You know, I’ve long noticed that most newcomers in crypto don’t understand how to read Bitcoin dominance charts and what that implies. In the meantime, it’s one of the most useful tools for understanding market moves. In general, Bitcoin dominance is simply the percentage of the total crypto market capitalization that Bitcoin itself accounts for. Right now, for example, it’s around 57-58%. And here’s what’s interesting: when this figure is rising, it almost always means that people are moving money out of altcoins and back into BTC. This happens either when uncertainty hits the market, or when a new bullish cycle starts in its early stages. But when dominance is falling—that’s when altcoins start to grow for real. This is called “altseason,” and it’s when investors take profits in Bitcoin and shift them into riskier assets. To track these movements correctly, I always look at the ETH/BTC and XRP/BTC pairs. Think of them as health indicators for altcoins. If ETH/BTC is rising, that’s a sign that capital is flowing from Bitcoin into Ethereum. If it’s falling, it could mean the start of a Bitcoin dominance period or a market correction. The same goes for XRP/BTC—only there, it’s about Ripple and its potential. In practice, it looks like this: suppose the Bitcoin dominance chart shows an upward trend, while the ETH/BTC and XRP/BTC pairs are falling. That’s a signal to hold BTC. And if those pairs break out of a descending channel—that’s when you can expect a strong move in altcoins. For analysis, I use TradingView—there you can plot all these charts and apply indicators like RSI, MACD, and moving averages. This helps you catch entry and exit points. CoinMarketCap and CoinGecko are also useful for keeping an eye on the bigger picture and understanding how market shares change. In the end: if you want to understand where the money is moving in the market, watch Bitcoin dominance and these pairs. Of course, it’s not a guarantee, but it’s one of the most reliable ways to read market sentiment. And don’t forget about the support and resistance levels on these charts—they often show where a reversal is likely to happen.

Recently, I’ve been thinking about a question: why do some people still refuse to sell even when Bitcoin hits a new all-time high? This is what’s often called the hodler spirit. The word “hodler” has already become a kind of culture in the Bitcoin community. The traits of these people are very clear: no matter how volatile the market is or how dramatic the price swings are, they just keep their crypto assets and don’t move. Even if they have the opportunity to cash out at the highs and make millions, they can still hold back. To be honest, this takes very strong psychological resilience. Bitcoin’s value itself is inherently volatile, because it’s decentralized—its price is determined entirely by market supply and demand. Most people see prices surge and want to sell right away, but a real hodler wouldn’t do that. They choose to ignore short-term price fluctuations and wait patiently, keeping their focus on the long-term investment perspective. Judging by the current market, BTC’s latest quote is 82.28K USD, with a 24-hour gain of 1.78%; ETH is at 2.41K, up 1.52%; and XRP is also doing well at $1.45, up 3.34%. In this kind of mild upward trend, the advantage of hodlers really shows. They won’t rush to take profits just because of short-term gains; instead, they firmly believe that long-term holding is the right way. Think about it—if you started holding Bitcoin a few years ago and stuck to the hodler philosophy, when you look back now, the returns are truly impressive. That’s why more and more people are starting to understand and recognize the hodler culture. Instead of trading constantly, it’s better to find the assets you believe in, hold them long-term, and let time prove their value.

I've been seeing a lot of discussions lately about the ISO 20022 financial messaging standard, but it turns out it's also having a significant impact in the cryptocurrency world. Cryptocurrencies that comply with this standard, which SWIFT announced a few years ago, are actually quite limited. Bitcoin and Ethereum are not compatible with ISO 20022. This is because they were created in 2009 and 2015 respectively, before the standard was even announced. But what's interesting is that Ripple's XRP does support this standard. XRP was created in 2012, and since Ripple is a private company leading its development, they were able to implement support for ISO 20022. Unlike Bitcoin and Ethereum, where decisions are decentralized, XRP's structure allows a single company to make such changes. There are a total of eight known cryptocurrencies that are compliant with ISO 20022. These are XRP, Stellar's XLM, Cardano's ADA, Hedera's HBAR, Algorand's ALGO, Quant's QNT, as well as IOTA and XDC. XRP's performance is particularly notable. In October 2024, it was below $0.6, but then it surged and is now up to $1.45. Its all-time high was $3.80 in January 2018, which was driven by a speculative bubble, so this recent movement might have a different background. The rise of XRP in 2025 could be attributed to the fundamental support from ISO 20022 compliance being recognized. ADA is also gaining attention as a major ISO 20022-compliant cryptocurrency. It has risen to $0.27, but it hasn't yet reached its 2021 high of $3.09. Compared to XRP, the impact of ISO 20022 in 2025 might not be fully reflected yet. XLM is trading around $0.17, still far from its 2021 peak of $0.88. HBAR is at $0.09, but it seems to be starting a new upward trend from recent peaks. ALGO and IOTA are still facing tough conditions. ALGO has fallen significantly from its all-time high, and IOTA is in a similar situation. However, with 2025 approaching, there are some signs of recovery. ALGO is around $0.12, and IOTA seems to be gradually improving. QNT and XDC are showing different trends. QNT is currently below $120, while XDC remains relatively stable at around $0.03. Looking at this, it’s clear that ISO 20022 compliance is becoming a new investment theme in the crypto market. The fact that SWIFT needs to complete its transition to the new standard by 2025 might be a reason these coins are gaining attention. Trading activity for these ISO 20022-compliant cryptocurrencies is also increasing on Gate.io, so if you're interested, it might be worth checking them out.