U.S. investment bank Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) recently declared that the “cryptocurrency winter”, which sent prices sharply lower throughout much of last year, is over.
Specifically, Morgan Stanley’s Wealth Management unit said in a post on its website that the bear market in digital coins and tokens has run its course. “A crypto spring is likely on the horizon,” said the bank in its online post.
At the same time, cryptocurrency traders and investors are cheering after Bitcoin (BTC-USD) recently formed a “golden cross,” a technical indicator that signals the current rally is likely to continue over the near-term. The golden cross was formed as Bitcoin’s 50-day moving average overtook its 200-day moving average, bringing its year-to-date gain to 110%.
With the crypto winter having thawed and digital assets rallying, we look at the three top cryptos to buy for the next bull run.
Bitcoin (BTC-USD)
You can’t really talk about crypto without discussion the biggest digital token by market capitalization. The price of Bitcoin has just broke above $35,000 and hit its highest level of the year. Bitcoin is currently trading right around the $35,000 level after peaking at nearly $36,000. Bitcoin’s price is now at its highest level since cryptocurrencies entered a bear market in May 2022, and its price has more than doubled from the low of $16,000 in December 2022. The largest crypto by market capitalization has seen its price rally 30% in the past few weeks after trading at $26,000 throughout the summer.
The current rally in Bitcoin is being fueled by expectations that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will soon approve the first Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF), which is expected to attract scores of investment dollars. At the same time, anticipation that the U.S. Federal Reserve is done raising interest rates has investors willing to put capital into riskier assets such as cryptocurrencies. Some analysts are forecasting that Bitcoin’s price may now rise to $50,000 in the coming months, with a few even predicting that BTC will break its all-time high of $68,000.
Ethereum (ETH-USD)
The price of Ethereum (ETH-USD), the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, is also rallying. The price of ETH is currently hovering near $1,900, its highest level in five months. Ethereum’s price has now risen 6% in the last week and gained 15% over the past month. The move higher comes amid the rally in all cryptocurrencies, giving Ethereum a market capitalization of $227.4 billion. Year-to-date, Ethereum’s price has increased 58%.
As with Bitcoin, analysts see the price of ETH going higher from here. Analysts at Standard Chartered (LON:STAN) recently raised eyebrows when they forecast that the price of Ethereum could increase five-fold by the end of 2026. According to the bank, the price of Ethereum could reach $8,000 within two years as it becomes more widely used in blockchain-based smart contracts, as well as in gaming. “We see the $8,000 level as a stepping stone to our long-term ‘structural’ valuation estimate of $26,000-$35,000,” reads the Standard Chartered report on Ethereum.
Cardano (ADA-USD)
Also on an upswing this year is the cryptocurrency Cardano (ADA-USD). Year-to-date, the digital token has gained 45%, lifting its five-year increase to nearly 500%. ADA is popular among crypto bulls as its blockchain technology is used in increasingly popular decentralized finance (DeFi) networks. Today, Cardano is the third biggest cryptocurrency after Bitcoin and Ethereum with a market capitalization of more than $100 billion.
With its role in the execution of smart contracts and decentralized finance, Cardano is viewed as a main competitor of Ethereum, the current leader when it comes to DeFi. Decentralized finance places financial functions onto digital ledgers and enables people to do things such as lend or borrow funds without the need for intermediaries such as banks and brokerages. Following a recent 20% price surge, many analysts are growing increasingly bullish on ADA and see more gains ahead.
On the date of publication, Joel Baglole 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.
