Small and mid-cap crypto outpaces Bitcoin since late August, CryptoQuant analyst says

For most of this cycle, Bitcoin has been the lead singer and everything else has been the backup band. According to CryptoQuant analyst Darkfost, the backup band has quietly been getting louder since late August. In findings shared on October 18, 2026, Darkfost reported that small- and mid-cap crypto assets have grown their market capitalization faster than Bitcoin over that stretch. He also said they outran the large-cap names that usually trail just behind it. He called the pattern “fairly unusual.” What the numbers show The metric Darkfost tracked compares each segment’s monthly average market cap against its annual average. When the monthly figure pulls well above the annual one, that segment is running hotter than its own long-term norm. It measures momentum relative to a segment’s own history rather than raw size. On that basis, small- and mid-cap assets posted 41% growth in the ratio since late August. Bitcoin’s ratio rose by 7% over the same window. Large-cap assets, the established names sitting below Bitcoin in the rankings, managed just 3.5%. That leaves the biggest non-Bitcoin assets trailing both the market leader and the smaller tokens. The findings spread quickly aft...