Most of the crypto community is aware DeFi Season 2.0 is almost upon us and once it hits we are all in for some serious gains. We can all agree that most of the large cap DeFi projects are going to explode such as the likes of Uniswap, Chain Link, Pancake swap etc. However those looking to get in at a good price point may have missed the boat at this stage. There are two DeFi coins that no one is talking about which may have huge upside potential come DeFi Season2.0.
Fundamentals
PERP is a decentralised protocol built on the Ethereum bloackchain and deals with perpetual contracts for every asset. A perpetual market can be created for any assest if it has an on chain price feed from oracle protocols. The PERP protocol can support multiple cryptocurrencies as well as synthetic assets for precious metals, crude oil and fiat(1). You could say that PERP is Synthtix on steroids, as the synthetix protocol only deals with syntheic assets, while PERP deals with futures, derivatives, crypto and synthetic assets(1).
PERP utilises an Automated Money Maker (AMM) similar to that of Uniswap. AMM is a decentralised exchange (DEX) that uses an automated pricing algorithm which determines price (2). Uniswap's AMM was one of the first of its kind, however PERP took it one step further and created a virtual AMM (vAMM). PERP's vAMM allows for good liquidity, low slippage and zero gas fees for those who wish to trade on the platform. PERPS vAMM accomplishes this by never actually swapping one asset for another, rather the synthetic value is traded using USDC this way the protocol never has to hold the asset (5).
There are also impressive perks for Hodlers, PERP offers zero impermanent loss it does this by storing the staked PERP tokens in a smart contract vault, not on the vAMM where it is exposed to market volatility (3). Zero impermanent loss is something that is very rare when it comes to staking and one of the reasons why I think most people will rush to stake with PERP once the crypto community takes notice. Staking rewards are very impressive and offer more than most of the protocols out there, currently PERP offers a massive 41.3% APR (as of date of publication) (4).
Technicals
Chief technical analyst Bill Noble from Tokenmetrics has predicted that PERP may very well reach over $100 per coin (not financial advice) by the end of 2021. I did my research on PERP I was exceedingly impressed and bought in on the dip just under the $5 USD on June 25th, 2021 and in only 5 weeks it was up over 300% on Aug 4th, before slightly pulling back. Price action looks as though it may pull back further as momentum waves indicate slowing down, which may be a good entry point (not financial advice) before picking up the pace again. 
Fundamentals
This low cap gem is a cross-chain DeFi platform thats seeks to find, solve and cater to the underserviced problems or gaps within the DeFi space. ALPHA's startegy places them at the fore front of DeFi innovation affording them the opportunity of being the first movers in their space to create and capitalise on newly tested DeFi products and services (6). ALPHA aggregates data from the largest oracle projects such as Band protocol, Chainlink and soon Uniswap (7).
ALPHA has some big investors backing them some of which are The Spartan Group & Delphi Ventures (9).
For those of the APLHA community that want to stake their tokens will enjoy a 6.99% APY (as of date of publication) the yield generated from staking is automatically compounded in order to maximise yield (8).
Technicals
On Feb 5th, 2021 ALPHA hit its all time high (ATH) at $2.93 USD it is now $0.80c USD, as of date of publication (73% below its ATH). This is not financial advice, but it appears this is a good entry point for those looking to maximise there gains come DeFi Season2.0. If nothing else one would be able to make an ~250% gain if ALPHA was just to return to its ATH from here. Considering we are in the midst of a supercycle (which occurs every fours years) its reasonable to assume that not only will ALPHA return to its ATH its likely that it will surpass its previous ATH by the end of the 2021 supercycle.
Both coins are solid projects with lots of promise and have the potential for huge upside gains once the second DeFi boom sets in. My favourite of the two is PERP due to outstanding fundamentals, but it is the more volatile of the two, as are most protocols that deal with derivatives. If you want to get your hands on some PERP or ALPHA before DeFi Season 2.0 takes off you can grab a bag from Swyftx; its user friendly, takes a couple minutes to set up an account & its free.
