Funding rates have moved into double digits, although they remain modest relative to the broader scale of futures positioning and Ethereum ETF inflows. Against this backdrop, Asia continues to lead altcoin performance in ETH.
Matrixport revealed that data tracking ETH’s performance across trading sessions last week showed Asia’s influence becoming more pronounced, which is responsible for the sharp weekend rally. Beyond speculative flows and treasury adoption, an uptick in DeFi activity is also providing much-needed support to the cryptocurrency’s upward momentum.
Amid this supportive environment, experts highlighted the emerging signals that point towards a potential altcoin season taking shape. For instance, the associated indexes have crossed above 50, the highest since December.
ETH Perpetual Open Interest surged from under $18 billion to over $28 billion in a week, which is being driven by institutional demand. The recently signed GENIUS Act, which sets clearer stablecoin regulations, has also renewed interest in ETH and other Layer 1s among Corporate Treasuries.
Meanwhile, the anticipation of staked spot ETH ETF approvals is prompting further institutional rotation from Bitcoin to Ethereum. ETH’s market share has risen to 11.6% while BTC dominance slips, which could mean that a potential next leg for altcoin season is underway.
A similar sentiment was echoed by Swissblock’s data, which shows that 75% of altcoins are currently testing key resistance levels, a technical point where altcoin seasons either begin or fail. In weak altseasons, Bitcoin remains strong, which leads to only short-lived altcoin rallies with limited capital rotation into alts.
On the other hand, strong altseasons require significant capital flow. This is characterized by Bitcoin losing relative strength, its dominance dropping, and altcoins breaking out broadly across the market.
Swissblock noted that the market is at this decision point now. Bitcoin’s momentum is slowing, and early signs of capital rotation into altcoins have begun, which means the conditions for a potential strong altseason are forming if capital flow accelerates further.
