In cryptocurrency investing circles, it's fashionable to talk about buying the dip. Unfortunately, the "dip" has now turned into a full-blown rout in 2026. Top cryptocurrencies, including both Bitcoin (BTC 1.11%) and Ethereum (ETH 0.96%), are down anywhere from 20% to 35% for the year, and market sentiment has taken a nosedive.
However, even amid crypto market chaos, there are some intriguing investment opportunities. Two cryptocurrencies that are on my shopping list for February are Hyperliquid (HYPE +4.01%) and Pax Gold (PAXG 1.28%). Here's why.
Hyperliquid
For the year, Hyperliquid is up 24% and now ranks as the 12th-largest cryptocurrency, with an $8 billion market cap. The name may not be familiar to many equity investors, but Hyperliquid has built a huge following with risk-seeking crypto traders since its launch in November 2024.
Hyperliquid is a decentralized cryptocurrency exchange that offers trading products -- such as crypto perpetual futures -- that are not available on U.S. centralized exchanges. For crypto traders, these futures contracts hold the allure of massive upside potential. That's because traders are able to bet on the future direction of a cryptocurrency without actually owning the underlying asset. In addition, there's no official expiration date on these futures contracts (hence the term "perpetual").
Image source: Getty Images.
In 2026, Hyperliquid has plans to roll out even more trading products, including new "outcomes" contracts that are modeled on the types of contracts that investors can currently buy and sell on prediction market platforms such as Polymarket or Kalshi. This could open the door to even more trading volume on Hyperliquid, and potentially lead the way to mainstream adoption.
Even though U.S. investors can trade the HYPE token, they are officially restricted from using the Hyperliquid trading platform due to ongoing regulatory concerns about the riskiness of certain trading products. So there's no way to "test-drive" Hyperliquid before investing in it, and this might dissuade many investors. That being said, it's one of the few crypto tokens with a $1 billion market cap or higher that's actually up for the year.
Pax Gold
If Hyperliquid is too risky for you, can I suggest Pax Gold instead? As its name suggests, Pax Gold is "tokenized gold" (gold that exists in the form of a crypto token). It can also be thought of as a gold-backed stablecoin, given that every PAXG token is backed by one fine troy ounce of gold stored in a London gold vault. At any point in time, you can exchange your PAXG token for physical gold.
CRYPTO: PAXG
Key Data Points
Thus, as the price of gold continues to soar past $5,000, so does the price of a PAXG token. There is a 1:1 correlation, given the underlying gold peg. So it's perhaps no surprise that Pax Gold is up an impressive 16% to start the year. As gold goes, so goes Pax Gold.
Any possible contrarian plays?
Of course, it's also possible to take a contrarian view of the crypto market, and hunt for beaten-down names capable of rebounding back to form in 2026. In that category, I'd include Bitcoin. It's almost unfathomable that Bitcoin is now trading 45% below its all-time high from October.
However, if immediate upside potential is your concern, my two top picks are Hyperliquid and Pax Gold. Both could soar higher this year, regardless of what the broader crypto market is doing.
