When buying cryptocurrency, “cheap” is a matter of perspective. Bitcoin at $15,000 is cheap, while Ethereum at $2,000 is expensive. The trick is valuing the crypto project and comparing it against others in the same class; the dollar value is a less significant factor when looking for the best cheap cryptos to buy now.
If you are not familiar with the process of valuing crypto projects, don’t worry, we did the work for you. Our guide explores the cheapest cryptocurrency to buy now based on their intrinsic value and their potential for growth.
By the end of this guide, you should be armed with the knowledge of the cheapest options in an ocean of crypto prices.
1. Metacade (MCADE) - Best Web3 Gaming Community
2. Alt Signals (ASI) - Best Cheap Crypto Service
3. Chancer (CHANCER) - Best Prediction Market
4. Sui Network (SUI) - Cheapest Layer 1 Blockchain
5. Arbitrum (ARB) - Cheapest Layer 2 Network
6. ArbDoge AI (AIDOGE) - Cheapest Memecoin with Potential
7. Mute (MUTE) - Cheap Dex in a Growing Ecosystem
8. Gains Network (GNS) - Cheap Perpetual Trading Platform
9. Ripple (XRP) - Crypto with Real World Adoption
10. Blue Move (MOVE) - Growing NFT Marketplace
11. Osmosis (OSMO) - Cheap Interoperable Dex
12. Rmrk (RMRK) - Cheap NFT Infrastructure
13. Render (RNDR) - Decentralised Rendering Service
14. Bitcoin (BTC) - Cheap Bluechip Crypto
15. Ethereum (ETH) - High Potential Blockchain
Cryptocurrency
Category
Exchanges Listed
Blockchain Network
Metacade (MCADE)
Community
MEXC
Ethereum
Alt Signals (ASI)
Services
None yet
Chancer (CHANCER)
Prediction
BSC
Sui Network (SUI)
Layer 1
13+
Sui
Arbitrum (ARB)
Layer 2
15+
Arbitrum
ArbDoge AI (AIDOGE)
Memecoin
7+
Mute (MUTE)
Dex
2+
ZkSync
Gains Network (GNS)
Perpetual Trading
11+
3+
Ripple (XRP)
Payments
16+
Ripple
Blue Move (MOVE)
NFT Marketplace
Pancakeswap
Aptos, Sui
Osmosis (OSMO)
Interoperable Dex
Cosmos
Rmrk (RMRK)
NFT Standard
Polkadot
Render (RNDR)
Infrastructure
14+
Bitcoin (BTC)
20+
Bitcoin
Ethereum (ETH)
17+
Metacade is a protocol that supports a Web3 gaming community built for all who love crypto gaming, from builders, to players, bloggers, influencers, and more.
The project is one-of-a-kind as it focuses on the community that can be fostered across various games and metaverses.
Metacade is attempting to create a community made up of players and members from across various games. Its aim is to be a hub for social gaming activities, tournaments, and interactions.
Community members will have access to several games from the member area of the platform. They will also have access to leaderboards which track metrics like the top trending games and the best players.
Users will also get access to GameFi strategies to help maximise their earnings in crypto games, and also gain access to a review section where they can write about their experiences.
We included Metacade because it is the first project to build a gaming community on this scale. Its direct competitors are guilds and scholarship programs like Merit Circle that do not integrate social experiences at the level that Metacade intends to.
The project is pretty new and as such is still cheap as the company builds towards its goals and the market has not yet priced in its potential value. You can purchase Metacade on decentralised exchanges like Uniswap.
Alt Signals is a company that provides trading services for crypto and forex traders. Their offerings include Forex Signals, Binance Signals, and AltAlgo which is the most popular of the three.
Alt Signals has a proven track record that their algorithms work. Now, they wish to expand their reach by building a community on an improved product. The team has developed a stronger version of AltAlgo, called ActualizeAI.
