Alts did take quite a beating already.
Since beginning of 2017 cryptos have gone up in value real fast, despite the inner battle in the Bitcoin realm about SegWit. Luckily for all cryptos first Core and Unlimited settled for a solution, SegWitX2, and now with BIP 91 the Bitcoin blockchain will be secured
This will give more peace in the whole of the cryptos realm, as most are intertwined with Bitcoin and its value. Therefore Alts will go with the stronger upwards trend that I expect to happen when BIP 91 gets locked in. That would mean only one long and strong Bitcoin blockchain.
To have some calmness in the cryptos realm again is a good thing. But I expect there will also be another Fear Of Missing Out run I think. Especially at the Alt side of the cryptos realm, as those will be relatively cheap for many to buy. (And I hope this will also lower the interest for all those golddigging void ICO/ITO releases a lot.)
So, as far as I can see, Alts will rock too, just look at the graphs how they correlate with each other at: http://coinmarketcap.com/
When I look at Digibyte for instance I think that one really is not doing well. That is bad, for my portfolio, because I bought that at a upwards trend, almost at the highest point. Still, that one could gain a lot. Just like DOGE and Verge, to name a few.
Right now it is about the 85 billion ceiling, ups-downs, next one to be reached is somewhere about 97. And when the signal is out: Bitcoin is safe! Then things will go towards a new all time high total market cap 120 ceiling.
And then the well known Alts will also gain big time again. Therefore I think Alts will rise together with BTC.
But, that is my speculation. If I was able to forsee the exact market movement, I would be a multi-billionair soon. Hahaha.
Super you wrote such an extensive response! I suppose FOMO was and will be one of the key drivers for the Alts to go up at some point in time. Although ups/downs are correlated between Alts and BTC, my Alt trading portfolio that I didn't really touch the last weeks, has about 20% loss against BTC, more against USD. That is why I was stating Alts getting a bigger beating then BTC, and is more nervous. Anyway, looking at some market caps, I find them quite high for some of the Alt since with most of them nothing else can be done then trading on the exchanges. But time will tell how the services around the various coins will be created and evolve. In the end, a coin can only have real value when it can be used to earn and buy stuff with, and the more you can do with it, the more the coin can be a standard coin to pay for vacation, life at home, the more value it'll have. Looking fwd to the next couple of weeks, and a positive outcome for BTC, since that is absolutely required to keep the crypto coin market somewhat stable. I also hope more Alts will come up with mass market services, since this may reduce the number of 'scam' coins and propositions. Lets see what the (near) future will bring :)
For me it is a pleasure to write/ talk about cryptos. :-)
It is true that Alt got hit relativily harder than BTC and also LTC. For me DGB was the biggest downer, lost about 80% overal on that one. But also NLG, VERGE, VRT and DOGE, all got hit bad.
Did move some of my Alts to Doge at last last big dip. But I'm already sorry I ditched VRT. Extended my LTC range some more, but still a bit too early before the deepest dip. Ah well, overall I am still very content with my current portfolio.
For me some of the Alts have a function in that they are cheaper and faster than BTC. So they are more fit for small value transactions. Do not know if you are familiair with CoinPayments but they show how it Alts can be used in a Point Of Sales system {POS}.
They also have an App, both with wallet and POS build in. And you can connect your account to a fiat conversion service. So, you get a payment, or donation and so on, in a crypto that the client chooses and you get Euro on your bankaccount. Their service supports Steem and SBD too: https://www.coinpayments.net/merchant-tools
Audiocoin can be used for example, ideal for small payments.
This gives use to some Alts, for every day use. The Merchant sets the price in Euro and the client uses their crypto of choice to pay the right amount. (Bitshares has something equal in developement.)
If it can be used in day to day life, it will have value. Client and merchant happy. (I use the CoinBase service on a website to collect donations, as a trial.)
And I agree the swindler coins/icos/itos need to be flushed out. That is best for all real valued cryptos.
It will be an exciting future! :-)
I came across coinpayments in the recent past. Also more and more debit cards are made available that can be loaded with BTC and Alt coins. Even some debit cards are connected with PayPal. The volatility of the crypto coins will keep these quite small for the foreseeable future, only those who want to be under the radar and those early adopters will be in crypto. For most of my friends, cryptos are to unpredictable though. I see for sure a future for cryptos and it is a great mechanism, whether it is for money or other assets. But it need time for mass adoption. It needs simplification. It needs less volatility (large market caps essentially), and that will not be there overnight since most of the companies and people working in crypto think technical only, they are not marketeers.
Those in cryptos now are still early adaptors. There is still a whole open field to explore for many years to come. Already I find it great if people understand that something like Bitcoin does excist. While blockchain blogging is still a bit tough to grasp.
So much opportunities to get it to the mainstream.
Absolutely agree with you! Blockchain blogging requires still a couple of steps and a better distribution of power. But yeh, the first implementation we are using right now. And nothing is done first time right! :)
And I am having a great time being where it is happening!
:)