Recently, the crypto market has rebounded from low levels, with several mainstream tokens showing significant gains. However, data from Cryptex Finance indicates that rising prices do not mean that funds have fully shifted to altcoins. The co-founder of this institution, Joe Sticco, stated that although the market participation has expanded, the allocation of funds still remains mainly focused on Bitcoin and Ethereum.

The trends of 36 assets remain relatively synchronized.

Cryptex tracks 36 types of crypto assets, covering approximately 92% of the digital asset market. Its index most recently reported 1199.69, which is nearly 20% higher than the benchmark of 1000 points set on February 20th. However, if calculated over the past 7 days, the index has only risen by 1.92%.

Sticco believes that this data indicates that most of the market gains occurred within about 72 hours from August 19th to 21st, after which trading tended to stabilize. If calculated from the stage low point, the rebound amplitude would seem significant; however, if observed over the past week, the overall increase is not particularly prominent.

In the daily performance statistics of Cryptex, the component asset with the highest increase rose by 6.71%, while the weakest performer fell by 1.49%. The gap between the best and the worst was approximately 8 percentage points. Sticco believes that this is more indicative of the entire market being lifted by the same factor, rather than funds clearly shifting between different sectors.

Limited price differentiation; the signals for the "copycat season" remain weak.

Although the apparent increase in value of different tokens varies significantly when calculated from their rebound lows, there has been no synchronous change in the distribution of funds. The data provided by Sticco shows that:

• Bitcoin has gained approximately 14% in value over the past 7 days.
• XRP has seen a gain of about 28% in the past 7 days.
• Solana has seen a gain of about 19% in the past 7 days.

However, Bitcoin still accounts for 57% to 60% of the total market value. Sticco mentions that Altcoin Season Index is still below 40%, and this indicator usually needs to rise to around 75% before it can be considered as entering a stage dominated by altcoins.

He also pointed out that although Solana rebounded by about 19% during the week, it is still more than 50% lower compared to the levels of October 2025. This indicates that the range of market participants has expanded, but the allocation of funds has not truly shifted from Bitcoin and Ethereum to a broader range of altcoins.

ETF Funds continue to flow into Bitcoin and Ethereum

Sticco believes that the flow of funds into regulated investment products can better reflect where new institutional capital is going. According to the daily data he provided, US spot Bitcoin ETF attracted approximately $232 million, while Ethereum ETF attracted about $192 million; in contrast, XRP products saw an inflow of around $28 million, HYPE products about $15 million, and Solana products about $9 million.

Calculated in this way, approximately 90% of the funds flowed into Bitcoin and Ethereum on that day. The weekly data is similar: Bitcoin accounts for about 71%, and Ethereum accounts for about 26%.

Sticco also indicates that as of the time of his statement, US spot Bitcoin ETF had recorded net inflows for 8 consecutive trading days, totaling approximately $2.8 billion; Ethereum ETF also had net inflows for 8 consecutive trading days, exceeding $1 billion in total. On a monthly basis, Bitcoin ETF inflows in August have exceeded $3 billion, making it one of the strongest months since 2026.

However, he also reminded that an increase in the total assets of a fund does not equate to an inflow of new funds of the same scale. For example, the asset holding scale of Bitcoin ETF increased from about $77 billion in mid-August to about $99 billion, an increase of about $22 billion. However, the actual net inflow was only about $2.8 billion; the rest came more from the book value appreciation brought about by the rise in Bitcoin prices.

Spot demand and derivatives signals need to be considered separately.

Sticco believes that when judging institutional buying orders and leveraged trading, one cannot rely solely on price. ETF argues that cash flow and market depth are closer to the real demand, while funding rates, futures basis, and open interest contracts can better reflect changes in traders' positions.

He pointed out that if prices rise while the number of open contracts decreases, it often indicates that short covering is driving the market, and it does not necessarily mean that a large number of new buy orders have entered the market. Previously, when Bitcoin rose from below $65,000 to around $69,500, there was a large-scale short covering in the market, with over $1 billion in crypto short positions being liquidated within one hour.

Regarding liquidity, Sticco states that market depth is an important indicator to observe institutional participation, as it reflects the impact cost on prices when large amounts of funds enter or exit the market. However, the current public data is not updated in a timely manner, making it difficult to accurately determine to what extent liquidity has recovered.

He mentioned that after the deleveraging event in October 2025, approximately $10 to $20 billion in leveraged positions were cleared from the market, and the depth of the Bitcoin trading market on major exchanges fell by over 90% during the day. Market makers then reduced the liquidity of their orders, causing the order book to drop to levels not seen since 2022.

Overall, this rebound has spread to a wider range of tokens, but the new funds are still mainly flowing towards Bitcoin and Ethereum. According to Cryptex, the current market seems to be experiencing a collective upward movement, rather than investors having begun to selectively pick winners among altcoins on a large scale.