Why do altcoins follow bitcoin?

[JohnWick_Bitcoin]

Why is it that the moment BTC starts to sway, the other coins follow suit. It would be hard for everyone to sell that much at the same time. It seems beyond just panic selling. They seemed to be directly linked. Inf-fact, BTC going down should increase and encourage altoins as they raise in value compared to BTC as it falls so why this uniform sell off? Something seems weird about that to me. Any real theories, or explanations?

Ethereum is tether to bitcoins because all of the altcoins today that are being released in the market are based on ethereum coins and that is the reason why altcoins is always next to bitcoins.

[Nasonn]

TL:DR Simply put, alt gains aren't an indication of more money moving into the market (at least right now), gains are pumped and lost because money is simply being moved around from one position to the next and not indicative of growth.

This is a really complex question and its going to take a lot to answer...  

First of all, bitcoin's stability is the entire market..... imagine it as bitcoin being the trunk, ethereum is the larger branches.. and other altcoins are the leaves... Anytime the trunk isn't healthy the branches and leaves cannot flourish, and will quickly wilt or die.. but when bitcoin's trunk is really strong it creates a healthy cycle for the alts and branches to flourish.   The analogy doesn't answer the question though but it does explain how it operates..but the real question is why?   To me, the main reason this happens is not for fear or panic, but more for an opportunity.  People think of cryptocurrency as long-term investments,, which the market doesn't honor.  As you can see recently with alts pumping then pulling back as BTC needed some support, that simply no new money is coming into this space and is simply moving around.  For example.. look at Tron for its Mainnet or Verge for its lolpornhub announcement.. no new money came into this space for those events, money frankly just moved from one place to another.  Whales and smart money know when BTC is dropping to abandon alts not because they fear having them, but because they can capitalize on the capitulation of noobs and simply just pull their money away and wait for others that don't know whats going on to panic.  But hodling isn't the answer either, since usually when alts pump alot of the gains are often lost rotating from one place simply to another.  Imagine you have like a rotating face.. alts on one.. btc in another.. tether or USD in another.  Alts are completely out of position 2 out of 3 times.. and not only will they not gain, theyll lose to people leaving them to cause a position trade.   So the only way to really deal with this is to buy alts at the bottom of a BTC trend and sell them at the top of a BTC trend.. then either hold BTC to buy alts later or switch to tether and take advantage and double dip of staying in the right facing position.....

The next thing you're going to ask is why doesn't something like TRX/USDT disconnect.. the reason is it gets corrected by arbitrage algo bots.  If there is a way to make money with an unnatural gap selling TRX to USDT and selling USDT into BTC back into TRX, the unnatural gap will be closed.. so even in this instance USDT doesn't make any sense.. on top of that USDT is just an altcoin not proven to be backed up by anything so you'd STILL have to back into BTC or ETHER to cash out back into cash on your preferred exchange.

To be fair, I know it sucks, but its just the way it is.  The best way to deal with this is to do as everyone else does and move in and out of positions that will make you the most money... fundamentally I'm really bullish on a lot of alts, but if you're here to make money you have to play the smart game like everyone else.   People position trade and do whatever makes the most money.. until it becomes a more regulated market and the speculation becomes more real use cases, I would expect it to get worse before it gets better.

Nice reply, I learnt a lot from this.

[xandriel]

In my opinion,altcoins does not follow bitcoin. The emotion of human follow the price of Bitcoin. They do not have enough knowledge about altcoin value. They just sell and hold based on the trend of Bitcoin

[Baoo]

In my opinion, the majority of cryptocurrencies (like, Ethereum, Ripple, Cardano..) are the followers of Bitcoin in every development (pump, dump), that's why when there is a big decrease in the price of Btc, then most of cryptocurrencies will fall too. So there is a relation Between the king and the other coins. Furthermore, I think there are two categories on the market.
First category: (buying + selling) Bitcoin.
Second category: (buying + selling) cryptocurrencies.
So there is a balance in the market.

[mersal]

It is logical that the rise and fall of bitcoin prices are caused by demand, and in my opinion it may be great this is a game of whales who want to profit themselves.

Yes I am sure appreciated that if your a currencyis more powerful in the centre of our problems and confusion then following is here I think while you are in new to this world there is nothing will be wrong with following the Bitcoin because it is the leader of all of the cryptocurrencies

[kaya11]

It's simple, the father of crypto should be followed. The same as when you are still a child you need to follow orders from your dad. Don't be so sure that all alts do, some are against it even just a tiny little bit of difference.

[blindminer]

With Lightning coming up and scaling solutions that allow smart contracts Bitcoin could still be the best lobg term option, it is not going away and bounce back very hard. Never bet against Bitcoin.

[crazycatwoman03]

In my opinion,altcoins does not follow bitcoin. The emotion of human follow the price of Bitcoin. They do not have enough knowledge about altcoin value. They just sell and hold based on the trend of Bitcoin

In observing the market prices, you may feel and think that bitcoin is literally following bitcoin as in when the market price of bitcoin is low, the altcoin prices are also low. This shouldn't be your way of thinking because altcoin is never going to go along with bitcoin. You see, all coins have their own prices and they are all volatile in nature. The fluctuations in their prices are primarily caused by buying and selling or in other words trading, and also because of investing. At times like this when bitcoin is on dump, other people are selling their altcoins because they think that bitcoin will affect it, in other words naive traders go panic selling.

