Diversify Your Cryptocurrency Portfolio - Altcoins for 2018
The Disclaimer
This is just a quick post to document the portfolio of Cryptos that I am currently watching and optimistic about. Of course, please do not consider this as financial advice. Only invest what you are willing to lose. I am not an expert. Consider this article on the same level as a casual discussion with your friend over a few beers. For fun, I'm adding a prediction of what I think the price will reach by the end of 2018. This is for entertainment value only. I think it will be interesting to see how close my predictions will be. Do your own research. You are responsible for your own trades and investments.
The Obvious
Bitcoin
There are still a massive number of people who don't know what cryptocurrencies are. When they do, the first they hear about is Bitcoin. If they were to invest, they would most likely invest in Bitcoin first and foremost. For this reason alone, I believe that Bitcoin is going to experience amazing growth in 2018.
Current Price: $17,500 USD
1 Year Prediction: $50,000 USD
Ethereum
More than just a cryptocurrency, this is the premiere blockchain which processes Smart Contracts. Used extensively in ICOs. Has some issues, but there are very intelligent people working on solving them. Once people learn about Bitcoin, the next crypto they find out about is generally Ethereum. This alone will help prop up the price in 2018.
Current Price: $680 USD
1 Year Prediction: $1800 USD
The B-List of Cryptos
Litecoin
This is one of the original Alt-Coins. I've been a huge fan of Litecoin since the early days. Let's compare it to Bitcoin. Litecoin is more innovative, faster and requires less electricity to mine compared to Bitcoin. Litecoin is designed to have four times as many coins as Bitcoin. It's much more practical as a medium of exchange than Bitcoin. It has been said that Litecoin is to Bitcoin as Silver is to Gold. It should probably be valued at at least 1/10th the price of Bitcoin but price doesn't always follow functionality. You have to take popularity into consideration too.
Current Price: $300 USD
1 Year Prediction: $1000 USD
Monero
This one is a solid alt-coin as well. The main point is that Monero is way more anonymous than Bitcoin. This will obviously appeal to a certain demographic. In the past year it has increased in value by over 15x.
Current Price: $310 USD
1 Year Prediction: $800 USD
Speculative Altcoins
EOS
One of my favorite alternative cryptocurrencies out there today. EOS has been nicknamed "The Ethereum Killer" because it essentially does everything that Ethereum does, only better. It hasn't actually had a full launch yet. When you buy EOS you're getting a token that represents EOS for price discovery. I believe the full blockchain launches in June of 2018, at which point I anticipate a major increase in price. One of the co-founders of EOS is Dan Larimer, who also co-founded Steemit. I don't expect EOS to overtake Ethereum in terms of price per unit, however I do expect the gap to close a bit in 2018.
Current Price: $8 USD
1 Year Prediction: $100 USD
IOTA
If your appliances ever need their own money, they might end up using IOTA. IOTA is intended to be the cryptocurrency designed to be used by devices on the Internet of Things (IOT.) Microsoft has recently announced participation in some kind of project with IOTA as have some other large organizations. If IOTA gets adopted as the currency of the IOT then this could go up in value considerably.
Current Price: $3.90 USD
1 Year Prediction: $50 USD
QTUM
I don't know a lot about this one, but everything I've seen looks promising. This is a Proof of Stake coin, so if you buy some of this you can Stake your coins and earn a dividend from it.
*Current Price: $20 USD
1 Year Prediction: $80 USD
NEO
I don't know a lot about this one either but it seems to have some excellent potential. Like QTUM, this is also a Proof of Stake coin.
Current Price: $50 USD
1 Year Prediction: $160 USD
Diversification
The experts generally agree that the future of cryptocurrencies is up in the air. It's still being written and we don't know where it will all go. Bitcoin may not be top dog forever. It would actually be quite surprising if it did! There are new innovations all the time and one of these innovations may render Bitcoin useless or irrelevant. To protect your investment it is advised to diversify across between 6 to 12 different cryptocurrencies. This way, if anything happens to Bitcoin you won't lose everything. Not only this, but it allows you to take advantage of some stellar returns on the newer, more speculative altcoins. I highly recommend checking out the cryptos listed in this article to determine if they have a place in your crypto portfolio.
Which cryptocurrencies do you like for 2018?