1 October 2021: It is officially spooky season! Back again this month to kick off October is our official top 10 cryptocurreny rankings. Last month, our rankings depicted some major shake ups, and this month will be no different. As the cryptocurrency market enters further into the fall season, quarter four for crypto is gearing up to be an exciting one.
October 2021 - Top 10 Cryptocurrencies List
This is the first month in our rankings that the included top 10 coins in our rankings have actually changed. This isn't to say that any cryptocurrencies not on this list are not worthy of investment (see our honorable mentions at the end) but rather the projects we feel matches with our criteria to be on your watchlists or making up parts of your cryptocurrency portfolios. With world markets becoming shakier, it is now more important than ever to have your portfolios set up in the best to maximize the profitability and longevity of your gains.
The criteria we have chosen to rank our coins includes:
- Future longevity
- Real world utility
- Investment Support
- Community
Get ready for even more surprises this month. Below is our updated top 10 list for the month of October:
10. Polkadot (DOT) (NR)
Say hello to Polkadot. Breaking into our top 10 rankings for the very first time, the Ethereum competitor has managed to show sound development and improved usability in the last few months. Additionally, the price action on $DOT has been extremely favorable, even through the rough volatile month that was September. Of course, there have been certain issues especially when it comes to staking ability for those wishing to participate in governance.
The development of the Kusama blockchain for the purpose of testing parachains and the nature of design for the Polkadot network in already supporting multiple blockchains and bridges, Polkadot is set up for a future that will enable to true emergence of the so called internet of blockchains as Cosmos (ATOM) has named it. Since the previous rankings, Polkadot is up 10%.
Market Price:+10%
9. Ripple (XRP) (NR)
This one has been a long time coming. Ripple (XRP) is one of the most underrated projects within the cryptocurrency space - at least from an overall mainstream acknowledgement perspective. This is because of one major reason - the SEC lawsuit against Ripple Labs. With this in mind, the sentiment appears to finally be shifting in favor of Ripple, and rightfully so.
In light of the favorable outlook on Ripple vs SEC, the cryptocurrency finally takes its spot within our rankings. Keep in mind that the case against Ripple organized by the SEC is not yet settled, but the probabilities do suggest that Ripple will come out of this one on top. Keep Ripple in the back of your mind moving foward. Ripple is down 9% from the candle bottom of the sell off back in early September.
Market Price: -9%
8. Cardano (ADA) (-1)
Cardano could be one of the most successful projects within the cryptocurrency space or it could quite literally fail. With functionality issues on the blockchain (only being able to process one transaction per block.. yikes), major questions have been raised about the legitimacy of the Cardano network. Recently it was announced that Cardano will be partnering with Chainlink to improve service and apply the best oracle in crypto. This is an obviously smart move. Not to mention that Cardano has rolled out their first iteration of smart contracts.
From a neutral perspective however, the development on the Cardano blockchain has been largely disappointing. This is especially true considering the network is the 4th biggest coin in crypto and has next to no development done. This month, Cardano falls one spot back behind Solana. With all of this in mind, the almost rapid community of supporters is still hyping Cardano up and it has substantial funding. Thus, Cardano remains in our rankings once again. $ADA is down 12% since early September's rally.
Market Price: -12%
7. Solana (SOL) (+1)
After the massive rally Solana experienced August into September, the rising cryptocurrency is still holding an absolutely amazing price point just under $150 USD. To say Solana has been impressive this year is an understatement. With major developments in all facets of the emerging DeFi space, including that of NFTs, Solana has greatly outpaced competitor projects, including that of Cardano and even Ethereum in terms of functionality for its users.
Solana is a must watch for the remainder of 2021. Currently, Solana sits only 9% down after being up over 200% in our previous rankings.
Market Price: -9%
6. The Graph (GRT) (-1)
Back down to the 6th spot in our rankings, there is absolutely nothing negative we can really say about The Graph. In fact, The Graph is one of the best cryptocurrencies in the space that is quite literally creating real, functional jobs through the likes of developers, indexers, curators, and delegators. This is exactly how decentralized networks should be. Keep The Graph at the top of your lists for longevity and real world utility. It isn't going anywhere anytime soon.
