Bitcoin and Ethereum Flying Together! Eight Altcoins Worth Watching Going Forward
- Core Thesis: After Bitcoin and Ethereum's strong rally, the market expects capital to rotate into altcoins. However, this cycle will not see a broad-based rally—only projects with real users, stable protocol revenue, clear token value capture, and healthy token distribution structures can absorb the spillover capital. The article screens leading projects and potential picks across sectors.
- Key Factors:
- Public Chain Track: SOL offers the highest certainty among major coins, with a circulating market cap of approximately $51.88 billion and TVL of ~$5.31 billion, with a dispersed holder base; SUI has strong upside potential, but its circulating supply is only 40.75%, facing ongoing unlock risks heading into 2026.
- DeFi Track: UNI and AAVE are both coins endorsed by Standard Chartered, with real protocol revenue; UNI's fee switch mechanism has strengthened its value capture capability after implementation, with 30-day fees significantly higher than AAVE's.
- Perp DEX Track: HYPE maintains a solid leading position with ~$48.39 million in 30-day fees, but circulating supply is only ~23%. After Trump's endorsement-driven surge, current valuations are elevated, and the unlock schedule does not support blindly chasing highs.
- RWA Track: LINK benefits from multiple narratives spanning RWA, stablecoins, and cross-chain interoperability, offering high certainty; ONDO shows rapid business growth, but the official multi-sig address holds 54.79% of token concentration, with significant unlock risks in 2027.
- Overall Strategy: Allocate a meaningful position to DeFi; in public chains, favor SOL as the core holding with SUI as a small speculative position; in RWA, treat LINK as the primary position, while ONDO is only suitable for small event-driven trades.
Within three days, Bitcoin has surged toward the $77,000 mark, reclaiming bullish indicators such as the EMA200; Ethereum has jumped 20% in a single day, closing in on the $2,400 level. As BTC stabilizes and ETH begins to catch up, expectations are heating up again that capital will rotate from major coins into high-beta altcoins.
However, after BTC's solo rally in the bull market and the subsequent bear-market washout, this altcoin season is unlikely to see "everything pumping together." The projects that will truly attract capital inflows from major coins are still those with real users, sustainable protocol revenue, clear token value capture mechanisms, and relatively healthy token distribution structures.
High-Performance Public Chain Sector
Leader: SOL
Circulating Market Cap/FDV: Approximately $51.88B/$56.28B
Past three days: +18.48%
On-chain Metrics: TVL approximately $5.31B, stablecoins approximately $15.86B, 24-hour DEX trading volume approximately $2.8B
Unlocks: ~583 million tokens in circulation, representing ~92.2% of the current total supply; no major cliff unlocks on the horizon, main risk comes from long-term PoS inflation
Distribution: Top 10 addresses hold only 6.58%
Outlook: Strictly speaking, SOL itself is already a major coin, and it offers the highest certainty within the public chain sector; however, it is highly volatile and currently underperforming relative to Bitcoin and Ethereum. It may be worth waiting for a catch-up opportunity.
High-Potential Pick: SUI
Circulating Market Cap/FDV: Approximately $3.03B/$7.44B
Past three days: +14.82%
On-chain Metrics: TVL approximately $427M, stablecoins approximately $466M, 24-hour DEX trading volume approximately $39M
Unlocks: Only 40.75% of supply has been released so far; an unlock of approximately 13.5 million tokens (worth ~$9.93M) is expected around September 1, 2026, with continued releases extending beyond 2030.
Distribution: Top 10 addresses hold ~13.55%, indicating moderate concentration.
Outlook: Strong performance in the last bull cycle, with high volatility. However, the low circulating supply is a concern, and attention must be paid to upcoming unlock events.
Sector Verdict: For the public chain sector, SOL is the steady choice and the top pick for blockchain development; SUI offers higher beta. However, given that ETH already dominates the public chain narrative, it's advisable to take a moderate position in SOL and a smaller position in SUI.
DeFi Lending Sector
Leader 1: UNI
Circulating Market Cap/FDV: Approximately $2.384B/$3.406B
Past three days: +16.98%
On-chain Metrics: Combined TVL of ~$3.1B across Uniswap V2, V3, and V4; 30-day fees approximately $79.2M, protocol revenue approximately $6.12M
Unlocks: Original vesting schedule is 100% complete with no major unlocks pending; approximately 62.4% of supply is currently in circulation, with the remainder held in the community treasury, burn address, and protocol contracts
Distribution: Top 10 addresses hold ~52.03%, primarily consisting of the governance Timelock contract (26.72%), burn address (10.91%), major exchange addresses (~6.69% combined), and Token Distributor (1.25%)
Outlook: One of Standard Chartered's highlighted coins. Following the implementation of the fee switch and buyback/burn mechanism, UNI has begun transitioning from a pure governance token to an asset with protocol value capture. Its 30-day fee volume is significantly higher than AAVE's.
