With cryptocurrency markets are choppy on Monday as traders weigh potentially easing geopolitical risks in the Middle East against another stronger-than-expected US economic data release, which has pushed traders further downsize bets on near-term rate cuts from the US Federal Reserve, crypto investors are turning to the altcoin market as they hunt for the best crypto to buy now.
Bitcoin was last trading just above $64,000. That leaves it down over 2% on the day, with sell pressure rising following robust US retail sales data.
US Retail Sales Advance (M/M) Mar: 0.7% (est 0.4%; prev 0.6%)
– Retail Sales Ex Auto(M/M) Mar: 1.1% (est 0.5%; prev 0.3%)
– Retail Sales Ex Auto And Gas Mar: 1.0% (est 0.3%; prev 0.3%)
– Retail Sales Control Group Mar: 1.1% (est 0.4%; prev 0.0%)— LiveSquawk (@LiveSquawk) April 15, 2024
But Bitcoin remains close to 5% up versus its Saturday lows around $61,000. The market saw big downside over the weekend after Iran launched a historic direct attack against Israel.
But Sunday saw an impressive recovery, as fears about an Israeli retaliation that could further escalate the situation eased.
ISRAEL'S OBJECTIVE IS TO HURT IRAN WITHOUT CAUSING ALL-OUT WAR, ISRAEL'S CHANNEL 12 NEWS REPORTS AFTER WAR CABINET MEETING
CHANNEL 12: ISRAEL WANTS TO EMBARK ON ACTION AGAINST IRAN COORDINATED WITH UNITED STATES
— *Walter Bloomberg (@DeItaone) April 15, 2024
Assuming Middle Eastern geopolitics remain out of the headlines for now, macro will be the big focus this week.
All eyes will be on Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s remarks on Tuesday. Expectations that the Fed will cut interest rates in 2024 has been a major tailwind to crypto in recent months.
But that narrative has taken a blow in wake of recent strong data. Prior to today’s retail sales report, recent US CPI, jobs and manufacturing activity data have all surprised to the upside.
Major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin could remain a sell on rallies. That’s especially true ahead of the BTC halving, which could result in elevated short-term sell pressure from miners.
That means investors looking for quick returns may have to look elsewhere for the best crypto to buy now.
Here are some altcoins with strong momentum on Monday that investors will be watching.
Best Crypto to Buy Now
Core (CORE)
Layer-1 blockchain protocol Core (CORE) is pumping on Monday. Its blockchain is secured through a combination of delegated Bitcoin mining hash and delegated Proof-of-Stake (DPoS).
As per CoinMarketCap, it was last up more than 50% in 24 hours. That has propelled its market cap to just under $2 billion and into the top 100 cryptos by market value.
Whether the blockchain will experience significant adoption remains anyone’s guess. But at a still modest valuation of under $2 billion, there is plenty of room for upside if it does.
CORE could be a great bet for this bull market, and could be the best crypto to buy today.
NEO (NEO)
Neo (NEO), the cryptocurrency of the up-and-coming smart contract blockchain NEO, is performing well on Monday.
According to CoinMarketCap, it was last up 13% in the past 24 hours at $20 per token. That rally has lifted its market cap to around $1.4 billion.
That leaves NEO still over 7x below its 2021 peaks, above over 10x under its early 2018 peaks.
NEO could easily still 5x this bull market, making it a candidate for the best crypto to buy now.
Pendle (PENDLE)
Pendle (PENDLE), an innovative future yield tokenization and trading protocol, is eyeing a retest of record highs on Monday.
PENDLE is up nearly 15x from last summer’s lows under $0.50. Its rally from its 2022 lows is even more impressive at over 200x.
But as per CoinMarketCap, which clocks PENDLE’s 24-hour gains at around 12%, its market cap remains modest at $1.6 billion.
That leaves plenty of room for 10x or more gains as the asset tokenization narrative gains ground.
With Pendle teaming up with Ethena, another fast-rising innovative yield protocol, its TVL could soon jump further.
Kickstarting Ethena x Pendle Season this week with an exciting one – ENA by @ethena_labs
Pendies can now earn 30x Sats/day with YT-ENA and LP.
Also yes, YT-ENA 𝒊𝒔 considered as part of the locked ENA requirement for +50% Sats boost
pic.twitter.com/oCd4QRxqfC
— Pendle (@pendle_fi) April 15, 2024
That potentially makes PENDLE one of the best crypto to buy today.
Alternative Crypto Investment Strategy to Consider – Presales
Investing in smaller, lesser-known altcoins is a great way to make a quick crypto profit.
However, investors looking to up their risk profile shouldn’t neglect another highly profitable strategy – investing in new crypto ICOs.
Up-and-coming web3 start-ups often look to raise funds in their infancy via the sale of their native protocol token.
These sales are almost always conducted at a steep discount to the project’s potential. For example, most presales will sell their token at a price that gives them a market cap of $10-30 million.
If a good project gains traction, it can easily reach a market cap in the hundreds of millions. So presale investors can often make gains of as much as 10x or more.
Of course, investing in new crypto ICOs comes with many of the same risks as traditional start-up investing. The success of a project relies heavily upon the competency of management and execution.
With so many new crypto ICOs to choose from, getting started can be a daunting task.
Luckily, the experienced team at Cryptonews has already done a lot of digging. Here are 18 of their favorite projects:
See the 18 Cryptocurrencies
Alternatively, check out this video by Cryptonews’ Crypto Arjay, who goes through his top three presales.
The post Best Crypto to Buy Now April 15 – CORE, NEO, PENDLE appeared first on Cryptonews.
