Polkadot Surges 23% as Altcoins Post Strongest 2026 Daily Rally, Crypto Market Cap Reaches $2.34 Trillion
Altcoins recorded their largest collective daily gain of 2026 on March 13, with Polkadot (DOT) jumping 23% ahead of its March 14 halving and the total cryptocurrency market capitalization climbing over 3.7% to $2.34 trillion, Santiment data show. Uniswap (UNI) rose 19%, Avalanche (AVAX) gained 17%, Chainlink (LINK) and NEAR Protocol (NEAR) each added 15%, and Litecoin (LTC) increased 14%, while Aptos (APT) surged 20% and Filecoin rallied 23% among large-cap tokens. Bitcoin rebounded 4.5% to around $68,500 and Ethereum advanced nearly 8% to $2,060 amid renewed ETF inflows, with Solana (SOL) and Cardano (ADA) each rising about 4.5% as the altcoin season indicator revisited its January high, according to Santiment.