Using ActualizeAI as a base, they have built a new suite of services that should be better than what is currently available. Instead of adopting a subscription plan, like they have with past products, the company will integrate blockchain technology to create a decentralised community.
This community will be powered by the ecosystem’s native token, called ASI. Members will need to hold ASI in their wallets to access the tools and participate in the community.
We have included ASI because it has two main advantages. Firstly, it is built on a sustainable product that provides value for an already existing community, so the market is already available.
Secondly, the token hasn’t launched yet. It is still in the presale phase, which makes it one of the cheapest on our list in terms of value and growth potential.
To participate in the presale, visit the Alt Signals website and follow the onscreen instructions.
Chancer is a platform for creating predictive markets where people can place wagers on the outcome of events. It is essentially a decentralised betting platform that allows users to create immutable bets and ensures that winners get paid.
While there are various betting sites online, very few have integrated blockchain mechanics like Chancer. The protocol allows anyone to create a market that tracks any event of their choice that has a single, trackable outcome. The market creators are called market makers.
When a market is created, the makers can install custom rules, structures, and reward tiers. They can invite whoever they want or throw it open to the public to place bets while the protocol handles the underlying smart contract work to ensure that the reward tiers are respected, funds are kept safe, and the winner is rewarded.
We particularly like Chancer because of its live streaming and social betting features which allow users to livestream any event in their local area and create a market where other users place bets as the event unfolds in real time.
With these features, users all over the world can place bets on events happening in local vicinities miles away from them.
The entire protocol is powered by the CHANCER token which will be launched on the BSC network. For now, it approaches the presale phase which will begin on June 13th. To participate, visit the Chancer website and follow the onscreen instructions.
Sui is a new blockchain network that is horizontally scalable and presumably easy to build on. Like Ethereum, it is a general-purpose blockchain for all types of decentralised applications and crypto assets.
Unlike Ethereum, it is not built with Solidity, instead, it uses a programming language called Move which is reportedly dynamic and easy to use.
This guide explores cheap cryptos to buy and SUI’s price is currently at $1.12 at a market capitalisation of $596 million. The blockchain’s parent company raised $336 million at a $2 billion valuation, the coin’s price does not currently reflect the ecosystem’s value.
When projects launch tokens in the middle of a bear market, there can be a mismatch between the token’s price and its value, like we see with SUI, due to external market forces. Other blockchains of Sui’s calibre all have market caps above $1 billion, which means that SUI has room for growth.
SUI has a total supply of 10 billion coins, 528 million of which are currently in circulation. Some sell pressure is to be expected in the future. However, SUI’s current price makes it an attractive option.
You can buy SUI on exchanges like Binance.
Arbitrum is a layer 2 network built on top of Ethereum that processes transactions much faster and cheaper than its parent network, thanks to a technology called Rollups.
Layer 2 networks (Called L2s) are usually native to Ethereum and help with scalability and circumvent Ethereum’s high fees.
Arbitrum is the largest L2 network with a market capitalisation of $1.3 billion as of writing and a total locked value of $2.38 billion, far more than its market capitalisation.
Like Sui, Arbitrum recently launched its token, called ARB, in bearish market conditions. As such, the token does not reflect the level of value its ecosystem provides. As the 4th largest EVM chain, Arbitrum provides tremendous value via its DeFi applications.
ARB has a total supply of 10 billion tokens, 1.2 billion of which are currently in circulation. It trades at $1.09 as of writing. You can buy ARB on exchanges like Binance.
ArbDoge AI is a memecoin that was recently launched on the Arbitrum network in April 2023, and while it has grown tremendously within a short period, it is still cheap, both in dollar value and compared to its potential.
This memecoin rose after the astronomical memecoin rally by a now popular memecoin called Pepe. ArbDoge AI has a market capitalisation of $69 million with a circulating supply of 194 quadrillion tokens.
