Beginning crypto investors are often put off by the high price of one Bitcoin - currently well over $30,000 in 2022, and at its peak almost $70,000 in 2021. Despite the recent correction in the crypto markets, prices haven’t crashed back to the under $1000 per Bitcoin levels seen prior to the 2017 bull run.
Although it's possible to buy a fraction of one Bitcoin - say 0.01 BTC for around $390 - or even a Satoshi (the smallest unit of a Bitcoin) for less than a cent, many investors feel they’ve missed the boat on Bitcoin and look to cheap cryptos for high gains. Perhaps an alternative coin, known as altcoins, may be the next Bitcoin.
Best Cheap Cryptocurrency to buy in 2022 - Decentralized Exchanges
The below coins can’t be found on Coinbase, Binance, eToro or any of the larger centralized exchanges - ones where there is a fiat on-ramp to easily buy crypto with a bank transfer, credit card, etc.
For that reason they haven’t yet seen mass adoption - early investors wanting high gains have to put in the extra legwork to invest in less-than-ideal conditions.
By the time the masses - everyone from your cab driver to your hairdresser - can easily click buy on their mobile phones, it is usually the market top for that coin - as was the case when Shiba Inu (SHIB) was the latest craze among retail investors.
Lucky Block ($LBLOCK)
Recently mentioned on Nasdaq.com and Yahoo Finance as one of the best up and coming crypto assets, this project’s native token LBLOCK is currently under one cent, priced at around $0.004 per coin, having gone on a 70x run from presale price to its peak.
Lucky Block is a decentralized lottery gaming project, intended to open up jackpot lottery draws to a worldwide market without local government regulation and red tape, and fairer odds for the players.
It’s a unique concept that could capture a small slice of the global gambling market share which is valued in the hundreds of billions, so its native token LBLOCK potentially has room to grow.
It’s less than two months old and launched on a decentralized exchange (DEX) which can be confusing to navigate - full instructions on how to invest in crypto on DEXes are on the Lucky Block website.
- Current price range - $0.004 - $0.005
- Coinmarketcap rank - #3044
- All-time high - $0.0097
- Initial price - $0.00020
- Where to buy - Pancakeswap
- Launched - Jan 2022
Marshall Rogan Inu ($MRI)
Similar to LBLOCK, MRI had one of the most bullish charts in crypto in early 2022, also rising thousands of percent. Both are now trading at a discount, MRI is currently under 10 cents per coin.
As you can guess from the name, this is a ‘meme coin’ like Dogecoin and Shiba Inu, Marshall Rogan Inu capitalizes on Joe Rogan’s celebrity status (his dog is named Marshall) and is being promoted by UFC fighters including Chael Sonnen and 40 others.
MRI is trying to be the next Shiba Inu, although for now it is not on the larger crypto exchanges, so potentially this is like investing in Shiba Inu in 2020 before the hype - if it succeeds that is. Only invest what you can afford to lose.
- Current price range - $0.09 - $0.10
- Coinmarketcap rank - #3011
- All-time high - $0.204
- Initial price - $0.001
- Where to buy - Uniswap
- Launched - Feb 2022
Investing in Crypto at Low Prices - is it the Best Strategy?
While it’s true cheap cryptocurrency can potentially provide a higher return on investment (ROI) as low prices generally mean a lower market capitalization (market cap) which is easier for market makers to pump up to new highs, buying random altcoins can also be risky.
Cryptos that haven’t stood the test of time like Bitcoin or Ethereum could be abandoned by developers or rendered obsolete by the next big thing that comes along that can meet its use case more efficiently.
There are thousands of altcoins that over crypto’s history ended up as dead coins, and some outright scams, from pump and dump schemes to ponzis and rugpulls.
It’s important to do your own research (DYOR) and select the best cheap cryptos if you’re going to go down that route, and hedge your bets - don’t go all-in on one coin, keep a diversified portfolio and always hold some BTC and ETH for stability. Debatably ETH is also one of the best cheap cryptos to buy in 2022 if one day it will flip BTC’s market cap, as some notable traders predict - the ‘flippening’ narrative. The Ethereum price is currently around $2500, which is low relative to its ATH.
Whatever cheap crypto you go for, use several limit orders to split your bids up and scale into a position slowly, in increments, near to support levels like the 4h 200 EMA (exponential moving average) and some ‘stink bids’ even lower down on daily and weekly EMAs - they will probably eventually get filled, before you get rich.
Remember to take profit when you’re up, especially if you’re up a lot and find yourself taking a screenshot of your balance to show friends - unrealized gains are only on paper until you realize them by selling some of your holdings. When you’re euphoric, force yourself to sell a portion, and when there’s blood on the streets as Warren Buffett says, click buy.
Also keep some of your funds in cash or Tether (USDT, pegged to the US dollar) to protect your capital and be able to buy the dip in the event of a market crash, to get a better average entry on your positions.
Safety in Crypto
Beware of scam websites and imposters that impersonate small-cap crypto projects - they might come in the form of a website link claiming to be offering an airdrop of the crypto in question, or a person DMing you on Telegram or Twitter using the profile pics of someone else.
Always check what you’re clicking on, and don’t send crypto to people online unless you’re 100% sure who the recipient is. Crypto wallets being hacked and other types of phishing scams are common. It may be cheap crypto you’re buying, but don’t lose it to scammers.
By Chainanalysis data, crypto users lost more than $7.7 billion to scams and other crypto-based crimes last year. Read our beginner's guide to cryptocurrency for tips on how to stay safe investing in crypto.
Conclusion
From our research two of the best cheap cryptos to buy in 2022 are both recent crypto projects that have been trending on Reddit, are at low price points in terms of market cap and their ATHs, and are only listed at DEXes - LBLOCK and MRI, therefore, are potentially a good investment in 2022.
The news of Biden passing crypto regulation laws passed with little impact, as it emerged nothing of much note would really happen to the US regulatory framework. So far a nuclear apocalypse or WWIII scenario has also been avoided amid the Ukraine-Russia crisis, and the S&P 500 has stopped dumping – all good signs for crypto prices.
Even if it takes until the next Bitcoin halving in 2024 for a new bull market to take place, the long-term outlook for crypto is as bullish as ever.
This article was written in cooperation with Finixio