"Altcoin" or "Alternative Coin" is a term for any other non-Bitcoin cryptocurrencies that currently have more than 10,000 cryptocurrencies to choose from, such as, Ethereum (ETH), Tezos (XTZ), Litentry (LIT).), Cardano (ADA), Ripple (XRP), Dogecoin (DOGE), Shiba Inu (SHIB), or even Bitcoin Cash (BCH) that were created to solve Bitcoin lag are also altcoins.
According to CoinMarketCap, Altcoins accounted for nearly 60% of the cryptocurrency market in November 2021.
Although individual altcoins are designed to meet demands that Bitcoin cannot, such as having a consensus mechanism to create blocks or transact (PoS), smart contracts, or even market price fluctuations, these cryptocurrencies are all based on Bitcoin's success. As a result, altcoin prices tend to move in lockstep with Bitcoin's, both up and down. Bitcoin remains the primary cryptocurrency that determines the current direction of the Crypto market.
However, most analysts believe that the growth of various crypto-currency investment ecosystems, as well as the development of new markets for these coins, will eventually allow altcoin price movement to be independent of Bitcoin trading signals.