While the Altcoin Season Index has retreated to 34, there are rising hopes that it will happen this year as some of the most prominent tokens jump. Chainlink (LINK) token price jumped to a high of $24.15 on Wednesday, up by 123% from its lowest level this year.
Similarly, Polkadot (DOT) price soared to $4.16, up sharply from this month’s low of $3.50, while Cardano (ADA) surged to $0.8472. Some of the other best-performing tokens were JasmyCoin, Aerodrome Finance (AERO), and Solana.
Altcoin Season Hopes Amid Fed Cut Hopes
One reason why the hopes of an altcoin season are rising is that market participants expect the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates in September.
These hopes have jumped this month even as the economy showed signs of stagflation. Stagflation is a period where an economy is not growing while inflation is on an upward trend.
A central bank has to choose the battle it wants to fight. It can opt to fight inflation by maintaining a tight monetary policy framework or stimulate growth and boost employment by cutting rates.
In this case, the bank will likely decide to cut rates and boost the labor market since inflation is not surging despite Donald Trump’s tariffs. Cryptocurrencies thrive when the Fed has embraced a dovish tone.
Chainlink, Cardano, and Polkadot Have Unique Catalysts
A closer look at the three tokens, including LINK, ADA, and DOT, reveals unique catalysts that are driving their performance.
Chainlink price is soaring after the developers announced strategic LINK reserves. In this scenario, the network will utilize on-chain fees and those from enterprise customers to purchase LINK tokens. This means that eventually, it will be spending millions of dollars buying these tokens.
LINK price has also jumped after inking a deal with ICE, a financial juggernaut valued at over $105 billion. This partnership will help ICE bring forex trading on-chain using Chainlink’s technology. Technically, the LINK price is in the third phase of the Elliot Wave pattern, indicating more gains are ahead.
Cardano price has jumped as its holders continue claiming NIGHT tokens through the Glacier airdrop. This means that users who had ADA tokens worth $100 by June 6 can now claim a portion of these tokens. In a note, the developers revealed that over 1 billion tokens were now claimed, a figure that will continue rising towards the end of the first phase on October 4.
Polkadot price has risen in the past few days amid strong ecosystem growth. FIFA Rivals is one of the fastest games, while recent data shows that the monthly USDC senders on Asset Hub jumped by over 300%.
The next major DOT catalyst is the Join-Accumulate Machine (JAM), which is the next major upgrade from Polkadot 2.0. JAM will replace the WebAssembly (WASM) environment with the Polkadot Virtual Machine.
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