The top cryptos to buy now aren’t as difficult to find as you might think.

As just about every crypto enthusiast knows, the crypto market is emotional and volatile. There’s a pendulum that measures the general shift in attitude called the crypto fear and greed index. It is analogous to the fear and greed index that measures stock market sentiment. 

Investors use both to derive macro information regarding the future of the overall market and to help govern their decision-making.

One important thing to understand is that as the index trends toward greed, it’s often time to sell. Greedy investors believe prices will go up indefinitely and that can lead to sharp corrections.

The opposite is true: fear creates opportunities to buy at lower prices. That’s where the market is headed, making these the top cryptos to buy now

Dogecoin (DOGE-USD)

Dogecoin (DOGE-USD) remains among the top cryptos to buy now for capital when the crypto market trends toward speculation and when it trends toward fear. As mentioned, the markets are trending toward fear over the last month or so. 

Unsurprisingly, Dogecoin has trended upward during that period. DOGE could realistically continue to move upward in the coming weeks. There’s reason to believe that fear will increase overall: U.S. creditworthiness was recently downgraded by Fitch. 

Remember, the crypto market is still  nascent. It is more difficult to judge its direction than it is that of the more mature stock market. Investors have to paint in broad strokes with investments in Dogecoin and other cryptos.

We have far fewer metrics with which to judge an asset than we do in the stock market. Investors need to refer to something like the fear and greed index to help govern their thinking. That index points to the notion that Dogecoin can move up. 

Shiba Inu (SHIB-USD)

Shiba Inu (SHIB-USD) is among the top cryptos to buy now for similar reasons to DOGE.

They tend to correlate to one another fairly well. That said, Dogecoin has increased in value by 11% over the past year while Shiba Inu has shed more than 26% of its value.

However, they are trending in the same direction as fear increases across the cryptocurrency markets. Shiba Inu has been steadily moving upward since mid-June and as fear grows it should continue to. 

By now, most investors realize that Shiba Inu’s lack of real-world utility isn’t especially important. You can buy some things with it, yes, but its real value is primarily as a betting mechanism.

So, follow the patterns as much as possible and when they suggest potential appreciation is ahead, make a bet. 

XRP (XRP-USD)

By now, pretty much every investor knows that XRP (XRP-USD) won against the SEC in court. Soit makes sense that it’s on thie list of  top cryptos to buy now.

We also know a few more things following the ruling. XRP won’t be considered a security of course. That’s the most important aspect for the market overall. Further, though, we’ve seen that the court win hasn’t propelled XRP above the $1 threshold though many speculated it would. 

That leaves investors scratching their heads regarding XRP prices moving forward. As I write this, XRP trades for $0.65. Given that the 50-day moving average sits at $0.60 I think current prices represent a reasonable entry point.

The 200-day moving average of $0.50 is probably less relevant now that XRP has prevailed in court. There is no more worry of a surprise judgment in favor of the SEC. 

XRP is maybe less exciting at this point simply due to the lack of drama. What remains is the fifth largest crypto by market capitalization and a project with real-world cross-border remittance utility. 

Cardano (ADA-USD)

Every time I write about Cardano (ADA-USD) I revisit the idea that the slow, deliberate development of its network, and the project overall, can cause substantial value creation. That won’t be any different today. 

I was recently reading an article somewhere about Cardano’s approach regarding the development of its network as it relates to software and protocols. It touched on the same idea which is that all software and protocols must pass peer review before being added to the network. 

The obvious result is that Cardano’s network is developing slower than its peers. It is the antithesis to go fast and break stuff development protocols that can create massive growth.

While that tends to mute its price over the short term, it also increases the chances that Cardano will create massive value that snowballs at some future point. 

ADA is very inexpensive currently which is a clear opportunity for those investors who agree with the philosophy behind its development. 

Bitcoin (BTC-USD)

Bitcoin (BTC-USD) has fallen over the past month by roughly 5%. Bitcoin will continue to grow given that the worst of the Fed rate hikes have passed.

It seems highly unlikely that anything akin to 2022 will happen again soon. Thus, prices are much more stable currently. The point is that sub-$20k price levels are out of the question. 

Anyway, traders and investors want to know if there’s reason to believe that Bitcoin will appreciate in price soon. That reason relates to market capitulation regarding Bitcoin.

All that means is that weaker investors are collectively selling at the moment opening an opportunity for the better-funded investors to pick up BTC.

That is indeed what reports suggest: Since May, millionaires and billionaires have collectively accumulated Bitcoin. At some point that leads to an inversion of the curve and prices move upward. 

That outcome remains a distinct possibility given that prices have moved downward over the past month. An inversion is imminent. 

Optimism (OP-USD)

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Optimism (OP-USD) is a trending layer-two protocol built on top of the Ethereum (ETH-USD) network.

Many layer-two protocols exist, that’s nothing new. Ethereum continues to face scaling issues so there will be more layer-two protocols springing up in the future. 

Optimism just happens to be trending at the moment. That begs the question of whether an investor should consider it a flavor of the month or whether it has staying power.

I’d refer to the total value locked in Optimism to argue that it does have staying power. There is over $500 million in total value locked in Ethereum through Optimism. 

Optimism has long-term potential based on TVL. Further, it has shown short-term potential as well, rising from $1.13 to $1.75 since mid-June. All of those factors suggest that Optimism continues to have potential at the moment and into the future. At the very least, Optimism is a layer-two protocol to remain aware of for investors. 

Hedera (HBAR-USD)

Hedera (HBAR-USD) is a public network for DApp creation at the enterprise level. It has become apparent that the cryptocurrency movement is here to stay.

That means traditional financial institutions will increase their adoption of crypto functionality. They will be forced to adapt or suffer the consequences. 

Hedera has worked with S&P 500 clientele in the past. It has evidence that it can serve as the bridge between the traditional finance world and the cryptocurrency world.

In short, it’s likely to be in demand as more and more financial firms consider crypto adoption within their respective businesses. Hedera can provide the public network for Dapp creation they’ll require. 

It’s a bet that is likely to take time to materialize. Further, Hedera has contracted in the past year. However, Hedera has powerful factors on its side. It may ultimately fail, but if it does, it won’t be because it failed to identify a niche utility to serve within the cryptocurrency market. 

On the date of publication, Alex Sirois did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.