April is here, the halving event as expected too, and perhaps we might finally get hints from the SEC about Ethereum’s ETF approval. In the meantime, we created a guide to help you invest in the most promising cryptocurrencies for April 2024.
They are hot and growing at an unprecedented rate; in fact, we filtered them from the noise and provided a brief market analysis for each. A lot is already happening in the crypto market and sieving your hodler’s wallet to get the right gems is no walk in the park.
Related: The Top 10 Bitcoin ETF Applications
By the end of the guide, you will be able to bolster your investment strategies using cryptocurrencies that have consistently performed well since the beginning of 2024.
1. Bitcoin
With only 20 days to go for the halving event, Bitcoin is leading the bull run after it tested an all-time high of $73,750 on 14th March 2024. So much has happened in the Bitcoin ecosystem in the last 1-year: the breakthrough in ordinal inscriptions, the approval of Bitcoin ETFs by the SEC, uptake of BTC among institutional and retail traders.
These events, coupled with other major developments across the industry enabled the leading cryptocurrency to break above its previous ATH of $69,000 earlier than it was expected.
BTC/USD monthly candles (March) have closed at a strong high of $70,800; as we enter the month of the halving, experts believe ETF inflows will spike, more people will buy into Bitcoin and the price trends will continue rising.
2. Ethereum
After its big upgrade _Dencun_ Ethereum is headed into April where users will enjoy low gas fees across all Layer 2s existing on the Ethereum ecosystem. The largest altcoin by market capitalization has also accumulated significant gains since the start of the year. Looking forward, the community anticipates the approval of Ethereum exchange-traded funds by the Securities and Exchanges Commission by the end of May. March has been a good month for Ethereum after it broke above the $4,000 price level. As we enter April, the current capitalization of $433.52 billion is expected to clock above the $500 billion mark.
3. Solana
Solana’s decentralized finance capabilities can support a wide range of applications and marketplaces, thanks to its robust architecture which was designed to exceed the performance of existing blockchains. The Solana network can also facilitate more than 710,000 transactions per second.
Unlike Ethereum which relies on multiple Layer-2 networks for scalability, Solana depends on a few supercomputers which manage the network and provides convenient storage for the large amounts of created data.
SOL, the cryptocurrency that powers the Solana Network has recorded one of the most notable surges during the 2024 bull run. SOL traded from a monthly low of $112 on 5th March to its current levels above the $190 support zone.
Solana also has a staggering market capitalization of $87.153 billion and is ranked at position #4 on CoinMarketCap.
4. BNB
BNB (Build and Build) is the native medium of exchange for Binance Exchange. The token powers the BNB Chain which is composed of two separate layers, the beacon chain, and the smart chain. The Beacon chain is for governance and allows holders of BNB to stake and vote, while the second one is an Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) – compatible consensus layer that connects to multiple chains.
Over the last 1-month, this cryptocurrency has almost doubled in price after it moved from a monthly low of $369 on 5th March 2024, to its current levels above the $600 support level.
The market capitalization has also recorded tremendous growth in the previous month. As per press time data from CoinMarketCap, BNB’s market valuation moved from $55 billion on 5th March to the current level of $90.33 billion.
5. XRP
One of the leading altcoins, XRP is the cryptocurrency that powers the XRP Ledger (XRPL), a permissionless, decentralized, and open-source technology developed by Ripple Labs. Some of the advantages of XRPL include cost-effectiveness, scalability, swift settlements, energy efficiency and zero carbon emissions.
Due to the capabilities of this ledger, Ripple Labs has managed to develop a payment network designed for banks called RippleNet. The payments network is meant to facilitate reliable cross-border transactions, real-time settlements, and a robust system for currency exchanges.
According to data from CoinMarketCap, XRP has a market capitalization of $34.5 billion, which has improved by 5.78% in the last one month. As of now, the cryptocurrency is trading at a price of $0.6278. Experts predict the culmination of the 2024 bull run will have XRP break above the $1 mark. This year too, XRP will be celebrating its 12th birthday in June – which makes it one of the oldest altcoins in the crypto ecosystem. We are yet to see whether the coin will defy expectations and break above $1 sooner than April.
6. Dogecoin
Dogecoin is an open-source P2P cryptocurrency that emerged in 2013 as a meme coin to celebrate the cryptocurrency culture using humor and memes. It also has a manifesto, a supportive community and has evolved over time to have some utility.
Dogecoin’s community is rather unique given members unite for organized activities like providing support to athletes, or sporting teams. Besides, folks can earn a DOGE or two through mining. The cryptocurrency uses a proof of work consensus, which means you will have to validate transactions by solving blocks to earn Dogecoin rewards.
