Altcoins took a leading role in the latest crypto market rally, with their total market capitalization rising by around $135 billion as Bitcoin gained nearly 25% over the past week. On Binance, which represents nearly 40% of altcoin trading volume across exchanges, altcoins reached as much as 65% of total trading activity, compared with 21% for Bitcoin and 13.6% for Ethereum. CryptoQuant analyst Darkfost said the shift followed a prolonged period of low volatility and subdued volumes and may signal a broader return of risk appetite, with announcements from Trump on August 19—including a call for the US to purchase large amounts of BTC and for Congress to pass the Clarity Act—helping direct liquidity toward altcoins. Altcoin Vector's Altcoin Impulse reading rose to 93%, although levels above 75% are considered overextended and could precede exhaustion or a reset. Analyst Matthew Hyland has compared the June sell-off with the March 2020 market collapse and forecast potential gains of 10x to 1000x for some tokens, including Ethereum and Cardano, if the comparison holds.