ArbDoge AI has performed fantastically well in a bear market, reaching a high of around $100 million in market capitalisation. While it has retreated to about $69 million as of writing, we believe this presents a buy opportunity.
Unlike several memecoins, ArbDoge implements a 15% token burn on every transaction. So far, 15.9 quadrillion or 7.5% of the total supply has been burned. The project is also developing various products that will exacerbate the burn process.
A good example is the proposed NFT marketplace and DeFi application, which come with their own tokens. The only way to obtain these tokens is to burn AIDOGE.
You can buy AIDOGE on exchanges like OKX.
Mute is a decentralised exchange that is shaping up to be a pillar of the ZkSync Era network, the fastest growing Zero knowledge L2 solution.
Mute stands out from regular Dexes by combining various Defi services in one protocol. The Dex contains an automated market maker, liquidity pools, yield farms, and a bond platform that allows you buy its native tokens at a discount to market price.
Every blockchain ecosystem has a major Dex that processes the bulk of transactions on that network. Mute is one of the contenders for ZkSync Era’s ecosystem with a total locked value of $9.4 million.
You can swap between various tokens, provide liquidity in return for yields, and even boost returns with the new Amplifier platform. You can also buy MUTE tokens at a discount by exchanging your LP tokens using the bond function.
MUTE currently trades at $0.63 per token and at a market capitalisation of $25 million, a paltry sum compared to others like Joe at $118 million. You can buy MUTE on decentralised exchanges like Uniswap.
Gains Network is a trading platform for cryptocurrency derivatives called perpetuals. These derivatives act like Futures without an expiry date. This means that they can be held infinitely.
The platform is geared mainly towards speculators and traders with leverage facilities of up to 150x, although it can be used for regular swaps.
Decentralised trading has grown in popularity since the fall of FTX. However, platforms like GMX are already quite mature and its token price is high. Gains, however, is still growing and has immense potential.
While GMX trades above $50, GNS, the platform’s native token, trades at $4.96 after reaching a recent all-time high of $10.63 in February 2023.
GNS has a total supply of 30 million tokens, all of which are currently in circulation at a market capitalisation of $150 million. It also has $16 million worth of assets locked in its smart contracts.
Compared to other exchanges in its class, like dYdX with a market capitalisation of $331 million, Gains is cheap. You can buy GNS on exchanges like Binance.
Ripple is a hidden gem because it is a crypto project that has achieved institutional adoption and provides a sustainable solution to an important real world problem.
Ripple is a global payments system that provides instant settlements for international trades that would otherwise take several days. Instead of global companies tying up their capital in various markets in order to provide instant settlements or wait several business days for networks like SWIFT to process payments, they can just use Ripple.
The Ripple network is powered by a token called XRP whose price has remained under a dollar for the last year because of a court case with the top regulator in the US, the SEC. However, recent reports hint at an end to the case and a possible win for the company.
XRP’s price surged 50% in March 2023 on news that the case may be entering a final phase. Clearly, there is still demand for this coin despite it getting delisted from major US exchanges.
XRP has a total supply of 100 billion tokens, 51 billion of which are already in circulation. It trades at $0.42 as of writing with 52-week highs and lows of $5.4 in March 2023 and $0.30 in June 2022.
To learn more, read our Ripple Review. You can buy XRP on an exchange like eToro.
Blue Move is an NFT marketplace on the Aptos blockchain network and more recently, Sui Network. It is the leading NFT market on a growing network with plans to expand to other chains.
The marketplace lists art collections, collectibles, domain names, in-game items, sports NFTs, virtual worlds, and photographs on the Aptos network. The NFT space on Aptos is quite new and has not matured like those on Ethereum or even Solana.
NFTs may take a back seat during bear markets, but they are usually hot in bull cycles. And with one coming up in 2024, Blue Move is positioned for growth.
The platform’s native token, called MOVE, is also deeply integrated into the system. Investors who stake MOVE gain whitelist access to new NFT collections launching on the platform. They also get a cut of revenue generated from trading fees.
