As we reach the end of another crypto season, investors have already started looking for the next 10X investment.

If we take a closer look at the top 20 coins ranked by market cap, we see that it’s far more probable for a smaller and lesser known coin to achieve high gains than coins which have already reached the mainstream.

Some investors believe that investing in altcoins is a bit like trading options in the futures markets.

Alts can either soar 20X during bull runs or disappear without a trace during bear markets.

In this article we take a look at some projects that are looking good for the next season.

The Best Altcoins

As you probably know, “alt”coins are so called because Bitcoin is traditionally considered THE mainstream coin.

Therefore, at some point between 2011 and now, every other coin that isn’t Bitcoin has been called an altcoin.

We’ll use this informal definition throughout this article, although one could argue that all top 10 coins, and not just BTC, are the mainstream coins and lower ranked ones are the altcoins.

It’s fine if you adopt this definition too, because we won’t list any of the top 10 in this review anyway!

In no particular order, here we go!

Factom

Factom currently boasts U$ 86.4 million market cap, which gives it space to grow before reaching other top coins by market cap. Factom was announced November 2014 and its main purpose is to allow secure general purpose data storage without blockchain bloat. Factoid, runs on top of Bitcoin as a 2nd layer application.

Recently it has averaged around U$ 4.2 million daily trading volume, which gives it decent liquidity for small investors.

You can trade Factom at Bittrext, Poloniex, BCEX and others.

Factom website

BAT – Basic Attention Token

BAT is one of the most interesting blockchain projects currently under development.

Founded by Brendan Eich, famous developer behind the Javascript language and Mozilla Foundation (Firefox browser, Thunderbird mail and others), Brave Browser is a secure, privacy oriented web browser that aims to substitute Firefox and Chrome as the WWW’s de-facto browsing tool.

Basic Attention Token has a practical value proposition: to become the definitive currency for micropayments on the WWW. Website owners would get rewarded in BAT instead of presenting ads, cleaning up the WWW and saving bandwidth in the process.

There’s one slight problem: search giant Google is Brave Browser’s main competitor.

nexo

nexo currently has U$ 39 million market cap, giving it ample space to grow towards the top 76 cryptos above it.

Trading an average U$ 1.5 million daily volume, nexo has more than enough liquidity for most individual investors.

nexo’s main value proposition is to be the “World’s First Crypto Backed Loans” system. nexo acts as a blockchain ledger for real world loans, making cash available to customers anywhere in the world. If investors wish to make their crypto work for them, while maintaining control over their funds on the blockchain, they may lend via the nexo platform and obtain interests in return.

Official Nexo Website

VeChain

VeChain (VET) currently boasts U$ $251 million market cap, placing it within the top 25 cryptos for 2018.



If it depended solely on its impressive website graphics, this should be a top 3 crypto!

VeChain’s wide ranging applications include logistics, automotive industry, medical, healthcare, luxury and fashion.

It’s U$ 5.6 million dollar daily trading volume give it sufficient liquidity to allow most individual investors to trade VET any time they need to.

Official Site

Waves

Currently ranked 36 among the top 100 cryptocurrencies, Waves is an innovative platform that has U$144,755,781 market cap and massive daily trading volume (currently at ~15 million U$ daily traded).

Its unique value proposition has made it a very popular solution for easy digital asset emission. No programming is needed to create just about any kind of digital asset using the Waves platform.

Similarly to Ethereum, Waves becomes the underlying platform for any digital goods emitted using it, generating network fees and adding value for investors.

Official Website

Golem

With a $86 million market cap and ranking about halfway through the top 100 cryptos, Golem has made quite a name for itself in a very short time span.



Golem’s goal is to build a global-sized supercomputer that anyone can tap via the blockchain. Somewhat similar to the Ethereum Virtual Machine idea since Golem uses the ETH infrastructure for payment settlements.

A difficult idea to implement, a global supercomputer could become a killer app for cryptocurrencies should the high computing costs fall with wider crypto adoption. If Golem is able to implement a decentralized computing solution with low operational cost, it may well become a strong contender against similar projects.

Official Website

Decentraland

Ranked 58 on the top 100 cryptos, with $69,485,398 USD market cap, Decentraland offers good valuation potential.



