Top altcoins (among 100 coins) this year

Key Insights

• ETH-Ethereum remains the king of cryptocurrencies with healthy demand, especially from the institutional cohort.
• SOL- its native network, Solana, was seen as a strong contender for Ethereum.
• SUI- Its mainnet has been consistently making headlines, and it was one of the networks with the highest adoption rates in 2025.
• TRX- Strong stablecoin positioning was still one of its best attributes, allowing it to leverage value flow.

Alt season was a no-show in 2025 despite heavy anticipation, but some altcoins stood out despite the market outcome. These same coins have the potential to attract healthy liquidity flows once the market enters the next bullish phase.

Kicking off the list is ETH, the king of altcoins, which has maintained its position for these reasons. 2025 was the year when Ethereum ETFs truly shone.

Ethereum ETF data revealed that the total assets under management amounted to just over $17 billion as of 26 December. The cryptocurrency had about $770 million in trading volume at the time of observation.

Beyond the ETFs aspect, ETH crypto stood out among the altcoins due to the strong demand it registered in 2025. It even rallied to a new ATH just below $5,000. Its native network, Ethereum, was a clear contender for key narratives such as RWA deployment.

How SOL Stepped Up to The Plate as One of The Top Altcoins

The Solana network really went toe to toe with Ethereum on the same key narratives. For example, Solana ETFs received a healthy welcome even though they were a bit late to the game.

Nevertheless, the Solana network experienced one of the most dramatic and noteworthy shifts in 2025. It started with strong volumes largely driven by meme coin hype. However, retail activity and DeFi helped maintain robust volumes even as the meme coin narrative cooled off.

Solana’s enterprise adoption also accelerated in 2025. It was identified as one of the top chains poised to capitalise on the tokenisation agenda.

On the price side of things, Solana outshone most of the top altcoins earlier in the year. SOL price was among the first coins to push into a new historic high in 2025, courtesy of its bullish price action in January.

SUI is Among the Altcoins With the Highest Growth Potential

If a cryptocurrency’s potential upside can be measured by its mainnet performance, then Sui might be among the altcoins to watch in 2026.

The Sui network consistently popped up on DeFi and institutional adoption radars in 2025. The network’s TVL and stablecoin liquidity experienced a robust upside until October, when market activity began to cool.

While the Sui network growth was impressive in 2025, its native coin received a massive discount, as was the case with most top altcoins.

Interestingly, the cryptocurrency achieved a new ATH in January 2025 courtesy of the gains achieved in the second half of 2024. The SUI crypto has since retreated by about 73% from its historic top.

TRX Showed Resilience Despite Overall Bearish Conditions

TRX enjoys a healthy position among top altcoins, courtesy of Tron’s solid stablecoin strategy. This has contributed positively to demand for TRX in the last few years.

TRX price on larger scales has been moving as if it were still in alt season. For context, its 12-month performance was overall bullish since 2020. It was on track to score a hat trick in terms of closing every year in the green.

TRX price was up over 9% in the last 12 months at the time of observation, meaning it was on track to close 2025 on an overall uptrend. Some of its top rival altcoins, including Bitcoin and ETH, were in the red in the last 12 months.