The best altcoin: Investments in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in 2018

At the beginning of 2018 the cryptocurrency market was flooded with one thousand and five hundred coins, including tokens.The growth of the coins’ value at the end of 2017 generated interest of society to the cryptomarket and many people started to wonder how to invest in cryptocurrency. Bitnewstoday.ru decided to analyze which cryptocurrency, apart from bitcoin, may be chosen for investments in 2018 and which factors need to be considered when choosing the best altcoin.

For those who intend to invest in cryptocurrency (especially for beginners) experts advise to consider for the cryptocurrency investment the TOP-100 in terms of the capitalization level. According to analysts, the most promising are: Ripple, NEM, NEO, Dash, Monero, TRON, QTUM, as well as SONM, Waves.

Let us look more closely at these altcoins.

Тable 1 - Capitalization and the value of promising altcoins
Source: Bitnewstoday calculations according to coinmarket.com

Ripple

Ripple is one of the major coins not just among analyzed cryptocurrencies but among all altcoins in terms of the capitalization level (TOP-5). By the end of January 2018 XRP had 10% of the total cryptocurrency cost, yielding only Bitcoin and Ethereum.

In 2017 this coin’s value increased in more than 360 times – from $0,006368 to $2,3. A particularly rapid growth was at the end of December last year when the XRP value, surpassing $1 reached $2,3. In the first week of January this year the coin’s value continued to grow, a coin even reached $3. However, by the end of the month its value fell down to $1,32. It is worth mentioning that the present value is still much higher in comparison with its value in December last year. If you think to invest in Ripple, it is worth paying attention to the opinions of experts who believe that XRP has a chance to show a rapid growth in value in the future.

Pic.1 - Ripple cost dynamics
Source: according to coinmarket.com

NEO

NEO is also a major coin (9,9 billion dollars). It is in the TOP-10 in terms of the capitalization level. During the first half of last year this coin’s value was not volatile and remained at a level of 30 cents, but in June the first major jump in price was noticed. Then the NEO value grew from $5 to $12. The next jump was in August, when the coin’s value reached $47,5. But the most interesting changes in value happened in the period from December 2017 to the beginning of January 2018. On the 15th of January the value of NEO was $187.

Alexandr Litvinovich, the analyst of The Token Fund, comments: “NEO has not reached yet its limit ($200-$500). In recent months this currency’s value steadily grew and the crisis of the cryptocurrency market did not affect this coin, so NEO has a big chance of the further success. Currently it has a strong level of support of $100. This coin should be considered for an investment for half a year with a target around $250-$500”.

Pic.2 - NEO cost dynamics
Source: according to coinmarket.com

NEM

At the end of January altcoin NEM had 1,7% of the total cryptocurrency cost.

In 2017 NEM broke the growth records and increased in value from $0,0034 (at the beginning of January 2017) to $1,0300 (at the end of 2017). It increased in more than 300 times. The maximum of $1,84 this altcoin managed to reach on the 7th of January 2018. However, the correction followed and by the end of January 2018 the value of NEM was $0,94.

According to analysts, the NEM project is relatively looking-forward as it is created in programming languages understandable by the majority of specialists which allows them to create their own apps and chains. The growing interest to this project will encourage the growth of the coin’s value. This, in turn, will make investments in NEM attractive.

Pic.3 - NEM cost dynamics
Source: according to coinmarket.com

DASH

Cryptocurrency DASH is amongst the TOP-15 major coins in terms of the capitalization level. The total cost of all DASH coins by the end of January exceeded 6 billion dollars which is 1,2% of the total cryptomarket capitalization.

At the time of writing, one DASH coin was around 760 dollars and just before the new year it was worth 1,5 thousand dollars. In spite of the correction in January (altcoin‘s price fell by almost one third), in 2017 this cryptocurrency showed a record price increase from 11,2 dollars as at 1 January 2017 to 1051,68 dollars as at 31 December 2017. It increased in 94 times.

