With Bitcoin leading the charge—reaching a remarkable $100,000 price per coin and holding relatively steady—a lot of starry-eyed investors have drawn inspiration from this propelled growth. They’re even starting to allocate a sizeable portion of their capital to the crypto space.
Many of these investors are trying to find alternative pathways to enjoy a bull ride before an eventual breakout. Naturally, other crypto coins come to mind.
But one look at the state of crypto and reality sets in: there are thousands of cryptocurrencies out there, many of which feature different utilities and market caps.
Volatility is a crucial factor that also affects an altcoin’s price trend, and it can swing upward or downward rapidly. Whatever your goals are, it’s important to put a lot of thought into your altcoin investment to ensure your equity’s safety.
If you want to get into crypto, this guide will walk you through ideal ways to navigate the altcoin market with confidence. Let’s jump straight into it!
Where to Buy Altcoins?
In order to capitalise on altcoins, you’ll have to buy some in accredited crypto market exchanges. Many popular altcoins like Ethereum, Solana, and DogeCoin are found in several popular crypto exchanges on the Internet, like bitcoin.com.au.
However, for more niche and less mainstream altcoins, you’d have to look for specific market exchanges that support the buying and selling for that particular altcoin. A quick Google search can reveal ways to exchange these specific cryptocurrencies with a decent-sized following.
Be sure to conduct a legitimacy test before proceeding with your crypto market of choice. You can’t go wrong with big-name exchanges with user-backed reviews on Trustpilot and third-party review websites.
Ensure that the URL matches the exchange and that they have regulatory compliance. Read up on past security breaches as well and stick with exchanges with a good track record.
A good way to check a website’s trustworthiness is by looking at aggregate websites like CoinMarketCap and verifying the daily trading activity of the exchange in question. Crypto exchanges with low liquidity could indicate a risky exchange and may be something to steer clear of.
Once you’ve found a suitable platform to conduct crypto exchanges, like Bitcoin.com.au, PancakeSwap, or Coinbase, you’ll have to create and verify your account. You’ll enter personal details like your email address, password, and name. You will also be requested to complete a verification process and show a valid government ID and address.
Once your account has been approved, you can start the crypto exchange process. Deposit funds into the account and use the available funding method in the exchange. This could be a bank transfer, credit card, or crypto deposit.
From there, search for your desired altcoin then place a market order. You may start with a small amount first to ensure that everything runs smoothly, then work your way up to your intended deposit value.
Once you have purchased your altcoin, you can choose to keep it there, which is risky, or store it in a safer place.
Where to Store Altcoins?
You can store your altcoins in one (or multiple) of several platform categories. Each storage has a varying level of security, so it’s important to know what you’re getting into before committing to your storage of choice.
Here are the best wallet types to store cryptocurrencies:
Hot wallets
These wallets are found inside centralised exchanges. They’re where the crypto goes before or after a transaction. Since they’re readily available to trade, they’re a popular choice for frequent traders.
Software wallets
An app or software designed to store cryptocurrency. It enables easy management for multiple cryptocurrency types and removes the risk of crypto loss in case the crypto exchange becomes a target of cyber attacks. However, holders of this wallet type are vulnerable to malware and phishing attacks too if they’re not careful.
Hardware wallet
Dedicated crypto wallet hardware device to store private keys offline. Useful to combat cybersecurity threats.
Multi-signature wallet
A wallet type that requires multiple approvals from different devices or people to authorise transactions. Reduces the risk of single-point failures.
Paper wallet
This wallet completely removes the threat of hacking and digital exposure. It’s accessible through a QR code or private key stored offline, like in a safe or a fireproof desk cabinet.
Custodial wallet
A wallet handled by financial institutions. It gives individual users less control of their wallets, but is useful for companies that need professional fund management.
Among the wallet types listed above, a hardware wallet is one of the safest places to store altcoins in 2025. This is because it’s not vulnerable to online attacks, can be stored anywhere, and needs a passport to be opened.
That said, it’s essential to keep the hardware wallet away from risks and stored in a secure and disaster-proof location. A fireproof safe is a good place to store this device for maximum security of your crypto holdings.
What to Consider Before Choosing an Altcoin Investment?
With thousands of altcoins in circulation, choosing one or a handful from the bunch can be quite difficult.
That said, you can be systematic in how you pick your next altcoin investment to minimise risks and maximise gains.
These are four factors to consider before picking your next altcoin to buy.
Real-World Use Case
Altcoins aren’t merely stores of value; many of them have real-world applications that improve productivity and drive innovation forward across various fronts and industries. With a strong use case, the utility and longevity of the altcoin increase, thus making it a more attractive and viable altcoin to invest in for the future.
For instance, smart contracts can be enabled by the Ethereum blockchain, allowing for a more efficient contractual agreement among two or more parties. This has a high degree of influence in the real estate, supply chain, and other industries where high-value asset transactions take place.
Other coins like Ripple’s XRP and its respective blockchain allow blazingly fast cross-border payments, allowing banks and independent individuals to transfer cash more seamlessly. Making investment decisions based on an altcoin’s use case is a sustainable and safe approach to withstand market volatility.
Team, Timeline and Project Goals
Strong fundamentals are also highly indicative of a good long-term investment—and a key aspect of that is an active development team with a clear roadmap.
Knowing the business model and team behind the crypto can help you gauge the company’s trajectory over time. It can indicate whether the crypto is likely to achieve its goals. A public and transparent team can also indicate the level of communication you can expect from the founders of the altcoin.
Beyond that, it’s also important to look into an altcoin’s timeline and roadmap. If they have been hitting and executing milestones at their announced pace, then that’s a good sign of them having their project under control.
Conversely, delays, leadership disputes, and little to no communication can signal deeper issues or potential strikes against the altcoin and its team.
In any case, it’s important to have a clear picture and understanding of the altcoin, its history, and its founders early on. This way, you’ll ensure that the altcoin is truly a viable investment to put your capital into for the long term.
Liquidity and Market Cap
Another factor to consider when picking your first altcoin is its market volume and capitalisation. Cryptocurrencies with high market caps like Ethereum, XRP, and Solana are generally seen as stable as Bitcoin and have a good chance of going up in value in bullish markets.
Furthermore, since these coins are owned by a larger spread of people, they’re not as likely to experience a sharp downward price fluctuation. This is unlike low-liquidity altcoins, as whales have the power to drastically change the value of the coin with a deposit or withdrawal.
To be on the safe side, investing in a crypto coin with strong liquidity is ideal. This can help your portfolio retain long-term growth potential. If you want to risk investing in a token with perceived undervalued risk, then that’s also a viable strategy granted that your analysis is sound.
Community and Hype
Growing user adoption is a good way to gauge whether an altcoin is worth investing in or not.
An altcoin, at its core, depends on the purchasing power and loyalty of its backers. An active and outspoken community can indicate investor confidence, which can help engage new investors and signal to developers to continue innovating and refining their products.
Furthermore, it’s also important to see the coin’s influence beyond the immediate community. What is its perception in the broader crypto space? If it’s more positive sentiment than negative, then your chosen coin can be said to have good long-term potential.
We hope these tips will help you narrow down your next altcoin investment. A good way to start your altcoin investment journey is to look at popular crypto tokens and branch off from there.
