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Sector rotation

Crypto sector rotation: where the money is moving

Which crypto sectors are gaining share of trading volume and outperforming Bitcoin, and which are fading. Calculated from exchange candles; the method is open below.

This week the share of trading volume moved from Payments (−2.6 p.p.) to Exchange & CeFi tokens (+2.0 p.p.).

DeFi moved into the Leading quadrant.

BTC dominance: 58.6% +0.24 p.p.
BTC · 7D: -0.4%
Altcoins vs BTC: -2.5 p.p.
12 sectors · 197 coins: Updated 32 minutes ago

Rotation map

Each dot is a sector. Right means stronger than Bitcoin, up means that strength is accelerating. Sectors usually travel clockwise: Improving → Leading → Weakening → Lagging. The tail shows where a sector came from.

Sectorvs BTC, p.p.

Tail: 6 points, every day.

Change in share of trading volume

Percentage points of total altcoin volume (BTC, ETH and stablecoins excluded) compared with the previous period of the same length. This is a change of share, not a direct transfer of money between sectors.

L1 33% DEFI 14% MEME 10% PRIV 9% PAY 9% AI 7%

Exchange & CeFi tokens +2.0 p.p. now 4.4% Gaming & metaverse +1.7 p.p. now 2.3% AI +1.2 p.p. now 7.1% Memes +1.0 p.p. now 10.1% DeFi +0.9 p.p. now 13.9% DePIN +0.5 p.p. now 1.9% Layer 2 +0.3 p.p. now 2.0% Real-world assets -0.8 p.p. now 1.3% Layer 1 -1.2 p.p. now 32.6% Privacy -1.3 p.p. now 9.0% Infrastructure & oracles -1.9 p.p. now 5.7% Payments -2.6 p.p. now 9.0%

Sector heatmap

Tile size is market cap, colour is the 7 days return. Inside each sector — its largest coins.

AI -2.3% DOGE-5.8% MEME -4.6% BNB+0.4% SOL-1.5% TRX-0.6% ADA+3.6% NEAR-0.1% Layer 1 -1.3% L2 -8.3% HYPE-2.7% RAIN-11.3% DeFi -4.6% RWA -3.2% GAME +11.4% DPIN -0.7% ZEC-7.7% XMR+1.6% Privacy -1.6% XRP-4.6% XLM-11.4% BCH-1.9% Payments -5.1% CEX +0.8% LINK-7.2% INFR -3.5%

All sectors

Cap-weighted sector returns (single coin capped at 25%), share of volume, relative strength and breadth.

All sectors
Sector	24H	7D	30D	90D	Volume share	Δ share	vs BTC	Breadth	Quadrant	Top coin
AIAI19 coins	-2.8%	-2.3%	+19.1%	+44.2%	7.1%	+1.2	-1.9	26%	Weakening	SENT +22.1%
MEMEMemes24 coins	-1.4%	-4.6%	+4.4%	+42.8%	10.1%	+1.0	-4.2	13%	Weakening	MUBARAK +20.9%
L1Layer 139 coins	-1.6%	-1.3%	+11.2%	+32.7%	32.6%	-1.2	-0.9	21%	Leading	KAIA +10.7%
L2Layer 28 coins	+1.1%	-8.3%	+10.9%	+70.2%	2.0%	+0.3	-8.0	13%	Weakening	STRK +13.5%
DEFIDeFi50 coins	-0.8%	-4.6%	+5.8%	+34.6%	13.9%	+0.9	-4.2	34%	Leading	ORCA +72.7%
RWAReal-world assets5 coins	+2.4%	-3.2%	+17.4%	+31.5%	1.3%	-0.8	-2.8	20%	Weakening	SYRUP +1.9%
GAMEGaming & metaverse6 coins	+3.2%	+11.4%	+71.2%	+152.3%	2.3%	+1.7	+11.8	83%	Weakening	SAND +77.5%
DPINDePIN12 coins	+0.9%	-0.7%	+22.5%	+36.3%	1.9%	+0.5	-0.4	58%	Weakening	ATH +13.1%
PRIVPrivacy8 coins	-3.2%	-1.6%	+13.3%	+70.7%	9.0%	-1.3	-1.3	25%	Weakening	NIGHT +17.0%
PAYPayments5 coins	-2.5%	-5.1%	+11.0%	+32.1%	9.0%	-2.6	-4.7	0%	Weakening	LTC -1.7%
CEXExchange & CeFi tokens8 coins	-1.2%	+0.8%	+8.7%	+23.9%	4.4%	+2.0	+1.2	50%	Improving	OKB +8.9%
INFRInfrastructure & oracles13 coins	+0.5%	-3.5%	+56.3%	+93.4%	5.7%	-1.9	-3.2	23%	Weakening	ZRO +26.1%

Rotation history

Which sector led each week over the last year. Colour is the weekly return relative to BTC; the outlined cell is the week’s leader. Gaming & metaverse led 5 of the last 12 weeks.