According to analysts DASH may represent an alternative to Bitcoin (its fork in the past). Nowadays DASH is a fund which provides for itself and actively attracts new followers into the network; it has the spirit of cooperation within the network (the decision to increase block to 2MB was made in 24 hours in comparison with the well-known cryptocurrency); the capacity to undertake transactions, the encryption strength, the division of functions between mining and network management. In fact, now DASH has everything what Bitcoin is trying to achieve. Experts believe that this coin has all chances if not to catch up bitcoin but to substantially increase in value. Experts believe that investments in DASH may well be considered, while its value decreased.

Pic.4 – DASH cost dynamics
Source: according to coinmarketcap.com

Monero

Monero is also one of the relatively major coins which level of capitalization exceeded 5,2 billion dollars by the end of January 2018. This cryptocurrency along with other cryptocurrencies experienced a period of relative calm in the first half of 2017 and a rapid growth in the second half of 2017. Since the beginning of this year there were ups and downs of XMR. The graph below shows the changes in this altcoin’s value – it increased in value 7 times and then decreased again.

Experts believe that this cryptocurrency has all chances for the value increase this year as this project offers an alternative to Zcash and is gaining more popularity. That’s why investments in Monero may well be considered.

Pic.5 - Monero cost dynamics
Source: according to coinmarketcap.com

TRON

This coin is relatively new, it entered an exchange in the middle of September last year and during 2017 its value grew in 22,5 times – from $0,001988 to $0,044752. However, experts believe that investments in TRON look quite promising.

According to Forbes magazine there are obvious similarities between the creation of the TRON platform and the development of the biggest online shopping platform Alibaba. Many experts confirm such similarity, highlighting the only difference in the chosen development sector – entertaining content. This project has many partnerships with well-known companies. The project is gaining more popularity. It is suggested that TRON will collaborate with a company from the NASDAQ list with its extensive user base of more than 100 million accounts. According to experts, this coin’s value may reach $1 in Spring 2018 and around $5 by the end of 2018.

Pic.6 - TRON cost dynamics
Souce: according to coinmarketcap.com

QTUM

A cryptocoin QTUM is also among major coins (TOP-20) but it only entered an exchange in May last year. Experts noticed that the project had been well received by the community. The QTUM team establishes its network on the basis of the Bitcoin network only with the virtual engine Ethereum (which means proper smart contracts). There are some predictions that this altcoin’s value will increase in two times.

Pic.7 - QTUM cost dynamics
Source: according to coinmarketcap.com

Two other coins Waves and SONM are not major but, according to experts, they are rather forward-looking and may have increase in value this year.

Kirill Tsherbakov, the Head of Analytical department of Blockchain.ru group of companies mentioned: “It is difficult to accurately predict benefits from altcoins’ investments because the market is very volatile, new players and new solutions always come up. It is also important to remember that to play the exchange without adequate preparation and without detailed project information is the direct path to the loss of investments, this is the main rule”.

Denis Mihailin, the representative of СMO DARFChain advises: ”When choosing cryptocurrency, I would recommend to pay attention to the following factors such as cryptocurrency white paper, inflationary properties, whether it will be issued additionally, how quickly the block will be processed, currency transactions per sec. I would also recommend to choose a currency which is underprinted”.

For beginners there is no single recipe how to invest in cryptocurrency, in any case they must be ready to study a great deal of information.

Replying to a question, how to invest in cryptocurrency in 2018 step by step, first of all, it is important to analyze major cryptocurrencies and to capture a general trend of changes in value (the coin’s value increase or decrease). Then it is important to study the information on the project which issued cryptocurrency and only after these steps to decide on which coin to invest in.

Specialists advise not just rely on experts’ opinions but to follow the news and the tone of the discourse on issues related to cryptopayments and the process of their real economy entry. It is also important to study the information regarding coins which may appear in the near future. Particular attention should be given to blockchain projects and brands which have leading positions of the world or local economies.

Warning: the information provided in this article does not encourage to invest in the above-mentioned cryptocurrencies. We have only submitted some experts’ opinions.