CoinMarketCap’s Altcoin Season Index hits a one-year high, but ICP and NEAR lead the gains as broader market sentiment cools.
CoinMarketCap’s Altcoin Season Index has climbed from 39 to 66 within a month, but the rise appears concentrated in a handful of tokens, with Internet Computer (ICP) and NEAR Protocol emerging as the leading performers.
ICP rose 13.09%, while NEAR gained 12.42%; CoinMarketCap identifies the two as the only assets to outperform its benchmark, with their moves supported by different trading dynamics. ICP’s rally appears to be driven primarily by spot-market demand, while NEAR’s move has a stronger derivatives component, with open interest increasing 252% over 30 days.
ICP has also attracted attention through its new cloud engines, designed to let enterprises operate their own dedicated subnets, and the project’s .icp top-level domain application, which passed ICANN’s initial review and entered the public stage of the 2026 new generic top-level domain round.
“CoinMarketCap’s Altcoin Season Index hit 66 today, its highest reading in a year, yet only six of the 26 narrative categories we track are up on the week. That is not a broad rotation. It is a handful of leaders outrunning Bitcoin while most of the market goes sideways or down,” said Alice Liu, Head of Research at CoinMarketCap.
Conversely, the BTC derivatives market weakened even as selected altcoins gained ground. Open interest fell 6.13% over the week and now represents just 1.16% of Bitcoin’s market capitalisation.
The price of BTC briefly climbed above US$84,000 following President Trump’s Friday announcement of an agreement for Russia to supply diesel fuel to domestic and international markets. The price subsequently pulled back as analysts raised concerns over substantial outflows from spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds.
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