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5 Best-Performing Cryptocurrencies with Market Caps Above $10 Billion

The best crypto for a specific investor will depend on their particular situation, but here are 5 of the top cryptocurrencies in terms of 90-day returns.

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Lead Writer

Sam Taube writes about investing for NerdWallet. He has covered investing and financial news since earning his economics degree from the University of Maryland in 2016. Sam has previously written for Investopedia, Benzinga, Seeking Alpha, Wealth Daily and Investment U, and has worked as an editor for Investment U, Wealth Daily and Haven Investment Letter. He is based in Brooklyn, New York.

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Chris Davis is a Managing Editor on the Investing team. He has passed the Series 65 (Uniform Investment Adviser Law Exam) and covered the stock market, investing strategies, investment accounts and cryptocurrency. His work has appeared in The Associated Press, The Washington Post, MSN, Yahoo Finance, MarketWatch, Newsday and TheStreet.

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Managing Editor

Chris Davis is a Managing Editor on the Investing team. He has passed the Series 65 (Uniform Investment Adviser Law Exam) and covered the stock market, investing strategies, investment accounts and cryptocurrency. His work has appeared in The Associated Press, The Washington Post, MSN, Yahoo Finance, MarketWatch, Newsday and TheStreet.

Last year had a lot of ups and downs for Bitcoin. The largest cryptocurrency by market cap notched several record highs, although it also had a few steep selloffs.

But it's worth noting that Bitcoin wasn't the best-performing cryptocurrency in 2025. And the stronger performers aren’t just meme coins — there’s a growing selection of established cryptocurrencies with long-term track records.

» Related: 7 current and upcoming spot Solana ETFs

5 top cryptocurrencies by 90-day performance

Below is a list of the five best-performing cryptocurrencies with market caps above $10 billion — a number chosen to weed out less-established coins — ordered by returns over the last 3 months. As you'll see, it's been a rough go for cryptocurrencies. So rather than best-performing, it's probably better to think of these as the large-cap cryptos that have seen less volatility than others in the last 90 days.

Coin name & symbol

90-day return

Hyperliquid (HYPE)

26.67%

TRON (TRX)

11.53%

Bitcoin (BTC)

-8%

Dogecoin (DOGE)

-4.99%

Ethereum (ETH)

-15.21%

Source: CoinMarketCap. Data is current as of May 1, 2026, and is intended for informational purposes only. This table is updated weekly.

Is cryptocurrency a good long-term investment?

Malcolm Ethridge, a financial planner with Maryland-based registered investment advisor CIC Wealth, said in an email interview that a small crypto investment, although it isn't "absolutely necessary," may help provide some diversification to a long-term portfolio, as long as investors put a few sensible guardrails around it and limit their exposure.

10% of Americans with retirement accounts say that part of their retirement accounts are invested in crypto, according to a July 2025 NerdWallet survey conducted online with The Harris Poll. Gen Z and millennial investors were more likely to say this (14% and 18%, respectively) than Gen X and baby boomer investors (7% and 5%, respectively). For more statistics on young adults' retirement trajectories, check out How Gen Z Is Preparing (or Not) For Retirement.

Ethridge said that investors should consider limiting crypto exposure to no more than 5% of their overall portfolio. This allows an investor to benefit from crypto bull markets, while limiting their potential losses during crypto downturns.

» Pros and cons of Bitcoin: Is Bitcoin a good investment?

Which is the best crypto to buy now?

The best crypto to buy now for a particular investor will depend on their circumstances and goals. If you’re using extra money to speculate on cryptocurrencies for fun, you may be inclined to look for small, high-volatility cryptocurrencies.

But if you’re looking to make a long-term cryptocurrency investment for diversification purposes, you may be more interested in mature coins like Bitcoin and Ethereum, which have longer track records, larger market caps and more adoption by major financial institutions.

When looking at smaller coins, it’s important to remember that return isn’t everything. Many altcoins (non-Bitcoin cryptocurrencies) have significantly more limited use cases.

Toncoin (TON), for example, is a spinoff of a defunct blockchain-based web hosting scheme (“The Open Network,” or “TON”) originally developed by the social media app Telegram. Dogecoin (DOGE) and Shiba Inu (SHIB) are meme coins — joke altcoins that represent internet memes.

These kinds of coins can sometimes post triple-digit returns in a matter of months, but investors should note that they are considerably less mature, more specialized and more volatile than the “blue chip” cryptos like Bitcoin and Ethereum.

How to add cryptocurrency to your portfolio

There are many ways to invest in cryptocurrency, such as a variety of crypto exchanges, apps and platforms. The following conventional online brokers also offer some cryptocurrency access:

Robinhood.

Public.

Interactive Brokers.

Fidelity.

M1 Finance.

There are also exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that indirectly invest in various kinds of cryptocurrency, as well as spot Bitcoin ETFs that invest directly in Bitcoin and spot Ethereum ETFs that invest directly in Ethereum.

In Ethridge’s opinion, investors should either focus on Bitcoin or look for a diversified cryptocurrency ETF.

“I think that investors looking to get exposure here should either own Bitcoin exclusively, as it is the largest, most mature crypto currency by a wide margin, or they should invest via a crypto ETF that owns the 10-20 legitimate, established tokens for you all in one place,” Ethridge said.

“This approach will help make trading and tracking easy, as well as help keep costs down, as these things are very expensive to trade,” he said.

» Check out some of the best crypto wallets.

The author owned Bitcoin at the time of publication, and Bitcoin and Ethereum at the time of last update.

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