Altcoin pumps are still possible, but remain increasingly unreliable. Price expansion in the short term shows that crypto infrastructure is capable of reacting to short-term trading shifts.
Several altcoins rallied in February, seemingly defying the market weakness. One of them was UNI, which could be linked to its DEX activity, which is still robust. BERA emerged from its period of underperformance. Other pumps included ZRO and H.
Was All Recent Runners Coordinated for Dumps?
Recently, a few assets skyrocketed, gaining around 20-60% each in 24H. For now, all their gains are gone, and some are trading even lower than before.$UNI
> Pumped on BlackRock investment news$ZRO
> Pumped on its own blockchain… pic.twitter.com/CXEMmno90T
— CryptoRank.io (@CryptoRank_io) February 20, 2026
However, all of the tokens ended up worse off than before the pump.
BERA’s rally coincided with several unlocks for multiple investor classes, challenging the market to absorb around $257K in tokens daily. BERA has a low rate of unlocked tokens and has fallen to its lowest range since the token launch. BERA traded at $0.59, after February’s rally to $0.74.
UNI started the month near $5, but crashed to $3.42, near its all-time lows. ZRO rallied to $2.50 before retreating to $1.49.
Are altcoin pumps still happening?
Altcoin pumps are still happening, despite the weakness of BTC, ETH, SOL, and other blue-chip assets. In the short term, altcoins allow for easier expansion through market makers. Some of the tokens have limited markets or are highly concentrated on one exchange, leading to local pumps.
The altcoin season index is at 45 points, a neutral territory between BTC and the rest of the crypto assets. In this range, some assets are outperforming BTC, even with dramatic pumps. As of February 20, 16 altcoins outperformed BTC on a three-month time frame.
Most of the top 100 assets, though, took deep cuts against BTC.
Altcoins enter the overbought zone
A handful of altcoins are now entering the overbought zone while going through a short-term pump. Assets from previous rally cycles are now coasting in neutral territory based on their relative strength index (RSI).
As Cryptopolitan reported, altcoin selling pressure is near an all-time high, but some assets are performing as outliers.
One of the best-performing assets is KITE, recently touching all-time highs at $0.26. KITE is also one of the most overbought altcoins, even though it only entered the market in the past six months.
KITE is among the newly pumping altcoins, showing there is still energy to drive new projects, but not lift all assets. | Source:
KITE rallied against the market during one of the worst months in crypto. The altcoin was listed on Binance, but unlike other projects, it did not crash. KITE also went against the grain somewhat, launching its product during what many perceived as a bear market at the time.
The KITE rally is yet to show its sustainability and the project’s viability. KITE is now riding the headwinds of the AI agent narrative, as it builds a new L1 chain for agents, an ambitious task in a market already saturated with blockchains.
The short-term rallies for altcoins, however, show the market has enough liquidity and can set up short-term directional bets. For now, the confidence and stablecoin liquidity does not translate into an overall market recovery, as traders are still cautious of liquidations.
