The cryptocurrency market capitalization surged to an all-time high of $3.44 trillion on Friday, November 22. The main driver of this rally was Bitcoin, which surpassed $99,000 to set a new all-time high as its dominance remains high at over 60%. However, several altcoins are also making big moves, with many of them posting double-digit gains today.

Solana (SOL) has been the standout so far, hitting an all-time high of $263 on Friday morning after an 11% gain on the day. Moreover, SOL is up a whopping 160% this year. However, much of the momentum for the network has been driven by meme coin degeneracies.

Altcoin Awakening

Solana’s rally has also been driven by multiple SOL spot ETF filings from issuers including Bitwise, VanEck, and 21Shares this week.

The rally was also helped by news of Gary Gensler’s resignation from the SEC on January 20, significantly increasing the chances of approval for these funds.

XRP was also on fire today, up 25% on the day to hit a three-year high of $1.42 during the Asian trading session on Friday. Hopes that Ripple’s multi-year legal battle with the SEC will be resolved favorably have given the cross-border token a boost of late.

Other altcoins that performed better today included Cardano (ADA), which rose 12% to hit $0.893, its highest since April 2022.

Stellar (XLM) mirrored XRP’s performance, rising 18% to hit $0.288 on Friday morning. Cronos (CRO) also performed well, hitting $0.20 after a 14% daily gain.

Most altcoins, but most notably Ethereum, have been slow to react, fueling speculation that Bitcoin will remain dominant this cycle and that the altcoin season may be muted.

Is Ethereum Left Behind?

Despite an 8% gain on the day, ETH failed to break through resistance and only managed to reach $3,418 during the rally.

ETH is still below the July levels of $3,500 and remains more than 30% below its all-time high. It is also still 17% below its 2024 high of $4,070, reached in March.

Analysts note that Ethereum has a history of underperforming in previous cycles and its time will come; however, that is little consolation for ETH holders for now.

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