Altcoins moved sharply higher after Bitcoin broke above $80,000, lifting a broad swath of the market with it. According to data cited from Quantifycrypto, 184 of the top 200 tokens by market capitalization posted gains over the past week, or 92% of the group, while only 16 declined. Among the larger names, ETH rose more than 31%, BNB gained more than 18%, HYPE climbed more than 34%, DOGE added more than 31%, and SOL crossed $100 with a gain of more than 33%.
Top weekly gainers in the top 100 altcoins
Among the top 100 altcoins by market capitalization, the five biggest gainers over the past week were STX, ENA, TRUMP, PUMP and PENGU, up 133%, 85%, 75%, 72% and 68%, respectively.
STX: up 133% on the week
STX, the token of Stacks, led the rebound. The move started on Aug. 19, and the token rose more than 133% over the week to about $0.28.
The report described Stacks as one of the few Bitcoin layer-2 networks still in operation, which left it directly exposed to strength in the Bitcoin ecosystem. It also pointed to project fundamentals. In June, Stacks hit a record high in active accounts and attracted more than 134,000 active users. The article also said Stacks is the only Bitcoin L2 with native Bitcoin rewards, allowing users to stake STX and earn BTC. As Bitcoin rose, staking demand increased, lifting demand for STX as well.
Even after the rebound, STX remained about 92.7% below its all-time high.
ENA: up 85% on the week
ENA, the token tied to Ethena, rose more than 85% over the past week. Its rebound also started on Aug. 19, with the token last quoted at about $0.15.
The article said Arthur Hayes had called the move earlier. In early August, he wrote that ENA could rise 5x to 10x in the coming months. His thesis was that a Bitcoin rally followed by large-scale short liquidations could push up basis yields, draw substantial capital into USDe, and restore a positive feedback loop in Ethena’s yield engine.
Another catalyst mentioned in the piece was FalconX’s announcement of a $1 billion secured credit financing arrangement with Ethena. The mechanism is designed to connect Ethena’s on-chain liquid assets with FalconX’s institutional borrowing demand, pushing on-chain capital into traditional credit markets.
ENA still sat about 90% below its all-time high.
TRUMP: up 75% on the week
TRUMP gained more than 75% over the week after its rebound began on Aug. 19. The token was last quoted at about $2.42.
Beyond the broader market move, the report said the main driver was a rumor over the weekend that Donald Trump would launch a new token on the Robinhood chain. That speculation briefly pushed TRUMP above $3.6. The article also said the official TRUMP team sold several million tokens into the rally and cashed out more than $9.15 million.
TRUMP remained about 97% below its all-time high.
PUMP: up 72% on the week
PUMP, tied to Pump.fun, rose more than 72% over the week. Its sharp single-day move began on Aug. 20, and the token was last quoted at about $0.0048.
While the surge on Aug. 20 coincided with strength across the broader market, the article argued that PUMP’s advance had been building since early July. The token gained 46% in July and was up 134% in August as market conditions improved. On a monthly basis, it was the best-performing altcoin in the top 100 by market capitalization for the month, according to the report.
The article tied the move mainly to Pump.fun’s own fundamentals. It described the project as one of the few in the market that remains consistently profitable and uses revenue to buy back its token. It also called Pump.fun the leading meme coin launchpad on Solana, making it a direct beneficiary of the recovery in the Solana meme ecosystem. Pump.fun uses 50% of net revenue for automatic open-market buybacks of PUMP, a structure the article said allows the token to capture protocol value more effectively.
PUMP still traded about 46% below its all-time high.
PENGU: up 68% on the week
PENGU, associated with Pudgy Penguins, climbed more than 68% over the week after its rebound began on Aug. 19. The token was last quoted at about $0.01.
The article said Pudgy Penguins’ place among the top five gainers was surprising given its NFT roots. It pointed to a post from founder Luca Netz as the biggest catalyst outside the broader market rebound.
On Aug. 23, Luca Netz posted an image on X featuring a pair of eyes, a penguin and a building, followed by an arrow labeled "SOON." Community members interpreted the building as a stock exchange, and the post as a signal that the project could be listed soon.
The report also highlighted the project’s retail expansion. Pudgy Penguins plush toys and collectible figures are now available at Walmart stores across North America. On Aug. 24, Luca Netz also said the toys had launched in Target stores. On revenue, the article said Pudgy Penguins is expected to generate about $50 million in annual sales, with most of that coming from toys rather than token-related activity.
PENGU remained about 86% below its all-time high.
Why the report says the altcoin season may still be early
The article argued that the recovery in altcoins has become a widely accepted market view. CryptoQuant analyst Darkfost said total altcoin market capitalization increased by about $215 billion from Aug. 19 to Aug. 22. That was a gain of more than 24% in just three days, pushing the segment back above $1 trillion.
Data from Binance was cited as another sign of strengthening momentum. Since last November, roughly 80% to 85% of altcoins had remained below their 200-day moving averages. That share has changed meaningfully, with 56% of altcoins listed on Binance now back above the 200-DMA, a key technical threshold in the report.
Some investors are still questioning whether a rally that has already lasted close to a week can keep going, or whether altcoin liquidity has simply returned for a short burst as in prior rebounds. On that point, Glassnode looked at funding rates and said the altcoin phase may continue for several more weeks. Its view was that the market has entered an optimistic stage, with 85% of altcoins posting funding rates above their own averages, the highest reading for that metric since Bitcoin was previously near record highs.
At the same time, the article said the old pattern in which a Bitcoin rally lifted nearly every altcoin may no longer hold. Even if an altcoin season is underway, only a smaller set of tokens may benefit, with capital concentrating in leading projects and top altcoins taking a larger share of total trading volume.
Using the five biggest gainers as examples, the piece concluded that future upside in altcoins is likely to depend more on project fundamentals, application scenarios and independent capital inflows, a pattern it described as one of the defining traits of the current crypto cycle.