Largest Altcoin Crash in 5 Years: 15-Month Pressure Breaks Records

The altcoin market is painting a historic negative picture, retreating to its most critical levels in the last five years due to continuous selling pressure persisting for the past 15 months.

While the eyes of the cryptocurrency world are fixed on Bitcoin’s price, data from the altcoin front is sounding alarm bells for investors. Recent analyses shared by CryptoQuant show that the altcoin market is facing the most severe selling pressure of the last five years. Rather than a simple price correction, this situation points to a continuous wave of net selling on spot exchanges that has lasted for 15 months.

According to the data, the cumulative buy-sell volume delta for assets excluding Bitcoin and Ethereum has reached its lowest level since data tracking began in 2020. Although this gap appeared to close and the market seemed to stabilize in early 2025, the downward momentum accelerated following a subsequent sharp reversal. Data from the charts proves that investors are rapidly moving away from altcoins, with selling appetite reaching record levels.

Historic Selling Pressure in the Altcoin Market

This massive wave of selling on spot exchanges highlights the heavy burden weighing on altcoins. The decline, which has accelerated particularly since the second half of 2025, shows that liquidity has been largely withdrawn from the market and that sell orders have completely overwhelmed buying appetite. The cumulative volume delta falling as low as negative 240 billion dollars has resulted in the market’s deepest negative reading in recent years.

This uninterrupted selling process continuously postpones the recovery phase that altcoin investors have long been waiting for. Although Bitcoin’s price tries to hold at certain levels, this dramatic drop in the cumulative volume of altcoins is considered a reflection of the loss of confidence across the market. As long as this net selling data on exchanges does not turn positive, it seems quite difficult to talk about a genuine uptrend for altcoins.