The siren song of cryptocurrencies like Dogecoin (DOGE +3.68%) and Shiba Inu (SHIB +2.87%) is powerful. Yet for many, these tokens lead to ruin rather than riches.
There's a far better alternative, even if you're only looking to invest $1,000. Let's examine their flaws and then discuss the better option, which is up 48% during the past 12 months alone.
CRYPTO: DOGE
Key Data Points
You probably won't nail it if you try
First, let's analyze what needs to go right for you to make a lot of money from your investment in a meme coin like Dogecoin or Shiba Inu.
To have a shot at a good return, you need to buy these assets when prices are at their nadir rather than at their crest. Buying at the peak practically guarantees that you'll be sitting on deep losses, possibly for years, or possibly forever -- but it is rarely obvious when prices are at their maximum, because if it were obvious, you wouldn't want to be buying right then. Therefore you must have a sense of timing to succeed, which is a problem because you probably only got the idea to invest in these coins in the first place as a result of hearing about their increasing price level from someone else.
Not convinced? Look at this chart:
Dogecoin Price data by YCharts
When do you think people are going to be talking about Dogecoin the most? Precisely during the vertical portion of its price action, when the risk is the highest, and the upside potential is the lowest. In the same vein, the point of maximum opportunity is when everyone has long since given up hope and moved on, when you're the least likely to be thinking about buying this coin or any other cryptocurrency.
Without a sound investment thesis for why these coins will be worth more in the future than they're worth today, you'll have a different problem, which is to say that you'll lack the conviction to stick with your investment if times get tough. Hoping that their prices will go to the moon in the future simply isn't enough of a fact-driven argument for why your hard-earned dollars need to be allocated, nor is it sufficient to grant you the faith to hold when prices seem to keep inexplicably falling and falling.
CRYPTO: SHIB
Key Data Points
Invest for the long term
Bitcoin (BTC +4.90%) is a much better investment -- a small amount of it belongs in pretty much every portfolio.
Consider that Bitcoin is an asset with a limited supply. The number of Bitcoin that can ever exist is locked by its underlying protocol at 21 million, and of that total, roughly 5.5% remains unmined. As the difficulty of mining that last sliver increases regularly, Bitcoin's price can be expected to increase, even if demand rises only a bit.
So the price should continue to increase. It only takes a few Bitcoin diehards to continue believing in its value to ensure that there will always be a buyer, regardless of the price. And with new trends like the tokenization of real-world assets (RWAs) on the blockchain, the sky is the limit.
The same can't be said of Dogecoin or Shiba Inu, despite their propensity for surging in price every few years. Buy Bitcoin instead, and hold on to it forever -- if you're patient, it's hard to find a better investment in cryptocurrency.
