Are Alt Coin Prices, including steem, a reflection of Bit Coin?

   When I first got started I stumbled upon this explanation and found it quite insightful.

When bit coin price is falling people are liquidating(cashing out) to fiat currency(U.S. dollar is an example).  Since many alt coin purchases are made in bit coin, less bit coin available means less alt coin purchases.  Thus, alt coin prices go down.

Next, if bit coin is going up dramatically people are cashing out of alt coins and moving their holdings into bit coin.

If this theory is correct then it suggests that a stale, stable bit coin price is a place where alt coin price can increase.  

This might be a little frustrating if you've put research into an alt coin and identify it as a strong use case.  You think the coin is more valuable than it's price but it just seems to copy the price of bit coin.  The crypto currency market is young and it takes time for everyone to catch up with your intelligent evaluation.  Time will weed coins out.

Us at steemit can't figure out why everyone isn't jumping on steem when clearly it has a strong, long term use case.

Exchange Theory

   It is possible that many bids are left out in an exchanges preplaced in amounts of bit coin.  If bit coin price goes up quickly then bids that are still in place would not take into account the increase in the value of bit coin.  The result would be people purchasing alt coins at a higher price if their bids go through.  This might explain alt coin prices going up when bit coin does.

Bit Coin is King Theory

   This is just a simple explanation that the public views the entire crypto currency industry mainly as bit coin.  Thus, if confidence in bit coin is falling then confidence in the whole industry will fall.

Of course I'd love to hear your thoughts and opinions in the comments.  Thanks.