Altcoin Season Index Watch: Chainlink and Monero Run While the Large Caps Cool

Key Takeaways

• Chainlink added 13.6 percent over seven days to reach $9.35, the strongest week among the majors.
• Monero rose 8.3 percent to $411.07, and privacy coins together are worth $16.28 billion.
• Cardano fell 9.8 percent and Uniswap 17.7 percent across the same week, so breadth is missing.
• Bitcoin dominance of 56.14 percent keeps the board quiet, so part of the crowd has moved to the early entry buyers are checking, where stage 2 asks $0.000015.

Anyone watching the altcoin season index this week saw a narrow story rather than a broad one. Chainlink climbed 13.6 percent over seven days and Monero 8.3 percent, while Bitcoin gave back 3.0 percent and Ethereum 2.1 percent. Two winners do not make a season.

Total crypto value stands at $2.250 trillion on August 17, 2026, and Bitcoin dominance reads 56.14 percent, the number that decides whether the rest of the board gets a turn.

What the Altcoin Season Index Actually Measures

Breadth is the whole idea. An altseason index counts how many of the largest altcoins have beaten Bitcoin over a rolling window, then turns that count into a single reading. High readings mean most of the board is outrunning Bitcoin.

Low readings mean two or three names are carrying everybody else. Seven-day figures point to the second case here, since Chainlink and Monero rose while Cardano and Uniswap dropped hard.

Definition: Altcoin dominance is the share of total crypto value sitting outside Bitcoin. With Bitcoin dominance at 56.14 percent and Ethereum at 10.07 percent, every other coin splits the remaining 33.79 percent.

The Names Moving the Altcoin Dominance Chart This Week

Chainlink (LINK) at $9.35 After a 13.6 Percent Week

Chainlink posted the best week of any major, up 13.6 percent, and added 1.1 percent on the day to reach $9.35. Its market value is $7.00 billion. LINK peaked at $52.70 in May 2021, so the record still sits far above current trade.

Oracles, the services that feed outside data into contracts, remain the pitch. One strong week is not a trend, although it is a start.

Monero (XMR) at $411.07 and an 8.3 Percent Week

Monero gained 8.3 percent over seven days and 1.6 percent on the day, which puts it at $411.07 and a $7.72 billion market value. Privacy coins as a group hold $16.28 billion, up 0.34 percent. XMR reached $797.73 at its peak.

Quiet weekly winners like this one rarely make headlines, yet they show where a slice of money went while the majors cooled.

Cardano (ADA) at $0.1768 After a 9.8 Percent Week

Cardano had the worst week of the large caps outside Uniswap, down 9.8 percent to $0.1768, with another 1.1 percent lost on the day. Its market value is $6.61 billion. ADA traded at $3.09 in September 2021 and sits 94.3 percent below that mark today.

Weakness in a name this size drags any breadth measure lower, whatever the smaller coins are doing.

Uniswap (UNI) at $3.28, the Weakest Week in the Top 20

Uniswap fell 17.7 percent over seven days, the deepest drop in the top 20, though it managed a 0.5 percent gain on the day to $3.28. Market value comes to $2.04 billion against a record of $44.92. Rotation looks like this from the inside: buyers sell one corner of the board to fund another, and the overall reading barely shifts.

Asset	Price on August 17, 2026	Seven-day move	Value on the board	Record high
Chainlink (LINK)	$9.35	+13.6%	$7.00B	$52.70
Monero (XMR)	$411.07	+8.3%	$7.72B	$797.73
Bitcoin (BTC)	$62,970	-3.0%	$1.264T	$126,080
Ethereum (ETH)	$1,878.80	-2.1%	$226.7B	$4,946.05
Cardano (ADA)	$0.1768	-9.8%	$6.61B	$3.09
Uniswap (UNI)	$3.28	-17.7%	$2.04B	$44.92
$BULLSKI (presale)	$0.000015 on stage 2	Set by the rung, not the tape	Not listed yet, 120 billion fixed supply	None yet, listing reference $0.0025

Two green rows against four red ones is the whole message. Chainlink and Monero carried the week, Bitcoin and Ethereum drifted, and Cardano and Uniswap gave up real ground. Global figures come from CoinGecko’s global charts, checked August 17, 2026.

