Across the board, cryptocurrencies are down for the year. In fact, some large market cap cryptocurrencies are down as much as 45% for the year. Just because they're on sale, though, doesn't mean that you should buy them.
Three beaten-down cryptos to avoid for now are Cardano (ADA 3.86%), Dogecoin (DOGE 2.65%), and Litecoin (LTC 1.12%). All have rallied at some point this year, mostly on hype and speculation, but all are destined to fall this year. Here's why.
Cardano
On March 2, President Donald Trump mentioned Cardano in a single Truth Social post about the potential creation of a national crypto strategic reserve, and the price of Cardano shot through the roof for a huge one-day gain. You can see this very easily in the chart below.
CRYPTO: ADA
Key Data Points
But, ever since then, Cardano has been selling off. On March 6, the reserve morphed into the U.S. Digital Asset Stockpile, and there's no longer any guarantee that the U.S. government will be buying Cardano. Any Cardano it has already confiscated, of course, will be part of the Stockpile. But at least for now, the federal government isn't going to start buying Cardano on the open market anytime soon.
As a result, I'm not buying Cardano right now. Keep in mind, too, that the all-time high for Cardano is just $3.10, and it's now down almost 80% from that figure, so the upside is very limited for the amount of risk you're taking on. For now, I'm ignoring all the hype and speculation from crypto traders suggesting that Cardano might soar to a price of $10. In my opinion, that's just wishful thinking.
Dogecoin
The world's most popular meme coin, Dogecoin, is in the headlines primarily because of Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency, referred to as DOGE. But here's the thing: Dogecoin has absolutely no direct relationship with Musk, DOGE, or any government cost-cutting initiative of any kind. So if you're expecting the price of Dogecoin to soar in response to government belt-tightening, you're mistaken.
Image source: Getty Images.
Heading into 2025, crypto investors were talking up meme coins as the key to building generational wealth. Some were talking about a "meme coin supercycle" that would send meme coins soaring to multibillion-dollar market caps. Instead, we got the Official Trump meme coin (down 85% from its highs), and a lot of animal-themed meme coins down anywhere from 70% to 90% for the year.
The meme coin bubble has officially burst, so do yourself a favor and resist the temptation to buy more Dogecoin at a steep discount. For the year, Dogecoin is down more than 45%, and I think it has further to fall. In its entire history, Dogecoin has never once traded above $1. And I don't think the situation will change in 2025, with Dogecoin currently trading at just $0.16.
Litecoin
In February, analysts at Bloomberg suggested that Litecoin had a 90% chance of getting a new spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 2025. That was big news, since many crypto investors had largely forgotten about Litecoin.
At the time, the conventional wisdom was that, even if the new spot Litecoin ETFs attracted just a fraction of the amount of money that the spot Bitcoin ETFs attracted, it might be enough to send Litecoin soaring.
But there are just two things wrong with that thinking. First of all, the SEC may not approve anything if current volatility in the crypto market persists. And second, there may not be that much demand for a Litecoin ETF after all, if crypto prices keep falling. Even Bloomberg acknowledged that demand for any spot Litecoin ETF would be "comparatively low."
CRYPTO: LTC
Key Data Points
And that means investors might be too optimistic about how much higher Litecoin could go. Litecoin briefly soared past $130 in February and looked to be one of the top performers of the year. But there was no mention of Litecoin by Trump in his Truth Social post on March 2, and no mention of future Litecoin buying by the U.S. government at the White House Crypto Summit on March 7. As a result, Litecoin is now back down to less than $90.
Are there other beaten-down cryptos worth exploring?
However, that doesn't mean that there aren't other hidden crypto gems worth exploring. The top name on my list is Bitcoin (BTC 1.81%). It's down 14% for the year, and should rebound nicely once current market volatility subsides.
As a final reminder: Not all cryptocurrencies trading at huge discounts are buys. The temptation is to buy the dip any time the crypto market swoons, but this is not the time. Unfortunately, there's just not enough hidden value to recommend Cardano, Dogecoin, or Litecoin right now.