MOVE has a total supply of 300 million tokens, 28 million of which are in circulation.While this may ordinarily hint at sell pressure during token unlocks, the project’s tokenomics incentivizes holders to stake the token.
MOVE trades at $0.06 as of writing, placing its market capitalisation at $42 million. Compared to marketplaces like Rarible with a market capitalisation of $16 million, MOVE is still cheap compared to its potential.
You can buy MOVE on exchanges like Uniswap.
Osmosis is a protocol for managing liquidity across Cosmos’ Interchain. The Interchain is a network of interconnected blockchains that are all independent but can communicate and send assets between each other thanks to a communication protocol called the Inter-blockchain Communication Protocol (IBC).
Osmosis Dex is the premiere interchain decentralised exchange built on the Osmosis protocol. It runs liquidity pools for several blockchains within the Cosmos ecosystem and facilitates swapping between them.
Osmosis is one of the foremost leaders in interoperable liquidity management. Every blockchain in the Cosmos ecosystem has its token in a liquidity pool on Osmosis. Hence, most trading occurs there and the platform benefits from fees.
Its AMM also provides an opportunity for investors to also profit by providing liquidity and earning attractive returns as the liquidity pools serve an entire ecosystem of interconnected blockchains.
So far, Osmosis has an average daily volume of $8 million and $153 million worth of combined liquidity. Its native coin, OSMO, has a total supply of 1 billion units, 577 million of which are already in circulation, bringing its market capitalisation to $357 million.
As of writing, OSMO trades at $0.65 with a 52-week high of $2.60 in May 2022. It is currently trading at its 52-week low. You can buy OSMO on exchanges like Binance.
RMRK (pronounced Remark) is an NFT standard for building eternally liquid, forward compatible NFTs on the Polkadot ecosystem. RMRK isn’t below $1 like many of the cryptos on our list, however, we believe it is cheap compared to its potential.
This NFT framework stands out from others because it acts as a building block for programmable NFTs. Developers can program NFTs with special attributes, nest NFTs within each other, transfer ownership of NFTs to other NFTs (e.g. transferring the ownership of a house NFT to the land that it is built on).
Developers can also alter NFTs even after they have been created, like making an upgradable NFT sword that changes after a certain criteria is met, creating multiple resources within one NFT, like a gun that has a card game version, a 2D shooter version, and a 3D graphic version all in one NFT.
Besides it being the most advanced NFT standard in existence, we do not see NFTs going away anytime soon, and RMRK may become the go to for NFT creation and management.
RMRK’s tokenomics are also ideal with just 10 million tokens in existence, 9.5 million of which are already in circulation. We do not expect any sell pressure from the remaining 500,000 tokens.
As of writing, RMRK trades at $1.89 with 52-week highs and lows of $6.56 in May 2022 and $1.69 in December 2022.
You can buy RMRK on exchanges like Kucoin.
Render is a decentralised graphics rendering service that provides raw GPU power for creators, builders, designers, and pretty much anyone that needs graphics processing power.
Render reduces the price of heavy rendering, like that of video games and metaverses, as creators do not need to buy expensive GPUs to render in-house. It is the leader in the decentralised rendering space with a growing use case as cloud services expand.
Render is a blockchain-based project that has immediate real-world utility. Like Ripple, it is already being used by creators around the world to bring their concepts to life. Its token is deeply integrated into the system and is used by all stakeholders to transfer value across the ecosystem.
RNDR has a total supply of 521 million tokens, 363 million of which are currently in circulation, meaning that while some sell pressure is to be expected, the way RNDR’s tokenomics works reduces the likelihood of this occurring.
As of writing, RNDR trades at $1.74 with 52-week highs and lows of $2.41 in May 2023 and $0.32 in June 2022. You can buy it on exchanges like Coinbase.
