Key Points
The crypto market looks terrible.
Usually that means there's more pain ahead.
But, for those who can bear to do it, it's often profitable to load up when nobody else is buying.
- 10 stocks we like better than Bitcoin ›
The crypto markets are taking an absolute beating in 2026, even after a lackluster 2025. Without exception, every crypto major is down this year, and most have fallen on the order of 25% or more.
That means there might be some great bargains to find for bold investors who are willing to hold through a bit more downside. In particular, there are three cryptocurrencies I'll be buying after this pullback -- and one I'll be continuing to avoid, so let's take a look at each.
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1. Bitcoin
Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) is still the asset that's the anchor for almost all crypto portfolios, despite being down more than 20% this year.
It's simply hard to beat a coin that has a capped and scarce supply and deep liquidity, not to mention the longest history of use in the sector.
The next few quarters are likely to be volatile. There is a genuine crisis of faith in the asset's purpose and its future at the moment -- which, for the record, is something that happens every time the crypto sector enters into a deep bear market. But Bitcoin has survived such crises every other time, even if it ultimately ended up dropping around 80% from its highs.
This time around, the factor to watch for signs of a recovery will be Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) money flows. Once net inflows become common again, the coin's price will have good odds of rising once more.
2. Zcash
Down almost 60% in 2026, Zcash (CRYPTO: ZEC) is still worth buying because it aims at being a Bitcoin-like store of value, but with additional privacy features. Its supply policy is exactly the same as Bitcoin's, with a hard cap of 21 million coins, and mining-based production that gets more and more difficult over time.
Its shielded transactions rely on a new form of cryptography called zk-SNARKs, which can prove a payment is valid without exposing the people involved. That capability is obviously in demand, but it also invites higher regulatory scrutiny, which is a risk.
If you buy it, try self-custodying -- rather than letting another entity do it for you -- to see how easy the process is, and treat operational security as a core part of the bet, because it's part of the asset's value.
3. Ethereum
Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) is an operating system for smart contracts, which means it's effectively a platform for financial software. Smart contracts are programs that hold assets and execute rules automatically, which is why decentralized finance (DeFi) took off there first.
Ethereum is the central hub for DeFi in the crypto sector, with a total value locked (TVL) of more than $51.3 billion. That status drives demand for Ethereum's native coin, as doing any DeFi task on the network requires spending it.
Of course, Ethereum is down more than 30% this year, but regardless of that, it has a couple of big upgrades planned that will make its network even more valuable than before.
Given that its past upgrades were instrumental in driving down transaction costs on the chain and making it a more appealing place to do business for DeFi, it's very likely that the coin will be in higher demand as its new features roll out.
Shiba Inu: One to avoid
Shiba Inu (CRYPTO: SHIB) is a meme coin, which means it can rally on hype, but it doesn't offer a durable value-capture mechanism to bet on. Owning it is mostly a wager on attention, and attention is fickle; after starting the year at a market cap of $4.1 billion, it's now down to $3.3 billion.
Shibarium, the project's Layer-2 (L2) network, technically exists, but it isn't in active use. It only captured $2 of chain fees on Feb. 24. That means there is effectively no activity happening, which in turn means that there aren't any tokens being burned, which would reduce the supply and pump up the asset's price.
And when usage and fees are that low, the token's long-term story turns into pure hope. There's not much reason to expect anything from this coin, given that there's no real development activity going on that would give it a real investment thesis by adding features. So don't buy it, even if it's priced lower than before.
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Alex Carchidi has positions in Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Zcash. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin and Ethereum. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
