Analysts recommend booking profits in BTC as Cardano, Solana and Terra lead new alt season

• Bitcoin price rally takes a breather as analysts recommend locking in profits ahead of a trend reversal.
• Analysts expect another leg up for the Solana rally, expect market capitalization to surge three times the current level of $34 billion.
• Traders rotate capital between layer zero and layer one solutions like Solana, Luna, Avalanche and Fantom, looking for the next Bitcoin or Ethereum.

Analysts suspect that the current price trend in Bitcoin is not as reliable and expect a second pullback to $44,300. Bitcoin's fear and greed index is at the edge of "greed" and "extreme greed." It is unclear where the cryptocurrency will head next.

Traders show a preference for Cardano, Solana and Terra as Bitcoin rally cools off

The "Altcoin Season Index" by blockchaincenter.net is an indicator that signals if altcoins are performing better than Bitcoin in a given year. If 75% of the top 50 altcoins by market capitalization perform better than Bitcoin over a year, it is an "Altcoin Year."

Currently, the index shows a skew toward altcoins over the past 30 days. Altcoins still have further room to catch up to Bitcoin on the yearly chart. 

30-day chart of Altcoin Season Index.

August is an "Altcoin Month," and the current altcoin price action backs this result. 

Cardano, Solana and Terra are leading the alt season with double-digit gains over the last two weeks. Analysts expect Cardano's price to make a strong comeback and hit a new all-time high ahead of the Alonzo Hard Fork that is scheduled to occur on the mainnet on September 12, 2021. 

Setting higher targets for Cardano, the cryptocurrency analyst and partner at The Spartan Group behind the Twitter handle @SpartanBlack_1 predicted a threefold increase in the Solana market capitalization from the current level. 

Solana's price rally is prolonged, and the altcoin has surged 21% over the past 24 hours. As the "Ethereum killer" continues its upward climb, traders have started booking profits in tranches, labeling it a "no regret move." 

Pseudonymous analyst on Twitter behind the handle @dkcrypto13 tweeted:

The latest updates on the Solana network have made the project more lucrative to the crypto trading community. The altcoin's "wormhole" is a bi-directional bridge that supports the exchange of assets between the Ethereum and Solana blockchain. Traders are awaiting another exciting update to the "wormhole" that would allow for a three-way transfer of assets and support the Terra blockchain. 

Over the past month, LUNA (Terra's reserve currency) garnered attention from several investors as its market capitalization crossed $13.7 billion. The adoption of LUNA and the Terra network is rising with the burn of $185 million worth of LUNA tokens and anticipation of a significant network upgrade  called Columbus-5. 

The upgrade is expected to drive the launch of more projects on the Terra network and increase the demand for LUNA in the long term. 

On the institutional front, investors are following a similar pattern as retail traders. Bitcoin investment products have recorded their eighth consecutive week of outflows, a total of $3.8 million, while altcoin funds continue to report fresh inflows. 

$24 million in capital was injected in crypto funds in the week that ended on August 27, according to CoinShares, a digital asset investment management firm. Of all altcoins, Cardano funds accounted for over $10 million in inflows, leading to a bullish outlook among traders and analysts. 

Cryptocurrency analyst @AltcoinSherpa terms the current market as "Layer 1 season." He notes the rotation of capital in Layer 1 solutions on the blockchain, pointing out how traders are looking for early entry and an upside in the short term. 

Adrian K. Zduńczyk, certified technical analyst and founder and CEO of “The Birb Nest,” warned traders to remain cautious of Bitcoin price corrections. The analyst suggests that traders lock in profits ahead of a trend reversal in Bitcoin.

In his recent "Bitcoin and Altcoin market update," Zduńczyk is quoted:

Knowing there's been massive rally for bulls in last 5-6 weeks, I'll take this weekly doji as yet another reason to lock in some profits while we're in the high 40s – JUST IN CASE.