Market crashes in crypto always sting, and many coin holders have felt that pain recently. A significant number of investors who bought tokens near the peak of the last bull market now carry excessive exposure and hesitate to re-enter new investments. Still, bear markets often present the best opportunities: solid tokens become undervalued and can offer outsized potential. After a broad crypto crash that wiped out as much as 90% of some prices, proactive investors who prepare early for the next bull run may find excellent options.
This article reviews five altcoins worth considering before a market reversal. Each project below has meaningful use cases and the potential to add substantial value to a diversified portfolio.
#1 Metacade (MCADE) — Casual play-to-earn gaming — Best altcoin to buy in 2023
Metacade aims to become the largest on-chain arcade in the metaverse. Driven largely by community participation, the project plans to evolve into a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO). Metacade positions itself to become a major GameFi title alongside established projects like Axie Infinity and Decentraland.
Beyond offering a variety of play-to-earn games, Metacade provides an all-in-one hub for GameFi enthusiasts and introduces several innovative features. Gamers can earn rewards in unique ways, such as sharing gaming knowledge, writing reviews, helping other players, or beta-testing games in development. Community contributions are rewarded in the native MCADE token.
Metacade also connects gamers and game developers. Creators can propose projects to the community to earn funding through Metagrants; voting on proposals uses MCADE, giving the token additional utility.
MCADE has a fixed supply of 2,000,000,000 tokens, 70% of which were allocated to the presale. A capped supply supports deflationary tokenomics and, combined with rising demand, can increase scarcity and upward price pressure over time. Metacade’s focus on sustainable revenue opportunities for gamers and support for the broader blockchain gaming community add tangible value. Currently undervalued according to presale activity, MCADE may deliver substantial returns in favorable market conditions and is positioned as a top GameFi contender.
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#2 Binance (BNB) — Global centralized exchange (CEX)
Binance is a global cryptocurrency exchange that supports trading in roughly 600 digital assets. Its native token, BNB, was created to support development funding and provide liquidity for traders. BNB is accepted for fee payments and can be used via products such as the Binance VISA debit card.
BNB is currently among the top tokens by market capitalization, and Binance leads all centralized exchanges in trading volume. Centralized exchanges (CEXs) differ from decentralized exchanges (DEXs) in that a central entity controls trading services and custody rather than automated smart contracts, and user holdings are often stored in wallets managed by the platform.
BNB features built-in deflationary mechanics: a finite initial supply combined with periodic token burns that reduce circulating supply over time. Initially launched with 200,000,000 BNB, Binance has conducted quarterly burns using a portion of its fees. By mid-2022, about 20% of the total supply had been burned, reducing circulating supply to roughly 160,000,000 BNB. Burning continues until 50% of the original supply has been retired.
CEXs deliver many convenient services for crypto holders: derivatives, lending, staking, and margin trading are standard offerings. As the largest exchange, Binance attracts millions of users and appears well-positioned to grow as the industry expands. Continued adoption of Binance’s exchange services should drive demand for BNB, and the token’s deflationary design supports a constructive long-term outlook for price appreciation. For these reasons, BNB ranks highly among altcoins to consider.
#3 Polygon (MATIC) — Scaled Ethereum for large dApps
Polygon is a decentralized platform designed to scale Ethereum. Its Matic Plasma and sidechain solutions increase transaction throughput and lower fees, improving the user experience for decentralized applications (dApps) across Web3. By offloading transactions from Ethereum’s mainnet, Polygon helps reduce gas costs while maintaining strong security through its Layer 2 architecture.
MATIC is Polygon’s native token and secures the network by paying transaction fees and compensating validators. The token has a max supply of 10 billion MATIC and a circulating supply of around 8.7 billion.
Because Polygon enhances usability and affordability on Ethereum, it has become a favored network for many blockchain games and dApps that require high transaction volumes. GameFi economies rely on frequent transactions to provide play-to-earn rewards and liquidity; Polygon’s low costs and fast finality make it well-suited for those demands.
As blockchain gaming and other dApp categories expand, Polygon’s role in improving user experience and scaling Ethereum positions MATIC as a strong long-term investment candidate.
#4 LooksRare (LOOKS) — NFT marketplace
LooksRare is a blockchain-based marketplace for creating, collecting, and trading digital collectibles such as digital art. Launched in early 2022, the platform lists prominent collections, including Bored Ape Yacht Club and CryptoPunks, and provides tools for discovering new works and participating in auctions. Creators can mint NFTs on the platform to represent various collectible items.
LOOKS is the native token of the LooksRare ecosystem and supports key utilities, including rewarding traders who list NFTs for sale. The token has a max supply of 1 billion LOOKS, with roughly 470 million currently in circulation—about 47% of the total. According to the project’s whitepaper, the full supply was expected to be reached around early 2024 after staged distributions.
LooksRare’s incentive structure aims to make NFT listings more profitable for sellers. For example, sellers receive periodic rewards tied to their activity, which can compound over time and offer attractive annualized yields compared with other marketplaces. As digital art and NFT adoption grow across gaming and other blockchain sectors, LOOKS could benefit from broader marketplace usage and increased trading activity.
#5 Avalanche (AVAX) — DAG-based consensus and high throughput
Avalanche is a Layer 1 blockchain platform that enables users to create, transfer, and hold digital assets. Its Avalanche Consensus Engine (ACE) is an innovative protocol that leverages directed acyclic graph (DAG) principles to secure consensus with lower energy consumption while processing many transactions quickly. Avalanche supports smart contracts, dApps, and tokenization with high scalability—claiming throughput up to 4,500 transactions per second (TPS).
AVAX is Avalanche’s native token, used to pay transaction fees and to reward validators who secure the network. Currently about 300 million AVAX are in circulation, with a maximum supply capped at 720 million. Remaining tokens will unlock over time and enter circulation according to the project’s schedule.
Avalanche offers an improved user experience compared to legacy systems, combining strong security, high scalability, and decentralization—aiming to address the blockchain trilemma. With low fees, high TPS, and smart contract compatibility, Avalanche has the technical foundation to become a major hub for future blockchain applications. After reaching a historical high near $150, AVAX traded well below that level and remains among the top 20 tokens by market cap, leaving room for potential upside if adoption increases.
Diversify your portfolio — Summary of best altcoins
The 2022 crypto crash was painful for many investors, toppling projects such as LUNA and FTT. Yet the industry’s resilience is clear: many innovative teams continue building regardless of price action, and those projects could deliver substantial returns in the next bull market. Diversification remains a key strategy to help mitigate volatility.
Metacade has recently launched a presale, and investor interest is high given the project’s roadmap and use cases. At the time of the presale, $1 invested yielded 125 MCADE, equating to $0.008 per token; the presale price is planned to rise to $0.02 ahead of a public listing later in the year.
The five projects profiled here all offer distinct value propositions across different parts of the crypto ecosystem—CEX infrastructure, Layer 1 and Layer 2 scaling, NFTs, and GameFi. Building a diversified portfolio across these sectors can help offset market volatility and position investors to benefit from multiple growth vectors when the market recovers.
BNB is available for purchase on eToro.
MATIC is available for purchase on eToro.
LOOKS is available for purchase on eToro.
AVAX is available for purchase on eToro.
Join the MCADE presale here.