At that time, the growth of altcoins was massive, but now the situation is somewhat different. One project or another shoots up. But there is not much point in comparing the market situation as of December 2017 and now.
With lots of competitions and so many scammed its really difficult for alts to regained those old days, we need to keep
searching for real projects that have good value from this industry, not just a duplicate or another project that already
been offered from other developers, there's always opportunities it just take time and real effort to pick the right project.
Alts will grow in the sense of being well developed.
As for the search for projects, Avalanche raised $42 million based on the results of a public tokensale. And the project has a good background. I think that at least it can be added to the extended list for study.