Why Altcoin prices often follow Bitcoin price

[AteenaD]

Do they really? I often encounter this statement. And i have no idea as to why. This past few days, bitcoin is on the rise and most certainly than not altcoin's price surely follows. I am not saying this is bad but altcoins have very little in common with bitcoin. And they are certainly not carbon copies of bitcoin either. Why the heck is their price so closely connected despite being so fundamentally different?

[manoj6233]

can seem like no matter what happens, the major altcoin prices follow Bitcoin's price, even when it is illogical. We ask, “why?!” UPDATE FEBRUARY 2018: The article below was written in October 2017 when Bitcoin was outpacing alts after a market-wide correction. It was then updated in December 2017 ...

[mpufatzis]

Yes they do.
I've seen it happening myself some months ago, while watching in two different monitors the BTC/USD, ETH/USD and LTC/USD prices.
I was watching Kraken (for 3 days), running the charts plus 3 indicators, and all the charts (plus the indicators) looked the same.
The only explanation was, that the majority of the transactions was made by bots, running the same parameters.
If someone else has a better explanation, feel free to express it.

Do they really? I often encounter this statement. And i have no idea as to why. This past few days, bitcoin is on the rise and most certainly than not altcoin's price surely follows. I am not saying this is bad but altcoins have very little in common with bitcoin. And they are certainly not carbon copies of bitcoin either. Why the heck is their price so closely connected despite being so fundamentally different?

[limmousine]

I think both are connected in a trade that creates a high demand. some users want to make a profit by selling alt and buy bitcoin, some other users sell bitcoin and buy alt. please correct me if my opinion is wrong.

[fatirborju]

Why altcoin prices often follow bitcoin prices, I think bitcoin prices are very influential for altcoin because altcoin is made to mask weakness of bitcoin, besides altcoin and bitcoin are very related and need each other especially when supply and demand of international market has increased or decreased .. .

[cryptorTUX]

Do they really? I often encounter this statement. And i have no idea as to why. This past few days, bitcoin is on the rise and most certainly than not altcoin's price surely follows. I am not saying this is bad but altcoins have very little in common with bitcoin. And they are certainly not carbon copies of bitcoin either. Why the heck is their price so closely connected despite being so fundamentally different?

Because this whole thing is not stocks. When bitcoin have it own bull run more people tend to buy altcoins as they feel confidence in the market and because they are looking to get profit they are going into altcoins as with altcoins you can double your money faster than with bitcoin. When bitcoin is moving down there is less confidence in the market and everybody wants to preserve their value they have gained and thus they tend to switch to big cryptos such as Bitcoin, Ethereum or even fiat currencies or USDT - tether to try to save their value from going down.

So at the end as bitcoin is the biggest out there it provides the confidence in the market.

[Anna8]

May be it is because all alts are trading against bitcoin and orders are agaist bitcoin, so when bitcoin price to dollar changes, altcoin price to dollar also changes. But may be I wrong.

[Haley craft]

Because bitcoin is the leader of the entire cryptocurrency market.
The move from bitcoin shows confidence in the entire cryptocurrency market.

[nickolaiallenov]

Do they really? I often encounter this statement. And i have no idea as to why. This past few days, bitcoin is on the rise and most certainly than not altcoin's price surely follows. I am not saying this is bad but altcoins have very little in common with bitcoin. And they are certainly not carbon copies of bitcoin either. Why the heck is their price so closely connected despite being so fundamentally different?

Maybe because at bitcoin 37% of dominance in the whole market is crypto-currency? On many stock exchanges, altcoyins are traded only with bitcoin. Pairs with the dollar are often not, hence the direct dependence

[cryptobluemoon]

alt coins are directly proportional to bitcoin price every altcoin react direct to bitcoin fluctuations as the bitcoin price increases altcoins price dump this is happening right from the beginning of cryptocurrency market invention

[Sanjeewa101]

Most of the exchanges have BTC/Alt pairs and Even with ethereum. The problem is the market cap, When BTC price up, People going invest in altcoins. When BTC price down Altcoins dump. Becuase People are panicked with the market. Even Eth price going down with BTC.Most exchanges not having USD/Altcoins pairs.If more and more USD/Altcoins available, Altcoins prices will be stable in the cryptocurrency market.

Still, BTC is market giant, People believe strongly.

[Red-Apple]

Do they really?

the reason for it does not matter at all, although you can speculate about it as much as you like and it is interesting to think about it.

this first question of yours is the important part. and yes they do follow bitcoin downwards but not always upwards. this is the thing you need to remember which means if bitcoin falls they will fall but if bitcoin rises they don't necessarily follow it up.
knowing this, you can adjust your strategies and make a lot of profit. for example if you see bitcoin drop you can short ethereum and other big coins and make a lot of money.

[baricuri]

Do they really? I often encounter this statement. And i have no idea as to why. This past few days, bitcoin is on the rise and most certainly than not altcoin's price surely follows. I am not saying this is bad but altcoins have very little in common with bitcoin. And they are certainly not carbon copies of bitcoin either. Why the heck is their price so closely connected despite being so fundamentally different?

I really do not know about this, but I see the price of BTC is decided on the Crypto market. If the price of BTC is high, other altcoin also increased in price and vice versa. Perhaps BTC is king in the Crypto market.

[LeroyBro]

Do they really? I often encounter this statement. And i have no idea as to why. This past few days, bitcoin is on the rise and most certainly than not altcoin's price surely follows. I am not saying this is bad but altcoins have very little in common with bitcoin. And they are certainly not carbon copies of bitcoin either. Why the heck is their price so closely connected despite being so fundamentally different?

I really do not know about this, but I see the price of BTC is decided on the Crypto market. If the price of BTC is high, other altcoin also increased in price and vice versa. Perhaps BTC is king in the Crypto market.

I noticed this as well. So it's generally a safe plan to follow BTC and trade your altcoins accordingly.

[withche.07]

It is definitely psychological. Bitcoin carries whole weight of the market on its shoulders. Its strength gives people relaxed position so they divide their money on different altcoins and pump them higher. Sure of it.

[ilya_gr]

Cuz Bitcoin is the only gateway between fiat and other altcoins(especially with small cap),everybody use it to trade with alts
And it`s psychology, when btc is in correction,people think that alts`ll go down too,and sell, very simple market:)

[Ereun]

If bitcoin prices rise, then there are some altcoins that could potentially experience price increases as well, cause, maybe a lot of selling altcoin to bitcoin which resulted in altcoin prices go up.  As demand rises or more, there will be price increases.

[ohkkstaaahp]

This is really hard to answer, the first one altcoin grows thanks to the capital mobilization, the capital mobilization from the ICO projects are based on the BTC to buy and sell, people see the BTC is the king of the market Crypto, as the price of BTC fluctuates, other investors fear altcoin and they also sell on the market, so the altcoin prices have fallen.

[deadthings]

Bitcoin is like king and all altcoins must follow it, this is the cryptomarket principle. That is because people selling bitcoin for altcoins and conversely. The market has been  working since the beginning and this principle has to be preserved, you just have to get used to it

[Leomarco]

because altcoin exists before bitcoin and altcoin are heavily dependent on bitcoin. altcoin and bitcoin are connected. and altcoin can not live without bitcoin because all altcoin is sold to bitcoin so altcoin price is very influential to bitcoin.
other than that because when bitcoin goes down then there will be public panic to sell their altcoin assets and as more and more people are selling their assets eating this will cause altcoin down