What to Buy Instead of Bitcoin? Top Cheap Altcoins to Buy

Bitcoin is back above $100,000 after a slight correction earlier this week. A 2024 Pew Research Center survey shows that 17% of U.S. adults say they have ever invested in, traded or used a cryptocurrency. This statistic has not changed since 2021.

Bitcoin’s rally to over $100,000 has left many investors fearful of missing out. The phrase “extreme greed” is included in the Fear and Greed Index, which measures market sentiment. However, sidelined investors looking to get into the trade can consider cheap altcoins as an alternative to the largest cryptocurrency in this market cycle.

Trump’s crypto plans catalyze gains in Bitcoin and altcoins

Incoming US President Donald Trump told CNBC’s Jim Cramer at the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday: “We’re going to do something great with crypto because we don’t want China or anyone else… but others are embracing it and we’re We also want it.” be dormy.”

Trump fueled positive sentiment among crypto traders by answering questions about a potential strategic Bitcoin reserve, stating that it would be a great thing.

Previously, Trump’s pro-crypto stance and nomination of crypto-friendly candidates for key positions such as AI, Crypto Czar, and US SEC Chairman had eased the regulatory and policy concerns of crypto market participants.

Bitcoin has made a comeback above $100,000 following its correction earlier this week; Altcoins have risen alongside the largest cryptocurrency since midweek. As the market recovers from the flash crash, cheap altcoins provide an investment alternative for investors who may have missed the Dollar cost averaging to buy Bitcoin this cycle.

The launch of Google’s new computing chip has raised concerns among crypto traders about the security of Bitcoin holdings. However, it does not have a significant impact on the price. Addressing these concerns, Blockchain President and Brickken Co-Founder Dario Lo Buglio told crypto.news:

“Google’s latest success in quantum computing just shows what we’ve known for years.

The majority of encryption used in everyday tasks, from banking to data processing, is based on encryption techniques that take the assumption that it will be many years before quantum computing becomes a problem in practice today. […].

A recent study by the University of Sussex suggests that a quantum computer with 13 million qubits would be needed, and what Google got is 105 qubits. […].This should remind us that we need to update our system to quantum resistant encryption schemes as quickly as possible.”

Bitcoin options data shows rally may extend

Options data paints a bullish picture for the cryptocurrency, which has a market value of $2 trillion. The 14-day 25-delta risk reversal for Bitcoin is 3.75985. This means that the implied volatility of calls is higher than the implied volatility of puts, indicating a bullish trend. BTC remains steady above $100,000 on spot exchange platforms as more market participants bet that the Bitcoin price will rise.

25 delta risk reversal for Bitcoin daily chart | Source: Crypto.news

A bid-ask ratio of 0.55 or lower indicates a strong bullish trend in the market; There are more buys and sells than puts. Derivatives investors are expecting a bullish market, which supports the price increase thesis for BTC.

Call rate (total) for Bitcoin daily chart | Source: Crypto.news

Implied volatility has decreased since BTC broke above $100,000 on Wednesday. The hourly chart shows a decline over the last 24 hours.

Typically a decrease in IV indicates that traders expect stability in prices and significant fluctuations are less likely to occur. Bitcoin confirms the thesis and remains stable above a significant psychological barrier.

Bitcoin implied volatility (constant) hourly chart | Source: Crypto.news Altcoins may rebound when altseason returns

The altcoin season index on the blockchain center rose to 71 on a scale of 0 to 100. The value of 75 indicates that December 9-12 is the altcoin season, while the index added 6 points.

Altcoin season is the period when 75% of the top 50 altcoins outperform Bitcoin over 90 days. The index shows that the market is approaching the second leg of the altcoin season, which could push token prices even higher in the coming weeks.

Altcoin season index | Source: Blockchaincenter.net Cheap altcoins will take notice this cycle

Three key narratives support the list of cheap altcoins that could help sidelined buyers gain an advantage over Bitcoin holders in this cycle:

Ethereum (ETH) may outperform Bitcoin with increasing inflows from institutions, retail traders, and bullish option measurements. This paves the way for Ethereum beta games, Layer 2 tokens, staking tokens, Ethereum-based meme coins, DeFi tokens such as AAVE, Pendle (PENDLE), Maker (MKR), Ethereum Name Service (ENS), and Pepe (PEPE). among others. Gaming tokens and AI tokens may see a revival in demand among investors with increasing AI interest. Bitcoin-based meme coins can compete with Ethereum, Solana, and XRP-based memes.