Bitcoin makes our list because it has growth potential as the gold standard of crypto. While it is not cheap in dollar terms, it is still a viable option when compared with how much the network can grow and the fact that it can be bought in fractions.
Also, new technologies have allowed for the inscription of data into blocks, creating NFTs and even memecoins on the Bitcoin blockchain. The proliferation of this technology could lead to thriving NFT markets, although NFTs called Ordinals already exist on the blockchain.
Bitcoin is the only provably decentralised blockchain network that cannot be turned off or hard forked in a way that fundamentally alters the network’s properties. It also has a fixed coin supply that cannot be changed.
Furthermore, deflationary mechanisms are in place for Bitcoin emissions, called the Bitcoin halving, where the reward for processing transaction blocks are cut in half every four years. This halving usually heralds a bull run.
BTC trades at $27,590 as of writing, down from a recent high of $30,400 in April 2023. However, the coin has risen roughly 50% since the start of the year. There are only 21 million coins that will ever exist and 19.3 million of those are already in existence.
Thanks to the halving, all BTC will not be mined until an estimated 2140. Read our Bitcoin review to learn more about the cryptocurrency or buy BTC on an exchange like eToro.
Ethereum is the largest smart contract network in the industry. It is a pillar holding up the entire Web3 space as it provides the infrastructure that powers tens of thousands of decentralised finance applications, layer 2 networks, decentralised storage solutions, metaverses, NFT collections, and various other services.
While Ethereum’s price may not seem cheap in lay terms, it is when compared to the network’s growth potential.
Ethereum houses $27.7 billion worth of foreign assets, discounting ETH in liquid staking pools. Its operating system, the Ethereum Virtual Machine, is used in various different blockchains because of its efficiency in smart contract development.
Furthermore, the Ethereum network recently got an upgrade which has increased the network’s theoretical speed to about 100,000 transactions per second. This upgrade is expected to herald a new age of retail participation and enterprise solutions as Ethereum’s once-high gas fees are significantly slashed.
The new upgrade also implemented a burn on ETH coins used to pay for transactions. Provided transaction fees outpaces emissions, ETH should remain deflationary. Seeing as the Ethereum network made $168 million in fees within the last 7 days, we believe transactions are at a healthy level.
ETH trades at $1,846 as of writing with 52-week highs and lows of $2,344 in May 2022 and $995.25 in June 2022. To learn more, read our Ethereum review or buy ETH on exchanges like eToro.
Cheap cryptocurrencies are a relative function of their current prices compared to their perceived value. A crypto can be cheap this week and overpriced the next depending on how much its price increases in relation to its value.
Plainly put, a crypto is cheap when its current price underrepresents its present or future value.
Crypto prices are usually a reflection of the perceived value of the ecosystem, product, or service that it powers. Prices fluctuate because people arrive at different valuations of the same crypto when considering different factors.
Sometimes, the market is in general agreement that a crypto is overvalued or undervalued, and you see this manifest as either a sell off or a rally.
At other times, the market gets sucked into hype and we see cryptos that seemingly have no underlying value sky-rocket. However, these cryptos usually fall significantly after.
Aside from the obvious benefit of affordability, cheap cryptos offer a lower entry price point for potentially valuable projects. Considering that future return is a function of current price, the lower you buy in, the greater your return, provided the project performs well.
There’s also a time aspect to buying cryptos cheap. While it may not always apply, buying crypto cheap could also mean that you are buying early which, in some communities, will lead to opportunities to buy others cryptos at cheap prices.
Similar to penny stocks, penny cryptos are cryptocurrencies that trade for a couple cents. They are usually very cheap and never grow beyond a certain level, most never reach $1.
Penny cryptos appeal most to investors who do not have significant liquidity to invest in cryptos but still wish to purchase significant volumes. For example, $100 gets you only 0.003 BTC as of writing or 0.05 ETH, not much to go off. However, the same amount gets you 57 RNDR, 237 XRP, or 316 billion AIDOGE.
