Institutional Investors Focus Altcoin Rally on Top Projects

The next altcoin season may be different from previous cycles, according to Wintermute. Institutional investors have been dominating crypto flows and are driving most of the activity in the market.

Wintermute's latest OTC report shows that institutional investors accounted for 72% of spot OTC trading volume in the first half of 2026, the highest level on record. This figure has steadily increased from 59% in H1 2024 to 61% in H2 2025 and 72% in H1 2026.

The report also found that liquidity is flowing into only a handful of large, liquid assets instead of the broader altcoin market. The top 10 non-stablecoin altcoins now account for about 80.5% of the non-Bitcoin, non-stablecoin market capitalization and 63% of total altcoin trading volume.

Some analysts remain optimistic about a recovery, but Wintermute's report indicates that this cycle could reward only a limited number of high-quality, liquid projects rather than lifting the entire altcoin market.