Since the start of 2019, crypto investors and traders have been watching and waiting for the promise of “alt season,” a period in which altcoins outperform Bitcoin significantly. There have been a few glimmers of an alt season starting, but Bitcoin’s parabolic rally has stopped it short in its tracks.

A “real” alt season may still be aways off, and not until Bitcoin reaches a new all-time high, according to one prominent crypto analyst and if past performance can help predict the future.

Is Alt Season Almost Two Years Away Still? Depends on Bitcoin All-Time High

Bitcoin continues to rise, yet altcoins continue to bleed out both in USD value and relative to their BTC trading pairs. Crypto traders are dumping their alts into the first ever cryptocurrency, either due to FOMO’ing into Bitcoin’s rally, or through derisking in the face of mounting regulatory pressure and one of the largest crypto exchanges eventually cutting off a portion of its userbase.

Related Reading | Clearing Up the Crypto Confusion For US-Based Binance Traders of Altcoins 

The increased sell pressure on alts has helped Bitcoin break through resistance, completely ignored a massive head and shoulders pattern the market was eyeing, and continued on its rally towards $10,000.

First "real" alt season started after we hit new ATH back in February 2017.$LTC went up 700%$XLM went up 3200%$XRP went up 5300%$ETH went up 1060%

It also happened after the #Bitcoin halving which is in 339 days.

Is it gonna be different this time? pic.twitter.com/EL3oWkDpdN

— Livercoin (@livercoin) June 17, 2019

However, according to one crypto analyst, the leading crypto by market cap will need to push even higher in the coming days for alt season to occur once again.

According to the trader, the first “real” alt season stared after Bitcoin set a new all-time high back in February 2017. The previous all-time high had been set back at the top of the 2013 bull run peak, where Bitcoin had reached over $1,o00 for the first time.

In February 2017 when Bitcoin breached that number for the first time, a “real” alt season kicked off that saw Litecoin increase by 700%, Stellar gain as much as 3200%, Ethereum grow by 1060%, and Ripple explode a staggering 5300%.

Related Reading | Crypto Analysts: Ripple Most Bullish USD Chart, XRP Target 2000% Gains 

All of this happened after the Bitcoin halving, which is still 339 days away. It’s surprising that alt season may be so far off, as altcoins have been in their longest accumulation pattern yet. Regardless of the timeframe, most crypto analysts agree that at least three of the four aforementioned altcoins are primed for a massive movement upward, both in USD value and relative to BTC. These coins are expected to greatly outperform Bitcoin in the coming months.

Another interesting fact :

Both bottoms formed +- 530 days before the Bitcoin halving.

A potential alt season is only 600 days away!!! You better start accumulating. pic.twitter.com/i8zQ0rrJav

— Livercoin (@livercoin) June 17, 2019

Also, it’s important to note that the Bitcoin halving is still 339 days away, but both bottoms – Bitcoin and alts – formed about 530 days before the Bitcoin halving. This means that any potential alt season could be as far as nearly two years away.

But as we’ve seen with Bitcoin transitioning from bear market into bull, the momentum this time appears to be stronger now that institutions have become involved, and the market cycle seems to be increasing in rate. Should this be the case, much like Bitcoin left lows sooner than expected, an alt season may also arrive sooner than anyone is prepared for.