Using the Decentraland SDK, developers can create applications in a virtual world that runs entirely on the Ethereum blockchain.

Official Website

Huobi Token

Placed at 64 among the top cryptos, with $63,323,997 USD market cap, Huobi has potential to grow into the top 20 cryptos in the future.



Huobi is a global financial network present in more than 130 countries.

Traded mainly at the Huobi exchange, HT is targetted at traders within its ecosystem. Similarly to Binance Coin (BNB), it’s mostly aimed at internal trading within the Huobi ecosystem. The quickly expanding Asian cryptocurrency markets and high liquidity make this an attractive coin for mid to long term HODLing.

Official Website

ODEM

Presently ranked 72 among the top 100 cryptos, ODEM presents strong valuation potential with a market cap of $52,624,123 USD.

ODEM presents itself as a unique offering for the educational sector. A decentralized education marketplace where students and teachers can connect and trade value instantly and via low cost transactions.

ODEM runs on top of Ethereum, which means it’s reliable and widely adopted.

Official Website

PumaPay

PumaPay is ranked 129 on the top 200 cryptos with just $22,492,717 USD market cap and may pose significant valuation potential in the near term.



PumaPay’s main product is a payments system platform which allows merchants to build customized points of sale for any kind of business application.

With strong early adopters like Wix and IronFX, PumaPay may be a digital asset to consider for the coming months.

Official Website

XYO Network

Currently ranked at 150 among the top 200 cryptos, with only U$ $19 million market cap, XYO presents an opportunity for strong growth.



XYO taps into the quickly expanding Virtual Reality market by providing advanced location services tied to the blockchain.

Any secure applications of location services will be possible using XYO including self-driving cars and smart cities.

Official XYO Website

Particl

At just U$ $15.5 million dollars capitalization, Particl is a strong contender for a spot among the top 100 cryptos.



This decentralized commerce platform offers solutions for global P2P and B2P.

This one minute video will give you a good idea what Particl is all about:

Official Particl Website

Cube

Cube currently ranks at 189 among the 200 top cryptos with just U$ $13,449,395 market cap.

The low market cap gives it ample space to grow towards the top 100 cryptos.

Cube’s automotive security solution is in high demand, especially in highly connected countries with fast CDMA cellular networks. As automobiles grow increasingly smarter and computer-run, car security will play a very important role in the future of the auto industry.

Official Site

Dogecoin!

An oldie but a goodie! Dogecoin has had several peaks in valuation over the years. Initially created as a joke, Doge is still a very liquid coin, being easily bought and sold both over the counter or through major exchanges. Transaction costs for DOGE are ridiculously low. Once a competitor to Litecoin, Doge is now mostly used as an intermediary crypto.

Ranked at 22 among the top cryptos with U$ 277 million market cap, Doge has ample space to grow back up towards the spot it once occupied as the #3 crypto by market cap in 2014.

Official Website

Note: Dogecoin is not capped (see coin caps). It will have an infinite supply, which may be seen as a weakness by some investors.

Energi

Ranked 194 among the top 200 cryptos, having a market cap of just $12,928,813 USD, Energi has ample space to grow towards the top 100 cryptos.



Below you’ll find an interesting video introduction to Energi:

Official Website

Unknown unknowns?

The best investment may be an unknown cryptocurrency that no one has paid attention to yet.

In order to find the unicorn, you’ll have to be creative and think outside the box.

What kind of blockchain application has the potential to become a killer app? What niche is being overlooked by the market right now but could become the next big thing in 5 years?

Remember, in 2011 nobody would’ve imagined that Bitcoin would be worth more than U$ 100 one day, much less the valuations reached at the end of 2017.

Perhaps the best investment is an altcoin that we haven’t listed here and neither has the market. Pay attention to the clues around you!

The idea for the next big thing in crypto could pass by you at any time – don’t miss the clue train!

Legal Notes

This article does not constitute investment advice.

Please perform your own thorough research before investing in cryptocurrencies.

Cryptocurrencies may be considered by some as a high risk investment that may or may not perform. The currencies listed on this article reflect our opinion only. Do not invest solely based on the opinions found on this article. We offer our opinion for informational purposes only.

Check your regional legislation before investing in cryptocurrencies.