Struggles of Altcoins in 2025: Analyzing the Decline Below TGE Prices

Altcoins' 2025 struggle - New token launches fell below TGE prices but...

Summary:
The altcoin market has faced significant challenges throughout 2025, with new token launches seeing major declines below their Token Generation Event (TGE) prices. Existing altcoins also suffered as investor sentiment remained low. The article examines whether the upcoming year will bring any respite for these digital currencies.

Key Takeaways:

The altcoin market has experienced an average decline of 28% in market capitalization in 2025.
84.73% of altcoins launched in 2025 traded below their TGE prices, indicating low profitability for new investors.
A substantial portion of existing altcoins is also in decline, with approximately 60% down by 70% to 99%.
Despite market downturns, investors continue to selectively allocate funds based on current market narratives such as privacy and social tokens, which have shown some resilience.

New Altcoins Face Major Challenges

The current bear market phase has clearly affected the altcoin sector, resulting in a decrease in asset prices. Newly launched altcoins have been particularly vulnerable, often trading significantly below their initial launch prices during their Token Generation Events (TGE).

Altcoins encompass all cryptocurrencies aside from Bitcoin and stablecoins. Data from TradingView shows that, at the time of writing, these coins collectively represent a market capitalization of around $1.77 trillion.

Altcoin Statistics

According to a report by Memento Research, a staggering 84.73% of recent altcoins have seen their prices fall below their TGE levels. Only 15.30% managed to maintain profitability for investors who purchased them at launch. The overall conclusion from the data suggests that investing in newly released altcoins has generally been unprofitable throughout 2025, and this trend may likely continue into 2026.

Broader Altcoin Market Under Strain

While newly launched altcoins took the greatest hit, the overall market for existing altcoins has also suffered considerably, leaving many investors at a loss. Many tokens have entered what is referred to as the “graveyard zone,” with around 60% of tokens experiencing declines of 70% to 99%.

Altcoin Performance

The downturn includes even the top 100 cryptocurrencies, of which 88 have failed to return any profits in the last three months. Only 11 altcoins have managed to maintain prices above their three-month lows. Currently, these 11 profitable tokens exhibit an average performance increase of about 324%. The top performer, Pippin [PIPPIN], achieved an impressive gain of 2,354%, while the weakest performer, Sky [SKY], gained just over 2%.

Market Narratives Continue to Drive Investment

Despite the challenges facing the altcoin market, investors are still making selective allocations based on prominent market narratives. These narratives involve sectors that attract capital due to expectations of outperforming the broader market.

Market Performance Overview

Over the past week, the leading narratives included privacy-focused projects, social tokens, and staking services, with average gains of 11.1%, 10.2%, and 7.1% respectively. This trend is likely to continue into 2026 as investors remain cautious, preferring assets driven by strong narratives that promise better returns in uncertain market conditions.

Conclusion

As we approach the end of 2025, the altcoin market has endured a challenging year marked by significant declines in asset prices. While new launches have struggled, the broader market also feels the pinch. However, there remains a glimmer of hope as certain narratives gain traction among selective investors. The outlook for 2026 awaits, with much uncertainty but potential for recovery in certain segments of the altcoin ecosystem.