Small-cap crypto tokens just hit a humiliating four-year low, proving the “Alt Season” thesis is officially dead
Crypto and stock performance since January 2024 suggests that the new “altcoin trading” is just stock trading.
The S&P 500 returned roughly 25% in 2024 and 17.5% in 2025, compounding to approximately 47% over two years. The Nasdaq-100 delivered 25.9% and 18.1% over the same period, for a cumulative gain near 49%.
The CoinDesk 80 Index, tracking the next 80 crypto assets after the top 20, fell 46.4% in 2025 first quarter alone and sat down roughly 38% year-to-date by mid-July.
The MarketVector Digital Assets 100 Small-Cap Index dropped to its lowest level since November 2020 by late 2025, erasing over $1 trillion from the total crypto market cap.
The divergence is not a rounding error. Broad altcoin baskets delivered negative returns…
