Was Q4/2025 actually “alt season”? ETH was ATH for a moment.

Short answer: not really.

Yes, Q4 showed strength, and ETH even wicked to a new ATH. But a true alt season isn’t a couple of flashy spikes, it’s breadth and duration, many alts outperform BTC at the same time, BTC dominance trends down for weeks, and alt/BTC pairs break out across the board. Think 69x style moves with participation, not just isolated pops. We didn’t get that.

Why not? Public attention isn’t 2021-level, search interest and big crypto accounts’ follower growth look flat, so fresh retail liquidity is thin. Macro still skews cautious, inflation isn’t “dead,” growth is uneven, and politics keep investors hugging perceived safe havens (Gold, BTC) instead of wandering down the risk curve. Add repeated leverage wipeouts and any rotation attempt gets clipped before it can compound. ETF flows and yield alternatives also siphon capital toward BTC/ETH rather than the long tail.

I’m in that “not as expected” camp too, but I stick to the process. The screenshot below is my ETH risk-aware DCA since 2022; even being wrong on “how high,” the plan is ~48% up. That’s the point: process > prediction. I size buys by risk (add more when risk is cooler, slow down when it runs hot) and let time, not emotion, do the work.

https://preview.redd.it/qmppkcs9ttgg1.png?width=1320&format=png&auto=webp&s=8eb2a5e2142d61fffecbc948af791a69cf9fa6c7

Could a broader alt wave still show up? Sure, if liquidity keeps easing and ETH leads decisively, breadth can follow. If not, stacking majors with rules still wins the patience game.