Bitget Research COO Alvin Kan told crypto.news:

“The emergence of new meme coins on platforms such as XRPLedger and Solana brings increased competition for established or blue chip meme coins such as DOGE, SHIB, FLOKI, BONK and WIF. This competition could potentially reduce market attention and capital that would otherwise flow into these legacy tokens.[…].The launch of new tokens could stimulate overall interest in the meme coin industry and potentially benefit all meme coins by attracting new investors to the market.”

Aerodrome Finance (AERO) is the symbol of a liquidity hub in the Base ecosystem. AERO averages over $1 million in fees per day and is a leading decentralized exchange on Base, an Ethereum beta game. AERO ranks 92nd in market capitalization.

AERO is trading in the buy zone between $2,080 and $2,146. The previous all-time high for AERO was $2,372, with the token less than 4% below that level. The 161.8% Fibonacci retracement of the rally from the November low to the December high sets a target of $3,142 for price discovery this cycle.

Two technical indicators, relative strength index and moving average convergence divergence, support the bullish thesis for the token on the daily time frame.

AERO/USDT daily price chart | Source: Crypto.news

Beam (BEAM) token is the native crypto asset of a gaming network powered by Beam DAO. The ecosystem consists of players and developers, and this altcoin is ranked 85th by market cap on CoinGecko.

BEAM fits the gaming token narrative of the ongoing market cycle and recently announced that it is driving innovation by integrating artificial intelligence into games.

BEAM is almost 23% below its 2024 peak of $0.044300. The purchase zone of the gaming token is between $0.028501 and $0.029940. The MACD flashes green histogram bars supporting the thesis for gains in BEAM.

BEAM/USDT daily price chart | Source: Crypto.news

Chainlink (LINK) is the largest oracle network in crypto and enables cross-chain communication for various traditional and decentralized finance platforms. LINK is among the top 20 cryptocurrencies by market cap.

LINK’s buy zone is located in the imbalance zone on the weekly price chart between $29.09 and $31.09. Targets are the November 2021 high of $38.31 and the all-time high of $53.

LINK/USDT daily price chart | Source: Crypto.news

Pups World Peace (PUPS) is ranked 379th in terms of market cap with over $232 million. PUPS has erased almost 9% of its value in the last 24 hours. PUPS fell below the buy zone between $0.211139 and $0.230000.

Meme coin recently reached its November 2024 peak of $0.405265. This is the goal when PUPS recovers from correction. The token has been in an uptrend since Thursday.

The RSI is reading 44 below the neutral level at 50 and the MACD is showing an underlying negative momentum in PUPS.

PUPS/USDT daily price chart | Source: TradingView

The price of AAVE, the DeFi token ranked 34th by market value, remained almost unchanged in the past day. AAVE’s market cap has surpassed $5.43 billion and the token may extend its gains based on technical indicators.

AAVE’s buy zone is between $288.09 and $294.76. AAVE could target the October 2021 peak at $459. Both momentum indicators support the bullish thesis for the DeFi token.

AAVE/USDT daily price chart | Source: Crypto.news Strategic considerations

The crypto market cycle in 2024 differs from previous bull runs in that most institutional capital inflows are directed towards Bitcoin. The “capital rotation” discourse does not hold much ground in the ongoing bull run.

Option metrics indicate that Bitcoin price could be near the psychologically important $100,000 level. The return of altcoin season may cause prices to rise, but there is always the possibility of a market correction if a sudden crash is observed in Bitcoin.

Bitget Research Chief Analyst Ryan Lee told crypto.news:

“Bitcoin’s increasing dominance may temporarily divert investment away from altcoins. However, history shows that altcoins often experience resurgences after Bitcoin stabilizes. “Investors frequently enter at new highs, anticipating a sustained upward momentum that could further push Bitcoin’s price in the short term.”

Disclosure: This article does not constitute investment advice. The content and materials on this page are for educational purposes only.