Pricing that runs on a schedule instead of a tape got its own treatment in the earlier piece on stage pricing.

Why a Published Ladder Reads Differently From an Altcoin Rally

Board prices move with whoever is trading that minute. Bullski moves on a ladder of rungs published in advance, and a rung changes only when its allocation sells out. Stage 1 cleared in full at $0.00001, taking all 1,192,283,023 tokens with it.

Stage 2 now asks $0.000015, stage 3 asks $0.00002, and the listing reference is $0.0025. That 16-stage sequence sits on Ethereum as an ERC-20 token.

Nothing about the count changes later. Bullski mints 120 billion $BULLSKI and stops there, with two fifths of the pile, 40 percent, moving through the sale itself. Vesting holds the team’s share back on a schedule rather than releasing it at once.

Liquidity locks at listing, Etherscan shows a verified contract, and audit work is in process. All of that sits inside Bullski’s fixed supply terms, published before a buyer spends anything.

Pro tip: Weigh a weekly percentage against an entry price, not against another percentage. Chainlink’s 13.6 percent week moved $9.35 by roughly $1.12, while a rung step from $0.000015 to $0.00002 is a third higher on the ticket.  What the sector looks like beneath the majors covers that ground.

Joining the Sale While Stage 2 Is Open

Rotation weeks reward whoever already owns a good entry. Stage 1 of this sale is gone, sold out in full at $0.00001, and 1,354,170,438 tokens remain on stage 2 as of August 17, 2026. Once those clear, the price steps to $0.00002.

Chainlink and Monero can be bought at whatever the screen shows this minute. A rung is set in advance, which makes the cost of waiting simple to measure.

Buy $BULLSKI on stage 2 at $0.000015: hold ETH, BNB or USDT in an Ethereum wallet, load the official sale page, read the rung that is running, and confirm the size you want.

Buyers who would rather hold a published price than wait for one can take the current $BULLSKI rung at $0.000015 while stage 2 lasts.

Altcoin Season Questions Buyers Are Asking This Week

What Is the Altcoin Season Index?

A breadth gauge, nothing more. It counts how many of the largest altcoins have outrun Bitcoin over a set window, then reports the result as one number. Readings climb when most of the board beats Bitcoin.

Only Chainlink at 13.6 percent and Monero at 8.3 percent stood out this week, while Cardano lost 9.8 percent, so the gauge has little to work with.

When Is Altcoin Season?

Nobody schedules it. Altcoin season tends to arrive after Bitcoin runs and then rests, when profits spread down the board into smaller names. Bitcoin dominance of 56.14 percent says that spread has not happened yet.

When Will Altcoin Season Start?

No date exists, and any specific one is guesswork. Three things are worth watching instead: Bitcoin dominance falling from 56.14 percent, weekly gains spreading past two names, and volume climbing from today’s $29.91 billion. None of the three is in place on August 17, 2026, which is why the altcoin season indicator still points sideways.

Is It Altcoin Season Right Now?

Not on this week’s numbers. Two winners against losses in Cardano, Uniswap, Bitcoin and Ethereum is rotation, not a broad altcoin rally. Meanwhile the meme sector held $24.77 billion, up 0.34 percent, so small pockets of buying did keep working.

Breadth across many names, rather than one strong week, is what turns an altcoin season chart green.

For More Information

Website: Visit the official Bullski website at bullski.io

Telegram: Join the Bullski Telegram channel at t.me/BullskiCoinOfficial

X (Twitter): Follow Bullski on X at x.com/bullskicoin

Do your own research before buying any presale token. This article is not financial advice.