Why Altcoins Were On Fire Again Today

The great crypto rally of late 2024 continued to barrel on over the weekend and well into Monday. With little to halt or even slow their trajectory, coins and tokens continued to vault well higher in value as the work week began.

Over that stretch of time, it almost seemed as if any crypto play was a winner. Meme tokens were particularly sprightly, with Shiba Inu (CRYPTO: SHIB) racing nearly 48% ahead from market close Friday to late afternoon Monday and Pepe (CRYPTO: PEPE) adding 23%. Some of the more "serious" cryptos were also on a serious run; Cardano (CRYPTO: ADA) was enjoying an almost 40% pop while Solana (CRYPTO: SOL) was up by almost 11%.

The leader surges

Predictably, the foundation of this rally is the follow-the-leader nature of the cryptosphere. And that leader is really on a tear -- I'm talking of course about Bitcoin.

This past weekend was the first one after Election Day, and the crypto market was still expressing satisfaction with the surprising (and convincing) win of Donald Trump. Weekends are when people not directly involved in the finance or crypto industry tend to have more time for activities like securities trading. Since coins and tokens trade 24/7 as opposed to traditional investments, many crypto bulls took that stretch of time to buy.

Very often these folks, especially if they're relatively new to cryptocurrencies or at least somewhat cautious, tend to reach for the most popular and familiar asset in the group -- Bitcoin. So looking back, it's little wonder that Bitcoin's value crossed the $80,000 barrier for the first time on Sunday, and has kept a heavy foot on the gas pedal since then. As I write this, it's trading north of $87,000.

On the subject of smashing barriers, Solana might not have been the strongest gainer but that's par for the course given its immense market cap. The rally has pushed the high-profile utility coin above $100 billion, making it the fourth largest crypto in market cap terms. For many, Solana is the poster child for utility cryptocurrencies given its blockchain's high degree of usefulness, and is thus something of a bellwether for altcoins generally.

As for meme coins, much of their outsize recent gains can be atrributed to the high visibility of Elon Musk in the Trump campaign (and, possibly, his incoming administration). Musk continues to be a colorful and energetic proponent of the No. 1 token in that segment, Dogecoin. Since Shiba Inu was "inspired" by the creation of Dogecoin, investors have pushed it near the front of the rally, too.

The heat is on

Especially when looking at the Sunday-to-Monday arc of Bitcoin, this rally is feeling overheated.

As I've opined before, there have only been vague pronouncements from Trump and his circle regarding their policies on cryptocurrencies. While these are sure to be beneficial for these digital assets, it's too soon to gauge how and when given the lack of specifics. That's why I'd continue to advocate for caution with cryptos just now; it's easy to get carried away on that wave of exuberance.

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Eric Volkman has positions in Bitcoin. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin, Cardano, and Solana. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.