[mwaqar17]

Why is it that the moment BTC starts to sway, the other coins follow suit. It would be hard for everyone to sell that much at the same time. It seems beyond just panic selling. They seemed to be directly linked. Inf-fact, BTC going down should increase and encourage altoins as they raise in value compared to BTC as it falls so why this uniform sell off? Something seems weird about that to me. Any real theories, or explanations?

You are right in your observation but there are some altcoins that does not follow BTC. MTC and LOC are among them you can check their record in the market. Why every altcoin follow BTC because bitcoin is the king of market and very first crypto currency so it should have some effect on the market. Otherwise who will know that BTC is the king

[manggis97]

In my opinion only popular altcoin that follow price of Bitcoin , this is because the market cap each coin down the same times. Some altcoin  that has low marketcap  and has strong  community has different price movement,  they bullish when BTC bearish,  this is because  the market cap of that altcoin  growing.

[Bttzed03]

Why is it that the moment BTC starts to sway, the other coins follow suit. It would be hard for everyone to sell that much at the same time. It seems beyond just panic selling. They seemed to be directly linked. Inf-fact, BTC going down should increase and encourage altoins as they raise in value compared to BTC as it falls so why this uniform sell off? Something seems weird about that to me. Any real theories, or explanations?

Because bitcoin is still King.
Traders usually exit altcoins when bitcoin goes down hard because they plan to buy sell at the highest possible price then buy back at a lower price to increase their holdings. That's just the best reason I can think of.

[@baracitamon]

It's simple, the father of crypto should be followed. The same as when you are still a child you need to follow orders from your dad. Don't be so sure that all alts do, some are against it even just a tiny little bit of difference.

The simple fact is that BTC is a long-standing penny in the market, and they decide the fate of other coins, once the BTC falls, will affect some other altcoins, most of the investors. On the altcoin they always converted to BTC or ETH to switch to fiat so when the BTC fell they also lost confidence in the other altcoin, so the price of the altcoin fell.

[Ronaldcoin2017]

Why is it that the moment BTC starts to sway, the other coins follow suit. It would be hard for everyone to sell that much at the same time. It seems beyond just panic selling. They seemed to be directly linked. Inf-fact, BTC going down should increase and encourage altoins as they raise in value compared to BTC as it falls so why this uniform sell off? Something seems weird about that to me. Any real theories, or explanations?

Because bitcoin is still King.
Traders usually exit altcoins when bitcoin goes down hard because they plan to buy sell at the highest possible price then buy back at a lower price to increase their holdings. That's just the best reason I can think of.

Yes I agree on that, I believe that bitcoin is the  king of all crypto currency and if the bitcoin price drop the altcoin will also drop. It maybe follow the bitcoin price because bitcoin is the most trusted coin now a days in crypto so then if bitcoin experience a huge dump other coin will also drop because the trust of the investors trust on bitcoin really matters.

[apimembership]

Bitcoin is like the leader in a flock of sheep, if leader goes down from hill, they will follow but sometimes markets act different, you should examine the movement of alts.

[BitNaija]

I have been observing this same trend and asking myself same question. But see what I think.
At present, everything relating to cryptocurrency and blockchian is tied to bitcoin. Therefore what affects bitcoin will definitely affect other coins.
Like it or not, there is still FUD in everyone in this space. And since bitcoin is the rallying point, any drop or rise in bitcoin sends signals to other coins.
I Also observed that the investors of bitcoin and alt coins are the same persons. Everyone holding altcoin most likely holds bitcoin too. So any impression about bitcoin is almost instantly transferred to other coins.

[xali]

because it has always been a pattern in here and it is almost impossible to change that, so just forget about the idea to see altcois not following bitcoin's price

[pixie85]

I have been observing this same trend and asking myself same question. But see what I think.
At present, everything relating to cryptocurrency and blockchian is tied to bitcoin. Therefore what affects bitcoin will definitely affect other coins.
Like it or not, there is still FUD in everyone in this space. And since bitcoin is the rallying point, any drop or rise in bitcoin sends signals to other coins.
I Also observed that the investors of bitcoin and alt coins are the same persons. Everyone holding altcoin most likely holds bitcoin too. So any impression about bitcoin is almost instantly transferred to other coins.

Yes, people who hold various cryptocurrencies like to sell them all when Bitcoin enters bear market and bus altcoins with profit from trading Bitcoin in its bull market.
I've done this a couple times myself. When I got some profits from Bitcoin trading I bought more altcoins and when Bitcoin started to go down i sold my altcoins expecting them to follow Bitcoin and go down.

[Franciscobasi20]

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[Keyboard PC]

because bitcoin prices are so important from altcoin price movements, when bitcoin prices rise then altcoin prices will also rise when bitcoin prices go down then altcoin will also fall, altcoin will not dare to try to raise altcoin prices when bitcoin drops in price.

[akram143]

because bitcoin prices are so important from altcoin price movements, when bitcoin prices rise then altcoin prices will also rise when bitcoin prices go down then altcoin will also fall, altcoin will not dare to try to raise altcoin prices when bitcoin drops in price.

But can't head more powerful latest result is confusions very easily so if you follow bitcoin then you will be very he said to first bus problems came like the kind that's why I am saying .