Leader 2: AAVE
Circulating Market Cap/FDV: Approximately $1.535B/$1.592B
Past three days: +13.08%
On-chain Metrics: Aave V3 TVL approximately $16.47B; 30-day fees approximately $30.01M, protocol revenue approximately $4.08M
Unlocks: Approximately 97% of supply has been released
Distribution: Top 10 addresses hold ~43.07%, of which the staking pool accounts for 15.32%, V3 contracts 5.24%, and ecosystem reserve 3.61%.
Outlook: One of Standard Chartered's highlighted coins. The most balanced in terms of token distribution and revenue generation, though it has already rallied significantly from the bottom.
High-Potential Pick: MORPHO
Circulating Market Cap/FDV: Approximately $1.50B/$2.284B
Past three days: +8.65%
On-chain Metrics: Morpho Blue TVL approximately $8.93B; 30-day fees approximately $16.34M, but protocol-level revenue is currently close to zero
Unlocks: Significant discrepancies exist in supply data across sources — CoinGecko reports ~65.7% circulating, while Tokenomist's tradeable/released figure is ~34%; no clear upcoming cliff unlock
Distribution: Top 10 addresses hold ~64.4%, including the wrapper contract (39.13%) and seed round addresses (9.01%)
Outlook: The protocol is growing rapidly, but token value capture is weaker than AAVE, and supply statistics lack transparency.
Sector Verdict: The DeFi sector is one of the few crypto sectors with actual revenue generation, representing a battle-tested legacy track. It's advisable to allocate a portion of the portfolio to DeFi assets.
Perp DEX Sector
Leader: HYPE
Circulating Market Cap/FDV: Approximately $16.41B/$73.75B
Past three days: +24.89%
On-chain Metrics: Hyperliquid L1 TVL approximately $1.45B, stablecoins approximately $6.57B, Bridge TVL approximately $6.27B; 30-day fees approximately $48.39M, revenue approximately $34.52M
Unlocks: Reported circulating supply is approximately 222 million tokens, representing only ~23% of total supply; the whitepaper model projects ~9.92 million tokens to be released around September 5-6, though the team's actual historical claims have typically been lower than the model projects
Distribution: Future incentives 26.3%, core contributors 25.4%, foundation 6.4% — these three categories combined account for 58.1%
Outlook: HYPE is the undisputed leader in Perp DEX and currently faces no credible challengers. However, after the Trump-driven rally, both the current price appreciation and unlock structure make it unwise to blindly chase highs.
Sector Verdict: Perp DEX is the hottest sector this cycle, but HYPE leads by a wide margin in revenue and buybacks, and its price and market cap are already substantial. Caution is advised when allocating to this sector.
RWA & On-Chain Finance Infrastructure Sector
Leader: LINK
Circulating Market Cap/FDV: Approximately $8.09B/$10.81B
Past three days: +15.78%
On-chain Metrics: Community staking pool holds approximately 40.88 million LINK; Ondo's tokenized stocks and ETFs have already integrated Chainlink data feeds
Unlocks: CoinGecko reports ~74.8% circulating, while Tokenomist's tradeable float is ~58.8%; no fixed major unlock dates on the horizon
Distribution: Top 10 addresses hold ~30.5%, of which ~20.2% are non-circulating official wallets and 4.09% is the community staking pool
Outlook: Positioned to benefit simultaneously from RWA, stablecoins, cross-chain interoperability, and institutional finance onboarding, offering greater certainty than single-focus RWA projects.
High-Potential Pick: ONDO
Circulating Market Cap/FDV: Approximately $1.767B/$3.629B
Past three days: +10.19%
On-chain Metrics: Ondo Yield Assets TVL approximately $2.51B, Global Markets approximately $971M
Unlocks: Approximately 49%-53% of supply has been released; however, 1.94 billion tokens are scheduled to unlock on January 18, 2027!
Distribution: Top 10 addresses hold ~70.41%, with a single official multi-sig address accounting for 54.79%
Outlook: Strong business growth potential, but weak token value capture, high concentration of token holdings, and the massive 2027 unlock are all notable risks.
Sector Verdict: LINK is suitable as the core holding for RWA exposure; ONDO is only appropriate for event-driven small positions, ideally waiting until the 2027 unlock is fully priced in by the market. 
