Bitcoin, altcoins & market cap
Bitcoin and the rest
Bitcoin (BTC) was the first cryptocurrency and is still the biggest. Every other coin is called an altcoin: Ether (ETH), Solana (SOL), XRP and thousands more. Memecoins are altcoins driven mostly by hype; they can multiply or crash in days.
Market cap, not price
To compare coins, look at market cap: price × number of coins in circulation. A coin costing $0.01 isn't "cheap" if there are 100 billion of them: it's worth $1 billion. Small market caps swing much more, both up and down.
Remember: Compare market caps, not prices.
Test yourself
An altcoin is…
Any coin other than bitcoinETH, SOL and memecoins are all altcoins.
Why can't you call a coin "cheap" just because its price is low?
Its size depends on price × supply (market cap)A tiny price with a huge supply can still be a big market cap.
Small market-cap coins usually…
Move more, up and downLess money is needed to push them around.
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