3 Altcoins to Buy Right Now: ADA, Stacks, FTM!

ADA, Stacks and FTM were prominent names in The Motley Fool analysts’ list of penny-priced coins to invest in. Experts say the long-term view is supported by a number of metrics.

ADA, Stacks and FTM selected for impressive earnings in 2023

With prices soaring after this year’s explosive Bitcoin rally, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to find solid, high-potential coins priced below $1. Currently, 14 of the top 50 cryptocurrencies by market cap are trading for less than a dollar.

The first three of them were ADA, Stacks and FTM. According to Motley Fool analysts, each of these cryptos is performing dazzlingly in 2023. In the rest of the article, let’s take a closer look at these budget-friendly cryptocurrencies.

Cardano (ADA): Bitcoin’s silent follower

Cardano is trading around $0.4167 on April 20, when it moved sideways. Despite this low price, Cardano has a market cap of $14.8 billion and is the seventh largest cryptocurrency. The ADA price has quietly kept pace with Bitcoin this year. It has risen 78% in 2023 alone and has gained 30% in the last 30 days.

So what drives this performance?

According to analysts, it’s all about Cardano’s dominant position in the DeFi world. At the start of the year, DeFi was a priority for Cardano, and it looks like these efforts are starting to bear fruit. Cardano recently hit a 10-month high on a key DeFi metric known as TVL, and all the pieces are starting to come together.

Alongside the new DEXs launched on Cardano, the new algorithmic stablecoin Djed, launched earlier this year, is also seeking close follow-up.

Stacks (STX): Bitcoin is now changing

Second on the list was Stacks, a Bitcoin Layer 2 protocol for smart contracts. Stacks allows developers to build applications on Bitcoin in a way that was not possible before. The goal of the Stacks project is to give Bitcoin the functionality and programmability that supports smart contracts like Ethereum.

Stacks is a very important project on the future of Bitcoin. Theoretically, the better Bitcoin, the better Stacks. So it’s no wonder Stacks has skyrocketed this year. Since the start of the year, Stacks has increased by 304% compared to 83% for Bitcoin. Stacks is also capitalizing on all the excitement around new Bitcoin NFTs. With Stacks, users can issue Bitcoin NFTs using Stacks smart contracts.

Phantom (FTM)

Last in line is The Phantom, which has experienced a totally unexpected resurgence this year. Once seen as a potential Ethereum killer, Phantom had a tough time in 2022. However, cryptocoin.com Andre Cronje, one of the original founders of Phantom, returned to the project at the end of last year. Its comeback has sparked a rally around altcoins that have branded it.

In 2023, Phantom becomes an actor once again. Phantom is up 165% to date and is currently among the top 50 cryptos by market cap. Blockchain has a new roadmap focused on decentralized applications that developers can support. The TVL metric for Phantom rises in 2023 and makes some key moves to make its Blockchain more attractive to developers and community members.

ADA, Stacks and FTM, which is the best?

Fool analysts’ favorite of these 3 coins is Cardano, which has been around since 2017 and has proven its worth as an Ethereum competitor for over six years. Cardano’s persistence makes sense given that its founder, Charles Hoskinson, is also one of the co-founders of Ethereum.

What’s different now in 2023 is that Cardano is finally starting to show what’s possible when you develop a world-class Blockchain. Cardano is showing early signs of success in the DeFi niche. For less than $1, you can access a high-quality crypto project with some interesting growth prospects in the future.