The Graph is currently 16% down after a volatile September.
Market Price: -16%
5. Ampleforth (AMPL) (-2)
While Ampleforth remains the best stable, non-collateralized, decentralized unit of account, especially compared to the likes of Tether and USDC (which should more or less be avoided at all costs) adoption of the cryptocurrency has been slow. Ampleforth has never shown any issues in functionality or design. In every way it appears to be working perfectly. As a small cap, adoption is bound to be slow and because of that Ampleforth lacks the community that other coins have. In terms of real world utility and longevity, Ampleforth is one of the best projects available.
Ampleforth Governance Token (FORTH) is 16% down since our previous rankings.
Market Price: -16%
4. Ethereum (ETH) (-)
Ethereum remains at number 4 for really two reasons. The first reason is Ethereum remains the second largest cryptocurrency in terms of overall market cap. The second reason is the last update has allowed for the massive burning of ETH, helping the boost the price of Ethereum through scarcity. The bad news? The Ethereum network is laughably unusable. For example, Bitfinex paid almost $24 million USD to move just $100k worth of Tether. Small traders and users should avoid transascting on the Ethereum blockchain if at all possible until ETH2.0. Nothing more needs to be said here.
Ethereum is down 6.5% since our previous rankings in September.
Market Price: -6.5%
3. Algorand (ALGO) (+3)
Algorand has been one of the most impressive projects over the last years. With considerable developments happening nearly every single week, and off-chain use cases, sponsorships, and partnerships being announced all the time, Algorand is doing everything right. Governance on the blockchain has also recently been announced. For one of the more overlooked Ethereum competitors, Algorand is truly impressing.
Algorand is up 37% since our previous rankings. It should also be noted this is after Algorand rallied 100% to a new all time high before cooling off.
Market Price: +37%
2. Chainlink (LINK) (+3)
Chainlink remains steady in our second place spot on our rankings. Chainlink remains one of the most solid projects in the space and will even be helping Cardano figure out their development moving forward. Look for Chainlink to remain a steady, safe investment moving over the long term. It simply has far too much importance within the cryptocurrency space now to be phased out.
Chainlink is down 4% since our previous rankings in September.
Market Price: -4%
1. Bitcoin (BTC)
Unless something catastrophic happens or an absolutely insane competitor grows exponentially, Bitcoin will remain number one in our rankings.
Bitcoin is up 1% despite September being one of Bitcoin's historically poor performing months.
Market Price: +1%
Dropped from Rankings:
Polygon (MATIC), Monero (XMR)
Honorable Mentions & Notable Other Projects:
Cosmos (ATOM), Terra (LUNA), Aave (AAVE), Sushiswap (SUSHI), Pancakeswap (CAKE), 0x (ZRX), Maker (MKR), Litecoin (LTC), Basic Attention Token (BAT), Dash (DASH), Storj (STORJ), Nexus (NXS), Uniswap (UNI), Harvest (FARM)
Summary
While September was an unsurprisingly shaky, volatile month, overall the cryptocurrency market has done well. The positive news about the U.S. Government debt ceiling deal did help raise prices considerably over the past 24 hours - including a 9% gain on Bitcoin and an 8% gain on Ethereum. Therefore, price action over the last month does appear midly tamer than it was.
With that in mind, and as volatile as the world economy is looking right now, we see no reason to run for the hills. Remember, investing in cryptocurrencies, while profitable through trading, should be considered a long term game for most people. These ten cryptocurrencies should all be, more or less, solid projects into the future as developments continue and the space grows.
The above list (including honorable mentions) should not be considered a 100% comprehension of all the important projects within cryptocurrencies nor is it a guide to the only projects you should feel comfortable investing in. New projects are created all the time that may have a substantial, disruptive impact on the entire market in the years to come. Nevertheless, the above projects are the ones we feel have the most going for them currently, in terms of use case, community support, development, and overall impact.
As always, be sure to conduct your own due diligence before choosing which projects you should add to your portfolio. What coins do you feel should or should not be included in this list above? Do you agree with the rankings? Hate them? Please share your thoughts in the comments below!
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