1. Bitcoin

Obviously Bitcoin is going to be in this list. As the first ever cryptocurrency it has built a platform that other altcoins have stemmed from. Currently it is sitting at around $2600 USD and has been fairly stagnant over the last week or so after a $1000 drop from its all time high of $3000. My main reason for investing in Bitcoin is the rate at which the general public are learning about it, and many businesses are adopting it. The more people that know about Bitcoin the more people that will buy it, and with any finite resource - as the supply decreases and demand increases the price per unit rises. Bitcoin is the most "trusted" of all cryptocurrencies at this point in time and most widely known/used. You ask any young person in the street if they know about Bitcoin and I reckon 30%-50% will say yes, but ask them about Ripple or Dash and they won't have a clue what you are talking about. Another point, while not necessarily good in the long run is the amount of speculation by well known businesspeople and investors that is going on currently. If Bill Gates or Warren Buffett says Bitcoin will go to $100,000 each then I assure you more people will go out and buy it. Do your future a favour and buy some, doesn't have to be a whole one - I guarantee you you'll thank me later.

2. Ethereum

Rising from $8 at the start of 2017 to a high of $420 a few weeks ago Ethereum has been one of the fastest growing cryptocurrencies of 2017. People are attracted to the almost instantaneous transactions and low fees - something Bitcoin has been unable to provide its users with in more recent times, but this is not the main selling point. Ethereum introduced a new concept to the cryptocurrency world - the ERC20 Token Standard, a platform that allows for indivduals to create their own forms of tokens that are issued over the Ethereum blockchain. With the increase in the amount of ICO's (Initial Coin Offerings) we have seen that most of these new tokens use the Ethereum Blockchain to distribute the their coins, meaning users need to use Ethereum for transaction (or "gas") fees and will need to buy ethereum in order to trade it for a variety of subtokens. Ethereum is in the perfect spot to buy currently in my opinion - down from its high of $420 weeks prior it has been hanging around the $260-$290 region for the past few weeks with little movement, waiting for its next outbreak.

3. Litecoin

As the first real altcoin Litecoin has always been seen as Bitcoins "little brother" and has much the same practical use, minus the overwhelming popularity. Back in February/March many considered Litecoin to be dead and it was hanging around the $5-$7 range and not moving very much at all. But with the recent implementation of SegWit, Litecoin has gone up tenfold in value and is currently the second most traded coin with a daily volume of $887 million, second only to Bitcoin and ahead of Ethereum by $100 million USD in terms of trading value. So what does this tell us? Well, it means people are once again using this coin in the masses, and with more people buying into it the finite supply will drastically increase in price. Today Litecoin hit an all time high of $53 USD then quickly fell $3 to around $50 USD per coin - still up 12.53% in the past 24 hours. I am expecting a small correction, maybe $5-$7 in the next few weeks, so I would advise all investors to hold off until the inevitable happens. I never recommend buying into a coin when it is at its all time high.

4. Dogecoin

Yes, I am serious. Dogecoin was one of the first altcoins on the scene and has been adopted as a "tipping" currency by many. It recently saw huge growth alongside the growth of Bitcoin and has a large community and userbase. The main  selling point for investments into DOGE is that it is extremely cheap, $0.0025 per coin to be exact and the importance of this is that you are much more likely to get a higher ROI percentage wise from a coin that is extremely cheap over a coin like Ethereum or Litecoin that are already $280 and $50 respectively a piece. 

5. Steem

Ironic I know, but you wouldn't be reading this post on this site if it wasn't for Steem. My love for Steem as a cryptocurrency comes from the true unique idea - a coin that revolves around a social network, where users are rewarded for their contributions. This concept is so abstract from any other coin I have seen that you can not help but invest some money into it and see where it goes. Steemit as a site is only in its beta stage, but is growing faster than ever, with hundreds of new and contributing users each and every day. Many large figures from other social media sites, predominantly YouTube have also started creating content on Steemit, drawing their already large fanbases with them from one platform to another. Steemit encourages individuals to share their knowledge and contribute by rewarding them in Steem, and as the community itself grows, so will the intrinsic value of Steem. Right now is a perfect time to buy, looking at the graphs you can see it fell quite severly with the entire crypto market in general, but is now on a steady uptrend back to its previous price. If you don't have some Steem already, get some. If you have Steem already, get some more.

Thanks for reading, I would love to hear your opinions and speculations in the comments. If this post helped, entertained or positively affected you in anyway it would be cool if you could upvote this post and check out some of my others. I am going to be posting a lot more frequently now that I am on holidays from school, so follow me to avoid missing any new content!

- sl4de