Only when btc stays around a certain level for a while, that's when the alts seem to rally.
Interesting observation. Altcoins do well against bitcoin when bitcoin trades sideways but tend to stick with it on the upside and downside. I need to look at some historical data to see how true this is. Interested if other people think they have observed this.
that's what I've noticed, but I've only been in crypto for half a year.. So interested what others think!
I think the problem is that Monero (as with other coins) can flip from tracking BTC to an inverse tracking of it according to mood.
I have seen Monero actually increase in value in BTC/XMR at the same time as Bitcoin rises against USD. This happened often from November 2016 through to late summer 2017.
At other times it seems to track the opposite way - effectively acting as a hedge - which it has done for long periods in the past, too. In terms of USD overall - BTC going down means XMR does too (in USD value), but it's not as simple as that.
I welcome further thoughts on this, but I have tried to work it out and I am not sure firm and predictable rules really exist - especially as Monero has use cases and demand for it that Bitcoin does not.