Many other meme coins have launched since the inception of Dogecoin. There are those which have launched recently such as the Dogwifhat and Book of Memes, both of which have recorded significant success. However, Dogecoin remains the most attractive meme coin given its top 10 status among the largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. The last 1 month, Dogecoin has nearly doubled its price from a monthly low of $0.12 on 2nd March 2024 to the press time price of $0.21.
The current market capitalization for DOGE is $29.78 billion and ranked at position #8 on CoinMarketCap.
7. Cardano
Cardano’s research-oriented building process has been praised for being slow but sure. Led by Charles Hoskinson, the team has built the blockchain from the ground up by relying on peer-reviewed research. So what exactly are they building with this blockchain, and its utility cryptocurrency, ADA?
Well, Cardano aims to provide enhanced management of network resources using its two-layer architecture, one for settlements and another one for computations. Thanks to the team’s innovative approach, it also pioneered a unique proof of stake (PoS) consensus protocol called the Ouroboros consensus protocol. The aim of the protocol is achieving quality on-chain efficiency and high performance without being as energy-intensive as Bitcoin’s proof of work (PoW) mining.
The blockchain’s features include an ADA staking program, a strong decentralized finance (DeFi) presence, high interoperability, and phase releases like the launch of its smart contract capabilities in 2021 (6 years later after Cardano’s founding).
Throughout the last 1 year, the price of ADA has increased by 64%, while its market capitalization has remained stable between $16 billion and $24 billion. Heading into April, we are expecting the blockchain’s ecosystem to keep on expanding and for the price to get further near $0.8. Many of us have been anticipating Cardano to reclaim its $1 position, we hope this is the year.
8. Avalanche
Avalanche is a layer 1 blockchain by Ava Labs. This blockchain excels in its ability to execute smart contracts and its high-performance throughput (upto 6.5K transactions per second). Avalanche’s capabilities are top-notch without having to compromise on scalability; or any of the three aspects of the blockchain trilemma. As such, it has mostly been touted as an Ethereum rival since its inception in 2020.
There was a time when subject matter experts would be called names for buzzing up Web3 projects with words like “Ethereum Killer” “Fully Scalable”, “High performance” “Completely Decentralized” and “100% secure”. To say Avalanche is none of those would be to underestimate the blockchain. Except for security of course, cybercriminals have proved to us the need to be extremely careful with decentralized finance. Hence, no one should guarantee you that a chain is 100% secure.
When it comes to the price of AVAX _the native medium of exchange for Avalanche_ March 2024 has been a wonderful month. The price was trading around the $35 – $43 zone at the beginning of March, then gradually pumped to a monthly high of $64 by 18th March. During press time, the cryptocurrency is trading around $53, with major support at $50. Here is the chart:
The market cap has also recorded significant improvement over the last 31-days. On 5th March 2024, the market capitalization for the cryptocurrency was $13.47 billion and the highest trading volume for that day was $1.51 billion. On 18th March, the same day that AVAX achieved a monthly high, the market cap nearly doubled to touch $24.07 billion. As of now, CoinMarketCap data shows the market capitalization has retraced to $20.33 billion.
9. Toncoin
Toncoin clinched the top 10th position among the largest cryptocurrencies on CoinMarketCap after accumulating over $9 billion in capitalization. As we speak, the cryptocurrency has doubled its market capitalization to $18 billion but has already been toppled from position 10 by Avalanche (AVAX).
Toncoin is the original Telegram Open Blockchain which the encrypted messaging platform developed in 2018 but later abandoned. However, the TON Foundation took over the project and renamed it the Open Network.
The Open Network (TON) is currently a community-driven chain that aims to serve the typical decentralized finance customer who wants faster processing time, quick settlements, and deploying robust DApps. Recently, Telegram announced the launch of its advertisement platform on the chain, which saw the network’s token record significant gains. Over the last month, TON has increased by 102% and currently trades at $5.21 during press time.
10. Polkadot
Polkadot is termed the most innovative blockchain solution because of its Relay Chain, a multi-chain layer that allows other blockchains and their decentralized applications to port and connect with each other. Polkadot has designed the Relay Chain in a way that it can handle the security of every blockchain that it connects with, as well as facilitate transactions across the ecosystem.
It is often regarded as a Layer-0 meta protocol for its multi-chain framework which supports a network of Layer 1 blockchains interconnected together through parallel chains (parachains).
In the last month, DOT, which is Polkadot’s native cryptocurrency, recorded a price increase of 8.72% and is currently trading at $9.58. The market capitalization has improved by 8% as well and is at $13.6 billion.
As we end, remember your investment portfolio should not be limited to this 10. There are many more emerging tokens listing almost any other day on the leading exchange. However, you must always conduct your due diligence before filling your bag with any crypto. Evaluate the whitepapers, study the team, look at the fundamentals, understand the blockchain technology behind them, and most importantly, avoid FOMO to stay SAFU.
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