Dogecoin is trading 80% below its all-time high, and no longer stands out in a crowded field of meme coins.
Cardano has been surpassed by a new generation of potential Ethereum challengers.
Litecoin has underperformed the market for years and is running out of potential catalysts.
10 stocks we like better than Dogecoin ›
A couple of weeks into 2026, the cryptocurrency market appears to be roaring back to life. With just a few exceptions, every major cryptocurrency is up to start the year as I write this.
But I’m not convinced that this rally is going to persist throughout the year. The following four cryptocurrencies are at serious risk of a decline of 50% or more in value. You have been warned.
Let’s start with the obvious picks first: Dogecoin (CRYPTO: DOGE) and Shiba Inu (CRYPTO: SHIB). Both of these meme coins are up more than 15% to start 2026, but I think this is really just a dead-dog bounce. These meme coins are fundamentally worthless, and their massive market caps are really just a result of their very high circulating coin supplies.
Image source: Getty Images.
Just look at the numbers for both meme coins — they’re beyond atrocious. For example, Dogecoin is trading at an 82% discount to its all-time high from May 2021. If Elon Musk can’t save Dogecoin, nobody can. I think there’s further to fall, as investors give up on these two meme coins entirely.
Touted as a potential Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) challenger when it launched back in 2017, Cardano (CRYPTO: ADA) is going nowhere fast these days. Yes, Cardano is up 15% to start the year. But zoom out and take a nice, long look at the five-year chart for Cardano (below). It doesn’t inspire confidence. I’m no longer confident that Cardano can break through the $1 price level anytime soon.
Right now, Cardano has a market cap of nearly $14 billion. If it loses 50% of its value, it would approach the market cap of Sui (CRYPTO: SUI), an up-and-coming Ethereum challenger that launched in 2023. I’d rather put my money into Sui right now than wait for Cardano to move higher.
Litecoin (CRYPTO: LTC) has been a real standout so far this year, but for all the wrong reasons. Of all major cryptocurrencies with a market cap of $1 billion or higher, Litecoin is among only a handful that are actually down for the year. Over the past 90 days, Litecoin is down more than 20%.
At some point, investors are going to throw in the towel on Litecoin. The much-ballyhooed Litecoin halving event of August 2023 was a complete nothingburger, and even the promise of new spot Litecoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) last year did little to boost its prospects.
Story Continues