Popular crypto analyst Nicholas Merten has made a prediction about the altcoin market. According to Merten’s recent DataDash update, he expects a significant decline in the altcoin market cap, primarily impacted by the plummeting value of memecoin Pepe (PEPE).
Merten emphasizes that the current state of the altcoin market has no significant catalyst to attract more liquidity. To support his prediction about the continued decline in altcoin market liquidity, Merten delves into the recent price moves of three layer-2 scaling projects: Optimism (OP), Arbitrum (ARB), and Polygon (MATIC).
By analyzing the price action of these projects, Merten says liquidity is constantly draining from the altcoin market. Merten also says that Pepe is a telltale sign that the altcoin market is weakening.
‘And if Pepe wasn’t the billboard for you here. I do not know what it is. If the only thing that gets people excited during this period is a memecoin, which has been dumped here for the past few days. This is just terrible for the industry. Speculation doesn’t do well in cramped environments,” he added.
Contrary to Merten’s perspective, crypto analyst Michael van de Poppe has a different opinion, especially with the upcoming Bitcoin halving event. Van de Poppe believes that now is the right time to collect alternative coins or altcoins.
According to his analysis, the Bitcoin halving could potentially lead to increased liquidity flow to altcoins as investors look for opportunities beyond the dominant cryptocurrencies.
He wrote: “For altcoins, the time has come to collect them. One year before the halving -> time to buy those positions. Reached an important level here, which was also about 1 year before the halving.”