One of the best sources of reference regarding the cryptocurrency space is coingecko.com. I use it to check on the latest price of each of the over 6000 coins and tokens listed. The list is arranged by market cap specifically so we can see which coins are traded the most basically. Here is today’s list of the top ten.
All top ten (USDT is stable so doesn't count) are in the red today, following the lead of bitcoin. However, the volatility is nowhere to be seen, as bitcoin is also hovering around the resistance just below $20k and has been there, trading sideways for over two weeks now, since breaking $19k and topping the ATH (all time high). Obviously bitcoin BTC is at the top, as it is by far the most traded coin, far surpassing even the second most popular, namely Ethereum ETH by about 7x in market cap. You can see the exact stats in the right hand column.
At number three is XRP, which is unlikely to surpass ETH any time soon, as much as the XRP army would like to believe. It is known as the bankers’ coin, since it is likely to be used for mainstream banking services. Crypto enthusiasts and especially purists tend to avoid it as it is highly centralized and used in the mainstream centralized finance world. Of course, those who simply want to make a profit will trade anything, and as it is widely used, it will be widely traded.
Notice that at number four, we have the biggest stable coin, namely Tether USDT. Although only at number four, it is traded more than even bitcoin – if we look at 24 hour volume, in the fifth column, second from the right. One can’t make money investing in USDT as it is pegged to the dollar, but it is a powerful utility tool as a stable coin, and it appears from the stats that many traders use it to trade against all the other tokens. None of the other stable coins come even close to this amount of daily volume – so far.
The rest of the coins, from fifth to tenth place, are all very closely valued, by market cap, and so their places may move up and down in time as the months go by. Litecoin LTC and Bcash BCH have been around for some years and hold their position in the top ten very well. Other veteran coins like Monero XMR, Stellar Lumens XLM, Tron TRX and EOS have all slipped into the next level although they are still in the top 20.
Another veteran that has held its position in the top ten is Cardano ADA, founded by ex ETH co-founder Charles Hoskinson. Somehow ADA has remained a favorite, despite delays in development. But then even ETH has had some delays, though the use case for ETH is monumental compared to all other coins today. All the new coins build their ERC-20 tokens upon the ETH blockchain initially.
Interestingly, it’s new kids on the blockchain, namely Chainlink LINK, and Polkadot DOT that have jumped into the top ten this year. With their valuable use cases and potential yield, it looks like they will be the new tokens, disrupting and innovating the crypto industry.
Lastly we have at number ten the iconic Binance coin BNB. How did an exchange token make it to the top ten, above even other legends, who have been pushed down? Since Binance is probably the most widely used global exchange, it appears that the mere utility of a token will get it far. New tokens can learn a lot from these leaders in the industry.
Are you exclusively invested in the top ten or are you happy to buy into the lower market cap coins? Let us know in the comments below.
