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What are altcoins?

Most people have heard of Bitcoin, but many novice investors don’t even know that there are thousands of other cryptocurrencies. And when we talk about thousands, we mean thousands. The counter of CoinMarketCap is now over 2,2 million different cryptocurrencies and tokens, and this number is growing very fast.

All cryptocurrencies that are not Bitcoin are called altcoins. Altcoin is a composition of either Alternative Coin or Alternative Bitcoin. Either way, what it means is clear: all digital currencies that are not Bitcoin.

So, if we look at Bitcoin Cash, this currency is counted among the altcoins. Although it is a hard fork of Bitcoin, it is no longer Bitcoin.

Should you invest in altcoins?

Altcoins are very popular with investors. Most investors find altcoins interesting because they consider Bitcoin to be “too expensive” and altcoins can provide more return. This is not entirely true, although the price of Bitcoin is high, an investor can also just buy a part of Bitcoin. And if we look at the history of Bitcoin, we can conclude that there are also enough returns to be made with Bitcoin.

With altcoins, good profits can certainly be made, but unfortunately, that is not always the case. It is very unlikely that a cryptocurrency of $0.01 will be worth $10, $100, or even $1,000 in the future. Especially if there are billions of these cryptocurrencies in circulation. Always do good research on a certain project yourself and do not listen to influencers on Twitter and YouTube. Don’t buy a cryptocurrency after a sharp rise, but do thorough research.

Altcoins often see higher profits than Bitcoin when the trend is rising, but they often get hit harder when the trend is falling.

Where can I invest in altcoins?

In 2024 there are a lot of crypto platforms that offer altcoins, simply because the market demands it. Some popular altcoin exchanges:

  • Bitvavo (200+ altcoins, Europe only)
  • Bybit (700+ altcoins)
  • MEXC (1800+ altcoins)

Altcoin examples

On our website, you can find plenty of altcoin examples. The best-known examples are Ethereum, Litecoin, BNB, Solana and Ripple. By clicking on the links, you can easily find more information about these altcoins.

What should you always check of an altcoin

Never invest blindly into an altcoin, but always do you own research. Some things you should always check are:

  • Do you know who is behind the project?
  • How many coins/tokens are there in circulation?
  • Is the altcoin listed by popular exchanges?
  • Does the project clearly paid for ads (red flag)
  • And the most important one: do you believe in the strategy of the team?

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