Cryptocurrencies are steadily making their way into the portfolios of both retail and institutional investors. Even large technology corporations such as PayPal (PYPL) and Tesla (TSLA) have added them to their portfolios.
Given how well cryptocurrencies have performed in the past, this is understandable. For example, the total market capitalisation of cryptocurrencies almost tripled in 2021.
While the fundamentals remain sound and are improving, 2022 was not a good start for cryptocurrencies.
In January Bitcoin (BTC) crashed and took the rest of the market down with it.
Fears of a rate increase have hampered the market and created uncertainty. However, market fundamentals, especially adoption, are improving, as mentioned above. As such, this could be a good time to buy cryptocurrencies.
For those looking to buy cryptos in the fall, here are 9 top cryptocurrencies to consider right now:
Table of contents:
Best cryptocurrencies to buy: Ethereum (ETH)
Cardano (ADA)
Top cryptocurrencies to buy: Terra (LUNA)
Avalanche (AVAX)
Top cryptocurrencies to buy: Solana (SOL)
Polygon (MATIC)
Best cryptocurrencies to buy: Sandbox (SAND)
Binance Coin (BNB)
Top cryptocurrencies to buy: Decentraland (MANA)
Table of Contents:
BEST CRYPTOCURRENCIES TO BUY: ETHEREUM (ETH)
Ethereum is the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalisation and continues to be Bitcoin’s biggest rival in terms of adoption. Being one of the largest players in the blockchain platform space, Ethereum records strong growth in its Dapps ecosystem. That’s despite its scalability issues and high gas tariffs.
As an investment, Ethereum has not disappointed investors. It began trading last year at $775, and by November, it had reached new highs of $4800.
However, like the rest of the market, the updated 2022 has not been one of the best for Ethereum. Year-to-date, Ethereum is down 31%, and the bear has yet to loosen its grip.
Despite the bearish start to the year, a lot is going on that makes Ethereum one of the best cryptocurrencies to buy in the fall. The long-awaited move to Proof-of-Stake will be completed this year and address scaling and fee issues on Ethereum.
Long-term investors may like Ethereum in this downturn. While the market is insanely volatile right now, Ethereum’s recent growth trajectory suggests there’s much to like about how this project performs relative to its competitors.
Adoption is also growing, especially in DeFi and NFT, a factor that is likely to drive demand for ETH through 2022.
CARDAN (ADA)
It is one of the most well-known platform blockchains looking to give Ethereum a run for its money. However, among the many “Ethereum Killers” on the market, Cardano is one of the most sophisticated.
Cardano’s biggest advantage is its proof-of-stake algorithm that solves the three big problems of scalability, security, and decentralization. However, in addition to its highly advanced PoS algorithm, Cardano is built on milestones, and with each milestone, there has been a significant price increase.
For example, in 2021, Cardano enabled smart contracts, a factor that saw it rally between September and October. The next phase looming in 2022 involves network scale and governance-related issues. Once they are achieved, the price of ADA could rebound.
With all that Cardano has accomplished and is looking to accomplish, ADA has been in the red for most of 2022. Year-to-date, Cardano is down 23%.
This makes it highly undervalued and one of the top cryptocurrencies to buy in the fall. It has what it takes to skyrocket once the bulls retake the market.
THE BEST CRYPTOCURRENCIES TO BUY: TERRA (LUNA)
In recent years, there has been an explosion in demand for stablecoins. This has a lot to do with the high volatility in the cryptocurrency market. One form of stablecoin that has grown in popularity is the algorithmic stablecoin, algorithmically stabilized and censorship-resistant.
Terra has become one of the most widely adopted platform blockchains for issuing algorithmic stablecoins. One of the most famous Terra stablecoins, UST, is already one of the largest cryptocurrencies by market cap.
Many more algorithmic stablecoins are launching on Terra, a factor that has led to exponential growth in the value of LUNA. As of early 2021, LUNA was trading at just $0.60 per token. Fast-forward to February 2022, and LUNA is trading at $47.52 after dumping 44% year-to-date.
Despite the current market correction, demand for Terra remains strong. Terra now has over 2 million users and is now one of the largest DeFi platforms on the market. This growing demand makes LUNA one of the best cryptocurrencies to buy in the fall.
AVALANCHE (AVAX)
Avalanche is one of the many projects dubbed the Ethereum Killers. However, of all the projects that have sprung up capitalizing on Ethereum’s scaling issues, Avalanche is one of the most promising.
