Small Cap Altcoins Surge with Stronger Ethereum Accumulation

The cryptocurrency market continues to surprise investors with mixed price movements, strong Ethereum ETH $2 925 24h volatility: 0.3% Market cap: $353.00 B Vol. 24h: $12.16 B accumulation, and consecutive outflows from crypto-related exchange-traded funds.

The global crypto market cap rose by 0.9% in the past 24 hours to $2.96 trillion, while the daily trading volume decreased by 32% to $67 billion, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

This time, however, the price hike isn’t coming from leading digital assets. The CMC20 index, which tracks the combined price change of the top 20 cryptocurrencies, rose by just 0.27%. This indicates that smaller altcoins recorded stronger gains than the largest ones.

For instance, Bitcoin BTC $87 427 24h volatility: 0.8% Market cap: $1.75 T Vol. 24h: $24.78 B gained 0.8% to $87,700, and ETH has been consolidating close to $2,940.

According to a Coinspeaker report, VanEck, a global investment management firm, expects 2026 to be a “consolidation year” for Bitcoin,  which would also mean lower price volatility.

Bears vs. Bulls

Mixed movements and expectations continue to dominate the price charts and social feeds.

Ethereum’s consolidation below $3,000 comes while the asset sees impressive accumulation. According to data from CoinGlass, centralized crypto exchanges recorded a net outflow of 43,800 ETH, roughly $128.8 million, in the past 24 hours.

The monthly Ethereum outflow from CEXs reached 605,370 ETH, worth just under $1.8 billion, over the last 30 days.

In the meantime, US-based ETH ETFs recorded another $52.8 million in net outflows in the past 24 hours, according to data from Farside. Bitcoin-based investment products also saw their fifth consecutive outflow, worth $175.3 million.

Some analysts have pointed out a sharp decline in BTC whale and shark wallets, a bearish pattern similar to late 2021.

On the other hand, Anthony Pompliano, a prominent Bitcoin investor and analyst, believes that the bearish year-end Bitcoin performance doesn’t mean the asset would see a bearish Q1 in 2026.

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