If you are looking for potential bargains in the crypto market, the good news is that a surprising number of the most popular cryptocurrencies are trading for less than $1. In fact, some of them are trading at discounts of up to 80% from their all-time highs. On the surface, that would appear to make them screaming buys, right?
The answer is not as obvious as you might think. Let’s take a closer look to see if any of these cryptocurrencies trading for less than $1 are worth buying right now.
XRP
XRP (CRYPTO: XRP) ranks as the seventh-largest cryptocurrency, with a massive $27 billion market cap. However, XRP is down 21% for the year and trades for just $0.48 right now. At one time, XRP traded as high as $3.84, but that was all the way back in January 2018. During the previous crypto bull market rally, XRP didn’t come anywhere close to regaining its all-time high.
While XRP has a number of potential catalysts, the only one that really matters right now is the resolution of its long-running SEC court case. According to the SEC, XRP is a security, not a cryptocurrency, and that has obvious existential implications.
That being said, crypto bulls firmly believe that Ripple (the creator of the XRP token) will emerge victorious, causing the price of XRP to skyrocket. That might be true, but you’re also taking on a lot of regulatory risk. Don’t forget — the SEC is looking to impose a gargantuan $2 billion penalty on Ripple. Even if Ripple wins the case, it may still owe a lot of money. So there’s no guarantee that XRP will ever regain its mojo from more than six years ago.
Dogecoin and Shiba Inu
Both Dogecoin (CRYPTO: DOGE) and Shiba Inu (CRYPTO: SHIB) are meme coins, which basically means that they are completely unplugged from the world of fundamental financial analysis. As meme coins, they have little or no utility, and there’s no good way to value them.
While both meme coins are up more than 50% for the year, that’s not as impressive as it sounds. Dogecoin is trading for just $0.14 these days, while Shiba Inu is trading for the ridiculously low price of $0.00002.
While Shiba Inu has been taking some steps to add utility for blockchain users, it suffers from a huge overhanging coin supply. There are 589 trillion Shiba Inu coins in circulation, so the mathematical chances of this crypto ever hitting the $1 level are nearly zero. A $1 price tag would imply a market cap of $589 trillion, which is roughly 15 times larger than the current value of the S&P 500!
The outlook for Dogecoin is not much better. This meme coin has been around for more than a decade, and it has never, ever soared past the $1 mark. That’s despite the fact that billionaire Elon Musk has been a high-profile supporter of this coin. During the peak of meme coin popularity in 2021, Elon Musk even appeared during a comedy sketch on Saturday Night Live as “The Dogefather.” Unfortunately, the value of Dogecoin has declined by 80% since then.
Cardano
Finally, there’s Cardano (CRYPTO: ADA), which once was a near peer rival to Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH). The two cryptos share a lot of the same blockchain DNA, given that Cardano co-founder Charles Hoskinson was also a co-founder of Ethereum. But Cardano has never delivered on its early promise, and now seems at risk of being eclipsed by newer blockchain rivals such as Solana.
Add in the fact that the SEC appears to be on the fence regarding whether or not Cardano is a security, and you can understand why the price of Cardano seems permanently frozen under the $1 level. There’s not much to get excited about these days, although Cardano has had some success with a recent foray into decentralized finance (DeFi). Cardano currently trades for just $0.42, and is down 86% from its all-time high.
Beware the crypto bargain basement bin
There’s a lesson to be learned here. Hunting for high-quality cryptocurrencies trading for less than $1 is similar in many ways to hunting for a good deal in the “clearance” section of your favorite store. Most likely, you won’t find what you’re looking for in the right size or the right color. And if you do find something you like, it probably has some hidden defect that you don’t discover until you bring it home.
So beware of the crypto bargain basement bin. Just because a cryptocurrency is trading for less than $1 doesn’t make it a “bargain.”
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Dominic Basulto has positions in Cardano, Ethereum, and Solana. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Cardano, Ethereum, Solana, and XRP. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Should You Buy Any of These Cryptocurrencies While They Are Less Than $1? was originally published by The Motley Fool