Avalanche has transaction speeds of up to 4500 TPS and is more stable than many other platforms that mock transaction speeds as a key selling point. Due to its efficiency, Avalanche has grown in adoption over the past year.
The same has been reflected in its price action. In 2021, Avalanche closed the year above 4,000%. However, 2022 has not been one of the best for Avalanche investors. So far this year, the Avalanche is down 36%.
Despite this drop, Avalanche is one of the projects that analysts expect to perform well once the bulls retake the market. The bullish sentiment around Avalanche stems from the numerous projects looking to build on its platform.
For example, Avalanche now has a partnership with Deloitte to help efficiently allocate public funds where needed most.
Such developments could trigger an exponential growth factor for AVAX, making it one of the best coins to buy in the fall.
THE BEST CRYPTOCURRENCIES TO BUY: SOLANA (SOL)
Solana was one of the best performing cryptocurrencies in the last year. It started trading in 2021 at just over $1.40, and in November, it was trading at all-time highs of $260.
However, Solana lost momentum after reaching $260, and things have not been rosy so far. So far this year, Solana has dropped 43%.
Solana is one of the cryptocurrency projects called “Ethereum Killers”, and its core metrics attest to its capabilities. For example, Solana can reach up to 50k transactions per second at fees as low as $0.01. These metrics triggered an explosion of Dapps on the Solana blockchain.
Today, Solana has one of the largest DeFi and NFT ecosystems, and the number of Solana projects continues to grow. While its unique Proof of History algorithm has its issues, it has proven to be quite effective in keeping Solana top of mind, especially for developers looking to launch NFTs.
This means SOL price could rise exponentially once the cryptocurrency market turns bullish again.
Polygon is one of the projects that have emerged to solve Ethereum’s scalability issues.
The idea is that instead of all transactions taking place on the Ethereum mainnet, some of them are completed on layer 2 solutions like Polygon. The result is less congestion on the main network and lower gas rates.
On Polygon, users can quickly transact without dealing with the high gas fees that are characteristic of Ethereum. This use case saw Polygon emerge as one of the top-performing cryptocurrencies of the past year, rallying by over 4,500%.
However, Polygon has taken a huge hit due to the cryptocurrency bear market in November 2021. So far this year, Polygon is down 39%, and there are no signs of the bears abating yet.
That said, there’s a lot to look forward to Polygon. In January, Polygon made an update that introduced a coin burning feature. This means that the more the network is used, the more the price could rise as MATIC tokens are burned.
Ethereum is now almost done with the move to PoS, which means demand for Polygon and other layer 2s could skyrocket. This makes Polygon a good buy in the dive. The upside potential is huge.
THE BEST CRYPTOCURRENCIES TO BUY: SANDBOX (SAND)
Sandbox is one of the most popular Metaverse projects on the market today. In addition, some of the most popular play to win games are now available in the Sandbox Metaverse.
The growing popularity of play-to-win sandbox games had a huge impact on the price of SAND in the last year. As a result, SAND was one of the top-performing cryptocurrencies in the past year, closing the year with gains of over 3,700%.
However, with the big correction in the broader crypto market, Sandbox started 2022 in the red. So far this year, Sandbox is down 35%, and the bears still have a great deal of control over it.
That said, Sandbox has a lot going on that could see it pick up sometime in 2022. For example, it recently teamed up with some of the biggest names in music and started holding virtual concerts in its Metaverse.
Sandbox has also set aside millions of dollars that could help expand its virtual world in the future. All of this, coupled with the growing excitement around the Metaverse, makes Sandbox one of the top 9 cryptocurrencies to buy this year.
THE BEST CRYPTOCURRENCIES TO BUY: DECENTRALAND (MANA)
Lastly, one of the best cryptocurrencies to buy in the fall is Decentralized. Decentraland has taken a hit since the beginning of the year, and so far this year, it’s down 18%. However, this is a slight drop, considering that it has recovered by more than 1400% in the last year.
Decentraland’s success over the past year had a lot to do with the growing demand for its virtual lands. Back in 2017, when decentraland launched, their virtual lands were as little as $20. Today they go for tens of thousands of dollars. Last year, a virtual piece of Decentraland land made history after selling for $2.4 million.
As the demand for these lands grows, so will the value of MANA, which is the currency used in the Decentraland ecosystem. So far, demand looks promising, and recently Samsung, a global mega-corporation, launched a virtual store in Decentraland.
Such developments point to MANA being grossly undervalued at current prices.
