One thing is already for sure: the year 2021 will be remembered for another epic cryptocurrency bull market. We do not yet know how long it will last, but we have already seen our fair share of parabolic price action.
Smart Contract Platforms
Just as in the 2017 bull market also in 2021 smart contract platforms are among the best performing coins.
We have analyzed the 5 leading Ethereum contenders in 2021 and present you their relative performance against Ethereum in the table below.
In our table you can see the relative performance of Solana, BNB, DOT, Algorand and ADA against Ethereum. The data series starts in the calendar year 2021. The value 1 on the y-axis represents an identical performance compared to Ethereum. Values above 1 are indicating that the respective cryptocurrency is outperforming Ethereum while values below 1 are indicating that the coin is underperforming Ethereum.
Results
The clear winner of all major smart contract platforms in 2021 is Solana which is outperforming Ethereum by 8x YTD. Solana is rocking it in 2021 and it seems that the $SOL rally is far from over.
$BNB comes in second with more than 4x outperformance measured against Ethereum. Note that in February $BNB went briefly parabolic and even outperformed Solana. Of course $BNB is not only a smart contract platform token but also the exchange token of the centralized exchange Binance.
$ADA started the year 2021 very promising and was initially keeping up with $SOL and $BNB. However, lately $ADA was losing ground even against Ethereum. It currently stands at a 2x outperformance of Ethereum.
$DOT and $ALGO have been 2021’s disappointment so far. Adjusted for the risk you rather held $ETH than $DOT or $ALGO since the performance would have been identical. However, the second largest cryptocurrency by market cap has clearly lower risks associated with it than $ALGO or $DOT. Nevertheless it remains to be seen how $DOT and $ALGO will perform in the next months. Maybe their spotlight is yet to come.
In general the rule of thumbs applies that large cap coins tend to perform better during bearish market periods whereas lower cap contenders outperform during bullish periods.
Before you go ..
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