Prominent crypto market analyst and MN Fund founder Michaël van de Poppe has reiterated that the altcoin cycle is far from over, despite the recent market pullback and bearish sentiment across social platforms.
In his latest commentary, he argued that the crypto market is entering a phase that could catch many traders off guard, with significant upside expected in Q4 2025.
According to van de Poppe, a large number of investors are misreading the prevailing state of the crypto market. Many traders still base their cycle expectations solely on historic patterns and the timing of Bitcoin halving, he said.
While halvings once played a major role in triggering market-wide rallies, van de Poppe stressed that the market has evolved beyond miner-driven supply shocks. He explained that the influence of crypto miners has decreased sharply over time.
Per his Sunday statement, their marginal impact on crypto prices is now overshadowed by institutional capital, which has become the dominant force in driving market direction.
Hedge funds, asset managers, and corporate investors now shape liquidity flows, and these players base their decisions on global macroeconomic factors rather than halving cycles.
In a X post, he wrote: “I’ve been saying this, but I’ll repeat it one more time. The altcoin cycle isn’t over. This quarter is going to surprise so many people, as a ton of people base their thesis purely on time and the Bitcoin halving. The marginal impact of miners is significantly less than institutions and therefore, given that institutions base their decisions on macroeconomic factors, we’ve essentially not seen any bull run at all.”
This shift, according to van de Poppe, is the reason many traders feel the market has shown limited upside since the 2024 bitcoin halving. The actual crypto bull market has not yet started because institutions are still positioning themselves, he noted. Notably, CryptoQuant’s founder earlier said that the altcoin season would be different this time.
With macro conditions only now turning more favourable, the top founder believes the market is standing at the beginning—not the end—of the next expansion phase.
Read also: How to Identify the Next Big Altcoins in 2025: A Beginner’s Guide
Institutions, not miners, will set the tone for the next altcoin cycle
The popular analyst emphasized that institutional investors respond to broader economic signals such as regulatory developments, inflation data, and global liquidity trends.
As these indicators show signs of improvement, he expects institutional capital to flow more aggressively into crypto assets. If that happens, van de Poppe predicts that the altcoins will enter a strong upward phase in Q4 2025.
This would contradict the expectations of many bearish traders who anticipate a deeper correction as BTC hovers over $100,000. He further warned that those basing their thesis on Bitcoin halving cycle models may be caught off guard.
Maintaining that the market structure indicates early-stage growth rather than late-stage exhaustion, he wrote: “In that case, we’re at the forefront of one, which starts in this quarter and then, all the bears will be wrong.”
Altogether, any sustained improvement in macroeconomic conditions, combined with increasing institutional accumulation, could trigger the next major altcoin cycle.
Read also: Binance Founder Says Bitcoin Could Hit $1M this cycle, Projects Crypto Market Cap to Reach $5T