Privacy14

Gaming & metaverse7

AI6

DeFi6

Memes5

Real-world assets4

Infrastructure & oracles4

Payments2

Exchange & CeFi tokens2

Layer 21

DePIN1

Layer 10

Methodology

Sectors: A curated taxonomy of 13 sectors. Each coin has one primary sector used in calculations; secondary sectors are shown for context only. BTC and ETH are benchmarks, stablecoins, tokenized stocks and gold, wrapped and liquid-staking tokens are excluded.
Universe: The 300 largest coins by market cap with closed daily candles from connected exchanges and a median daily volume above $500k. A sector is shown when it has at least 5 such coins.
Sector index: Chained daily (hourly for 24h) index weighted by market cap, with any single coin capped at 25% so that, for example, memes are not just DOGE. Market cap = close × current circulating supply. An equal-weight variant is in the table.
Share of volume: The main proxy for “money”: a sector’s USD trading volume divided by all eligible altcoin volume (without BTC, ETH and stablecoins), and its change in percentage points against the previous period of the same length.
Rotation graph: RS = sector index ÷ BTC. RS-Ratio is the z-score of the smoothed RS over a rolling window, RS-Momentum is the z-score of its rate of change; both are centred on 100.
Narrative: Generated from templates using only the calculated numbers: the largest share gain and loss (moves under 1 p.p. are treated as noise) and quadrant changes.

Limitations

Volume comes from the primary listing on connected exchanges, so coins listed mostly elsewhere are under-represented. Exchange tokens trade mostly on their own venue and may not reach the minimum number of coins.
Historical market cap uses the current circulating supply, so coins with fast emission look larger in the past than they were.
A rising share of volume can mean buying or selling. Combine it with returns and relative strength.
Not shown this period (fewer than 5 coins with data): Social, NFT & fan tokens.
19 liquid coins are waiting for sector review and only count in the market total.

How to read crypto sector rotation

What are crypto sectors and narratives?

Crypto rarely moves as a single asset. Coins cluster around shared stories — artificial intelligence, meme culture, base-layer blockchains, scaling networks, decentralized finance, tokenized real-world assets, games, physical infrastructure networks. Traders call these clusters narratives. When a narrative catches attention, capital and trading activity concentrate in its coins; when attention fades, it moves elsewhere. Grouping coins into a small set of understandable sectors makes these shifts visible instead of drowning them in hundreds of individual charts.

What is capital rotation?

Rotation is the movement of trading activity and performance leadership from one group of assets to another. In equities it describes money moving between defensive and cyclical industries; in crypto it is faster and louder. A typical sequence is Bitcoin first, then large caps, then smaller sectors such as memes or AI tokens. Rotation is not a law and does not repeat on a schedule, but tracking which sectors are gaining or losing relative strength shows where the market’s attention is right now.

How to read the rotation graph

The Relative Rotation Graph places every sector on two axes. The horizontal axis is relative strength against Bitcoin: to the right of 100 a sector has been stronger than BTC, to the left weaker. The vertical axis is momentum of that relative strength: above 100 it is accelerating, below it is slowing. This creates four quadrants. Leading sectors are strong and getting stronger. Weakening sectors are still strong but losing momentum. Lagging sectors are weak and getting weaker. Improving sectors are weak but recovering. Sectors usually rotate clockwise through the quadrants, and the tail behind each dot shows its path over the last several points. Press Play to watch the movement.

Why share of trading volume is the proxy for money

There is no public ledger of “money moving from memes to AI”. Every trade has a buyer and a seller, so money does not literally leave a sector. What can be measured honestly is where trading activity concentrates. The share of total altcoin volume that a sector captures, and its change in percentage points, shows where traders are spending their attention and capital. Market cap changes are mostly driven by price and say less about flows. That is why the map leads with share of volume and pairs it with returns and relative strength.

How sector indices are built

Each sector index is cap-weighted, but no single coin can exceed 25% of the sector. Without the cap a sector like memes would simply track Dogecoin and Layer 1 would track a couple of giants. Breadth — the percentage of coins in the sector that rose — tells whether a move is broad or carried by one coin. Leaders, laggards and contributions on each sector page show who actually moved the index.

Limitations

The map uses exchange candle data from connected venues, a curated but subjective taxonomy and an approximation of historical market cap (current supply). Short periods such as 24 hours are noisy, and a sector entering the Leading quadrant is an observation about the past, not a forecast. Nothing on this page is investment advice; use it as a map of where the market’s attention has been.

Questions about sector rotation

Does a higher share of volume mean money flowed into the sector?

It means a larger part of all altcoin trading happened in that sector compared with the previous period. Every trade has a buyer and a seller, so it is a measure of attention and activity, not a one-way transfer. Read it together with returns and relative strength.

Why are BTC and ETH not sectors?

They are so large that they would dominate any sector they belong to. Bitcoin is the benchmark for relative strength, BTC dominance is shown separately, and both are excluded from the altcoin volume total.

Why is a coin capped at 25% of its sector?

To stop one giant from becoming the whole sector. Without the cap, the memes index would mostly be Dogecoin. The equal-weight variant in the table shows how the average coin performed.

How often is the map updated?

Every hour from closed exchange candles. The 24-hour period uses hourly candles; 7, 30 and 90 days use daily candles; history uses weekly steps over one year.

What does it mean when a sector enters the Leading quadrant?

Its relative strength against BTC is above average and still rising. It describes recent behaviour; sectors often move on to Weakening, and there is no guarantee of continuation.

How are coins assigned to sectors?

By a curated taxonomy: the largest coins were assigned by hand, the rest start from exchange and data-provider tags and new coins wait in a review queue. Each coin has one primary sector used in calculations.

Is this a trading signal?

No. It is a descriptive statistic of past trading activity and performance. It does not tell you what to buy or sell.

Statistics of past market data, not investment advice. Share of volume is a proxy for trading activity, not a measure of money transferred between sectors.