Altcoin

Bitcoin was the first cryptocurrency, so everything that came after inherited the label "alternative." Altcoin is a catch-all, not a precise category — it groups together currencies, smart-contract platforms, meme tokens, and everything in between. The only thing all altcoins share is that they are not Bitcoin. Some definitions also exclude Ethereum given its scale, but most market data providers count it as an altcoin.

Altcoins tend to show higher volatility than Bitcoin because they have smaller market capitalizations (total value of all coins in circulation) and thinner trading. Historically, markets have observed that altcoins often fall harder than Bitcoin in downturns and can rise faster in bull markets — a pattern sometimes called "altseason." Bitcoin's share of total crypto value relative to altcoins is tracked as Bitcoin dominance.

A common confusion is treating "altcoin" and token as synonyms. Many altcoins run their own independent blockchain — Litecoin and Monero are examples — while tokens are issued on top of someone else's blockchain. Both get called altcoins in casual use, but the technical distinction matters for understanding how they work and where they trade. For a structured overview, see altcoins and tokens explained.