What drives the success or the downfall of an altcoin?
The market value of any altcoin is determined by a general performance of Bitcoin therefore low by the season we are, knowing if such is hot coin season or not is also very important because this we determine the rising or falling of any coin, lastly, we have to consider the project development team behind any coin, because the number of investors and what they are investing on that particular project determines the success of that altcoin.
Does utility of the coin or token play a factor or is it more about market conditions?
We can't deny that utility provide a solid base relevance for an altcoin to perform, because this is one of them major key aspect that investors look into before considering for any coin as an investment, there's no point in wasting time to invest on what will be pumped and later on dumped, such could possess much risk than the benefit distance to serve at last.