There are hundreds of coins available for trading on Binance. Cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin and Ethereum are generally called "altcoins." With so many choices, which ones are worth watching? Which ones should you avoid? This article won't give you a "must-buy list," but it will teach you how to make your own judgments.
Before you start, make sure you have a Binance account. Register through this link for a fee discount. We recommend installing the official app: the download page — it makes checking market data much more convenient.
First, Understand Why Altcoins Exist
Many people hear the word "altcoins" and immediately think they're all scams. In reality, it's just an industry term for "cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin" — it's not entirely negative.
Some altcoins are indeed just hype-driven empty projects, but many are building something real. For example, Ethereum (ETH) was once an altcoin, and now it's one of the foundational pillars of the entire industry. So the question isn't whether altcoins are worth buying, but how to tell the good ones from the bad.
Core Dimensions for Screening Altcoins
1. Look at Market Cap Ranking
Market cap represents a coin's total circulating value. Generally speaking:
- Top 20 coins: Battle-tested by the market over time, with good liquidity and relatively lower risk. Examples include SOL, BNB, ADA, XRP, etc.
- Ranked 50 to 200: Projects with some substance but still developing — opportunities and risks coexist.
- Beyond rank 200: High-risk territory where many projects may eventually go to zero.
Beginners should pick from the top 50 coins to at least ensure the coins they buy won't become completely untradeable in a short time.
2. Check Whether the Project Is Actually Building Something
Visit the project's official website and social media to evaluate:
- Is there actively updated code? Check their GitHub repository — if it hasn't been updated in months, the project is likely abandoned.
- Is the team transparent? An anonymous team isn't necessarily bad, but a team with public identities provides an extra layer of trust.
- Is there an actual product or application? Be especially cautious with projects that only have grand visions but no working products.
3. Look at Trading Volume
On Binance, you can see the 24-hour trading volume on each trading pair's page. Trading volume represents market activity and liquidity.
- High-volume coins are easy to buy and sell with minimal slippage
- Low-volume coins may leave you unable to find a counterparty when buying or selling, or a small amount of capital could cause huge price swings
We recommend choosing coins with at least several million dollars in 24-hour trading volume.
4. Check Binance's Tags and Labels
Binance itself provides risk warnings for certain coins. You may see "Monitoring Tag" or "Seed Tag" labels next to some coins, meaning Binance considers them to carry higher risk. Exercise extra caution when you see these tags.
Additionally, Binance periodically delists certain coins. If a coin is placed on the delisting candidate list, its price typically drops sharply.
Trending Sectors Worth Watching
While specific coin recommendations quickly become outdated, some broader trend directions remain relatively stable and are worth paying attention to:
Layer 2 Scaling Solutions. Ethereum's network congestion and high fees are long-standing issues. Layer 2 projects aimed at solving these problems, such as Arbitrum (ARB) and Optimism (OP), are backed by real technical demand.
Decentralized Finance (DeFi). DeFi protocols allow users to lend, trade, and earn yields without going through banks. Leading DeFi projects like AAVE and UNI have survived multiple market cycles.
Blockchain Competition. Besides Ethereum, several other blockchains are competing for developers and users. Solana (SOL), Avalanche (AVAX), and others are key players in this space.
AI and Blockchain Integration. Artificial intelligence is one of the hottest sectors right now, and some projects combining AI with blockchain technology are attracting market attention. However, this area also has significant hype, so careful evaluation is needed.
How to Take Action on Binance
Once you've identified coins you want to follow, here's what you can do on Binance:
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Add to Watchlist. On the app's market page, search for the coin name and tap the star icon to add it to your watchlist. This lets you see all the coins you're tracking on a single page.
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Set Price Alerts. For coins where you want to buy at a certain price, set a price alert. When the price reaches your target, the app will send a push notification.
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Start with Small Amounts. For any coin you're uncertain about, buy a small amount first (e.g., 10 to 50 USDT). Feel its volatility, observe its price patterns, and then decide whether to increase your position.
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Check the Coin Details Page. In the Binance app, tap any coin to see a project overview, official website link, whitepaper, and more. While not the most detailed research resource, it serves as a good starting point.
Essential Principles to Remember
Don't chase rallies. When an altcoin has already been rising for several days and has gone up several times over, jumping in at that point will most likely leave you stuck at the top. The truly good entry points are often when the market is quiet and nobody's talking about it.
Don't go all-in on one coin. No matter how bullish you are on a project, don't put all your funds into it. Spread across three to five different coins so that if one project fails, you won't lose everything.
Prepare mentally for a total loss. The risk of altcoins is far higher than Bitcoin. History is full of once-top-ranked altcoins that eventually dropped to near zero. Only invest money you can afford to lose.
Don't trust "insider tips." Social media is always full of people claiming to have inside information about an imminent surge. The vast majority of these so-called insider tips are either fake or deliberately spread by whales looking to dump their positions.
Review regularly. Every week or two, check whether the fundamentals of your altcoin holdings have changed: Has the team disappeared? Is the code still being updated? Is the community still active? If the answers are no, it may be time to consider exiting.
Final Thoughts
The altcoin world is full of opportunities but also riddled with traps. Rather than constantly listening to others' recommendations about which coin will moon, spend time learning to make your own judgments. Once you've mastered the screening methods, you'll find that the coins truly worth watching are actually quite few. Less is more — depth beats breadth every time.