After months of volatility and uncertainty in the crypto market, it's time to get back to the basics. Instead of chasing losses or doubling down on underperforming investments, it's time to focus on the best-in-class cryptocurrencies capable of powering your portfolio to a winning year in 2025.
With that in mind, here's a list of five cryptocurrencies you can safely offload as you spring clean your portfolio.
Dogecoin and Shiba Inu
Let's start with any speculative meme coin investments you might still have in your portfolio, such as Dogecoin (DOGE +0.52%) and Shiba Inu (SHIB +1.34%). Even after a huge meme coin rally over the past 30 days, these two cryptocurrencies are still down big for the year. Dogecoin is down 25%, while Shiba Inu is down 22%.
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Many investors may remember these two meme coins as standout performers from the last crypto bull market rally of 2020-21. As a result, investors might not be willing to part with them quite yet, convinced they're going to rebound "any day now."
But that would be a mistake. Dogecoin is down 68% from an all-time high in May 2021, and Shiba Inu is down 82% from an all-time high in October 2021. These coins, I'm sorry to say, are not coming back.
Don't take it from me, take it from Cathie Wood of Ark Invest. While she's still remarkably bullish on best-in-class cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC +0.17%), she has all but thrown in the towel on meme coins. In March, she specifically suggested that all but a few of them will turn out to be worthless. The ones that do survive, she says, will become digital collectors' items, but not serious investments.
Cardano and Avalanche
The top player in the Layer 1 blockchain market is still Ethereum (ETH +0.45%), so that's not a crypto I'd offload, especially after its spectacular 57% rally over the past 30 days. But there are more than a dozen Layer 1 blockchains attempting to become "the next Ethereum," and there's probably only room for one of these -- max -- in your portfolio.
That's why all the second-tier Ethereum competitors, including the likes of Cardano (ADA 0.83%) and Avalanche (AVAX 0.41%), are on my spring cleaning list. The Layer 1 blockchain market is too crowded. It's important to focus on the Layer 1 blockchain networks with the best chances to unseat Ethereum as the market leader.
For me, the clear leader is Solana (SOL +0.35%), which has a $90 billion market cap. That's 3x the size of Cardano, and 10x the size of Avalanche.
Solana also appears to be a frontrunner now for a new spot ETF, and that could result in a flood of new investor money pouring in soon. By way of comparison, neither Cardano nor Avalanche is a prime candidate to get a new spot ETF anytime soon.
Maybe this is oversimplifying things, but: no spot ETF, no mainstream adoption. Yes, some retail investors may continue buying Cardano and Avalanche, but the big institutional investors won't. As a result, the upside potential of these two cryptos is limited at best, and it's best to offload them.
Litecoin
Finally, there's Litecoin (LTC 0.43%). It might seem hard to believe, but at one point this year, Litecoin was one of the best-performing cryptocurrencies of 2025. In January, Litecoin rallied on a Bloomberg report that it was going to be the next cryptocurrency to get a spot ETF.
CRYPTO: LTC
Key Data Points
That hasn't happened, and Litecoin has fizzled away. It's now flat for the year, even with a 34% rally over the past 30 days. That's a shame, because Litecoin is one of the oldest cryptocurrencies, dating back to 2011. Since it's a proof-of-work crypto, just like Bitcoin, it has dramatically lower regulatory risk than other coins.
That being said, Litecoin continues to be a market underachiever. Its most recent halving event, which took place in August 2023, turned out to be a nothing burger. At $100, Litecoin's price is a whopping 75% below its all-time high of $413 from May 2021. There are far better coins you can hold in your portfolio, especially if you're focused on long-term upside potential.
Sell in May and go away
On Wall Street, there's an old adage: "Sell in May, and go away." You can apply this same mindset to the crypto market. Sell all your underachieving crypto investments in May, and focus on all the best-in-class names instead, so you're positioned for a fantastic second half of the year.
For me, this means holding onto Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana, while offloading speculative meme coins such as Dogecoin and Shiba Inu; second-tier Ethereum challengers such as Cardano and Avalanche; and underperforming laggards such as Litecoin.
