Contrary to traders' hopes for a rapid start to a large-scale rally, the altcoin market is experiencing one of the most difficult periods in its history. The segment is suffering from a catastrophic lack of liquidity, a problem that has become particularly noticeable since the market turmoil on 10 October.
Since the start of the month, the total market capitalisation excluding Bitcoin and stablecoins has fallen by around 36%. If we remove the top 10 assets from the sample, the decline reaches a critical level of 46%.
Technical analysis confirms the scale of the disaster: on Binance, the largest exchange, the proportion of coins trading above their 200-day moving average has plummeted to an all-time low of just 3%.

This indicates a complete lack of interest from 'whales', but it also presents an opportunity to acquire Xs from the market. Let's look at the chart again. Each time the coin share indicator has fallen below 5%, it has resulted in a significant increase in altcoins.
The only problem is that not all digital currencies will soar. It is a bad idea to choose coins that are popular now, as they have not fallen yet. Should you chase memecoins? That's a good option, but I'm doing something different.
Last time altcoins depreciated significantly, in 2023, I invested in 'retail coins'. Cryptocurrencies that are actually used to pay for goods and services always increase in value when altcoins recover.
How can you identify the specific types of 'retail coins'? Pay attention to the list of instruments supported by payment crypto gateways.
Don't take platforms like B2BinPay into account, though, as they support 100 cryptocurrencies. Cryptomus and Coinbase Commerce are ideal for creating a portfolio of 10–20 in-demand altcoins.