While the longevity of penny cryptos is another topic entirely, there are instances where investors make significant returns from penny cryptos.
To find the best penny cryptos, you need to:
Hunt for low market cap projects: Penny cryptos usually have a low market capitalisation, asides from projects like Dogecoin and The Graph. But even those projects started as low cap cryptos.
Join presales: Presales present an opportunity to buy cryptos at a discount to their listing price. While they come with inherent risks (like the crypto not performing well), the ones that perform well can generate impressive gains.
Gauge Community engagement: Because you need to get into penny stocks early to truly be profitable, you’ll need to be able to gauge the project’s potential quickly. Community engagement is a good way to do so because strong communities make strong projects.
Smart contract risks include vulnerabilities in the smart contracts that make up the crypto project; vulnerabilities that hackers could take advantage of.
All cryptos have some degree of vulnerability to smart contract risk. However, cheaper cryptos may be more vulnerable as the project developers may not have the funding or manpower to properly secure their smart contracts from coordinated attacks.
Market risks often involve the effect of the overall economy. For example, cheap cryptos launched during bear markets can be negatively affected by a downtrend. In our experience, small cap cryptos lose a greater part of their market cap in bear markets.
A significant risk to look out for is ethical risk, popularly known as rug pulls. This is when project developers drain liquidity from their own projects, leaving investors with worthless tokens. Rugs are possibly the most deadly risk on our list as they occur more frequently and often leave investors without a way out.
The blanket rule for investing is to never invest more than you are willing to lose. However, this advice applies to established investments. Cheap cryptos are more of a gamble than an investment and as such should not command as much capital as regular investments.
We won’t specify an amount, but your investment into cheap cryptos should be with money that you are prepared to lose. While the goal is to make profit, it’s advisable to adopt the mindset that monies invested in cheap cryptos are already gone.
This way, if you profit, good. If not, it was a write off either way.
You can buy cheap cryptos on cryptocurrency exchanges like eToro. This guide shows you how.
Open an account by browsing to the eToro website and clicking on the Start Investing icon. Alternatively, you can download the mobile app from the Play Store/App Store and click on Sign up. Fill out the form with your full name, email address, and password.
Verify your account by setting up your profile and submitting KYC documents like a valid government ID and proof of residence document like a utility bill.
Once your account has been verified, deposit funds by using any of the available payment options. Choose a convenient method and set the amount you’d like to deposit.
Once your account is funded, search for any of the cryptos mentioned in the Discover tab. An interface like the one below should load. You can then set your parameters and buy.
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We explored the best cheap cryptos to buy and chose the SUI Network as the best choice because of its potential. It is one of the most talked about projects this year, the underlying company is well funded, and it just launched its native coin, SUI.
Nonetheless, all the cryptos on our list are good options for investors looking for cheap cryptos. Just remember that there are risks to buying cheap cryptos such as smart contract risks, market risks, and ethical risks.
Finally, never buy cheap cryptos with money you are not ready to lose because the chances are usually stacked against low market cap cryptos under $1.
You can buy cheap cryptos on cryptocurrency exchanges like eToro.
The cryptos covered in this guide were chosen through rigorous research. We paid attention to security, reputation, price, and growth potential.
The tokens listed are the best we found in the various categories we listed them. For example, we listed Gains Network as the best perpetual trading platform because it allows you to trade several pairs with up to 150x leverage.
Check out our why trust us and how we test pages for more information on our testing process.
The prices of cryptocurrencies are determined by factors like the total supply and where the project is in its lifecycle. For example, Dogecoin is a mature project but its market capitalisation divided by its circulating supply keeps its price below $1.
The best cheap crypto to buy on our list is Sui Network as it is a new layer 1 network with growth potential.
A number of factors can affect crypto prices. Some include market volatility, hype, demand, and token supply.