5 Altcoins That Haven’t Gone Parabolic (Yet)

Watching XRP and ADA skyrocket over the past two weeks has been a lesson in humility. I sold my bags of XRP and ADA earlier in the year and moved the funds to newer alternatives. Some, such as SUI, ZEUS, and BRETT, have performed well, while others, such as SUIMAN, LIKE, and FET, have underperformed the market.

XRP, ADA, and other legacy coins have outperformed many of my picks, but it’s too late for me to aggressively chase them. I tip my hat to anyone reading this who had the fortitude to hold these coins when nobody in crypto was talking about them.

If you’ve been following anyone on YouTube today, I’ll bet my left arm you’ve heard massive amounts of bragging. Regardless of the channel, I get the impression the influencer may truly believe their shit doesn’t stink.

But the reality is that someone could have mentioned any coin in the past month, and there’s an extremely high probability it has pumped like crazy. Ironically, the big influencers mention a coin and generate a self-fulfilling prophecy, pumping the price. I wish I had a monkey throw darts at a printout of CoinGecko and compare it with my portfolio.

I’m nearly certain that all of them are shilling their bags, and that’s okay. I do the same thing in my articles, so I can’t judge. However, the crypto YouTubers (deservedly) have much larger audiences than I do. After all, other than you, how many people read anymore?

I bring this up because it’s important to understand that nobody in this space knows significantly more than anyone else. I follow many crypto analysts, and none expected the pumps in HBAR, ALGO, ZIL, or XLM. I’m equally bad, as I recently badmouthed many of these legacy projects in an article titled "Start Panicking If You Own These Cryptos."

I got it wrong in that article, but I won’t beat myself up too badly. I wrote My 10 Favorite Crypto Investments For This Bull Run, which has increased 68% since writing, compared with BTC's 46%. I still like all these coins, so it may be worth checking out if you haven’t read it.

This was a lengthy preamble, and I appreciate you sticking with me if you’ve made it this far. I will share five altcoins I’ve recently purchased or added to my existing bags that I haven't completely pumped. I’m going to go from the most conservative to the riskiest. Also, all of these coins are available on Coinbase and/or Kraken.

Coin #1: AVAX
Current Price: $51.34
Current Market Cap: $21B

Avalanche hasn’t had the same success as other Layer 1s (with actual users), such as Solana, Sui, or Tron. Here are some of the reasons I like AVAX right now.

• It’s trading 65% below all-time highs.

• It has gaming and a Layer 1 narrative, and gaming hasn’t taken off yet. But big influencers are heavily shilling gaming, so I think it’s a matter of time before capital rotates into the sector. This should benefit AVAX.

• Many people from the last cycle remember how AVAX took off. AVAX is available on most top-tier exchanges, making it easily accessible to retail.

Coin #2: NEAR
Current Price: $7.31
Current Market Cap: $8.9B

Like Avalanche, Near Protocol has been a mediocre performing Layer 1. Also, like AVAX, NEAR is approaching its one-year high. Here is my thought process on why I like NEAR right now.

• It’s trading 64% below all-time highs.

• It has an artificial intelligence and Layer 1 narrative, and AI hasn’t taken off yet. There are hundreds of small AI projects, and they should bring attention to the AI space. I expect this to draw more investors to NEAR.

• While I don’t hear as many influencers focusing heavily on NEAR, it would be easy to create a narrative based on its AI specialty, high user base, and low amount of tokens to be released.

Coin #3: GALA
Current Price: $0.052
Current Market Cap: $1.9B

GALA is one of the most recognized names in the crypto gaming space. It has a large ecosystem of games, and the GALA token can be used for in-game purchases and NFTs. Here are a few reasons why I like GALA.

• It’s trading 93% below all-time highs.

• It’s one of the top projects in the gaming category. As stated earlier, gaming should get its turn in this cycle, and rather than trying to find an individual game, I am looking at this as speculation on the sector.

• Low unit-bias. Retail tends to be drawn towards lower-priced cryptos.

Coin #4: ARKM
Current Price: $2.38
Current Market Cap: $585M

Arkham is one of the most respected and well-known analytics platforms in the crypto space. References to Arkham constantly appear in crypto news and X posts. Here are some other reasons why I recently purchased ARKM.

• It has little to no competition. Also, its token serves as a native currency on its platform.

• Prominent investors invested in the project, such as an OpenAI co-founder, a Palantir Co-Founder, Tim Draper, and Wintermute.

• Many people don’t know that Arkham has a token. They provide a valuable service; perhaps fundamentals will earn respect at some point in this cycle.

Coin #5: VANRY
Current Price: $0.17
Current Market Cap: $283M

Vanar Chain is a Layer 1 blockchain. Unlike other chains, it has a fixed cost per transaction at a fraction of a penny. This makes it a great option for AI, gaming, and mixed reality. Here are a few more things I like about VANRY.

• It has a low market cap for a Layer 1 with Tier 1 exchange listings. Also, the token has been traded for less than 1 year, opening it up to price discovery.

• I’ve heard it mentioned by several large influencers I respect. The low unit bias combined with this means it can pump quickly.

• Their website shows that Vanar is building with Nvidia and Google Cloud. I couldn’t find details on this, but I doubt it would be featured on their website if there is no association.

Key Takeaways

I am confident enough in these cryptos to purchase them for my portfolio. The risk/reward is attractive with these coins, which can be purchased in US exchanges.

While I don’t know if they can go up 1000%, there’s enough diversification to outperform the overall crypto market.

If you are exploring the crypto space, you will be bombarded with recommendations. Remember that every one of these recommendations is because someone is shilling their bags (as in my case) or getting paid to support the project.

Let me know what you think in the responses. If you enjoyed this, please clap; it helps and motivates me to write more.

I own AVAX, NEAR, GALA, ARKM, and VANRY. This information should not be taken as investment advice. I am no more qualified to give financial advice than to make a streudel that would blow your mind. Digital assets like crypto and NFTs involve risk, so you should always perform due diligence before investing.

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