• The Bitcoin Dominance Index, which measures bitcoin's share of the overall crypto market, reached 61.39%, a level not seen since March 2021.

• Ether, viewed by some as the main alternative to Bitcoin, has also lost nearly all of the gains it made against bitcoin since Election Day in the U.S.

• Bitcoin's rising dominance in the market may be due to the focus institutions have on the crypto asset, Trump's plan for a strategic bitcoin stockpile, and technical developments.

• Dogecoin is a notable outlier in bitcoin's rise against the rest of the crypto market.

Bitcoin's price has been on a tear since election night, hitting a new all-time high of over $93,000 on Wednesday before retreating back below $90,000.

While alternative crypto assets also tend to move in the same direction dictated by bitcoin, the altcoins haven't been able to keep up with the world's largest and most popular cryptocurrency so far in this bull run. In fact, the Bitcoin Dominance Index (BDI) hit a new cycle high of 61.39% on Wednesday, according to TradingView. This is the highest level seen since March 2021.

The BDI measures the total value of the bitcoin network as a percentage of the value of all crypto assets in the world. It is a rather crude way of measuring things, and there are a few different specific measurements out there that include or exclude specific types of crypto assets. For example, it wouldn't make much sense to include stablecoins, which are pegged to the U.S. dollar, in this sort of data.

For some, the ETH/BTC trading pair is another option for illustrating bitcoin's dominance (or lack thereof), as Ethereum is viewed by some as the main alternative to Bitcoin. That said, while the spot ether exchange traded funds (ETFs) have performed better than ever in terms of inflows over the past week, ether has already reversed just about all of the gains it made against bitcoin following Election Day in the U.S.

So, why is this happening? In the past, bitcoin led the way for the crypto market before alternatives joined the party and eventually outperformed the longest-standing crypto asset. There may be different dynamics at play now due to various technical developments around Bitcoin such as layer-two networks and Ordinals. Layer-two networks can enable many of the features found on alternative crypto networks, such as Ethereum and Solana, on top of Bitcoin.

Additionally, much of the current institutional interest in the market is centered around the spot bitcoin ETFs and bitcoin's role as a "digital gold," with one of Donald Trump's campaign promises being the establishment of a "strategic bitcoin stockpile." Additionally, BlackRock has referred to bitcoin as "a unique diversifier."

For now, Dogecoin is a notable alternative cryptocurrency bucking the current trend, rising 145% against bitcoin over the past month. This outperformance is thought to be due to Elon Musk's close association with the victorious Trump campaign, as Musk has been the main proponent of the meme-focused cryptocurrency in the past.