10 Crypto Coins with the Highest Returns Year-to-Date
Many crypto assets have produced substantial returns recently, with meme coins leading the way. Other top-performing niches include AI, RWA, and gamification. With the market shifting constantly, it’s important to know which coins to focus on.
This guide reveals the top 10 coins with high returns based on year-to-date (YTD) figures. We also explain how to find crypto coins before they explode, with proven methods including presale events, predicting upcoming narratives, and following the smart money.
Methodology
Our methodology when ranking the top-performing coins covers the 100 largest digital assets by market capitalization. While millions of other coins exist, most have low-cap valuations.
Therefore, our research methods ensure highly liquid coins are focused on, meaning they’re easy to buy, sell, and trade. What’s more, large-cap valuations are more reliable. After all, a low-cap coin could explode by 10,000% in a day, even with little buying pressure.
Top-Performing Cryptocurrencies Year-to-Date
These are the 10 best-performing coins with high returns, based on real-time YTD data:
| Coin | Market Cap | Current Price | Price Change YTD |
| Popcat (POPCAT) | $574.49M | $0.58 | +2812.22% |
| dogwifhat (WIF) | $1.84B | $1.84 | +333.90% |
| MANTRA (OM) | $0.00 | $3.79 | +5252.96% |
| Mog Coin (MOG) | $728.99M | $0.0000018 | +4678.89% |
| Pepe (PEPE) | $8.35B | $0.000019 | +1582.77% |
| Raydium (RAY) | $0.00 | $5.00 | +345.33% |
| AIOZ Network (AIOZ) | $0.00 | $0.89 | +488.84% |
| FLOKI (FLOKI) | $1.72B | $0.00018 | +499.54% |
| Sui (SUI) | $11.54B | $4.93 | +301.10% |
| Dogecoin (DOGE) | $61.17B | $0.41 | +420.30% |
Crypto Coins with the Highest Returns Reviewed
Let’s take a closer look at the best-performing crypto coins listed above. This will help you make an informed decision on whether additional upside is available. Or if a market reversal is more likely.
1. Popcat (POPCAT)
Popcat is the best-performing project this year from the top 100 coins by market capitalization. YTD, Popcat has increased by +2812.22%. Popcat is a Solana-based meme coin without use cases or utility. Even so, it has built a huge community with high engagement levels on social media.
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It’s built on the Solana blockchain, which is a thriving ecosystem for meme coin projects. That said, the Popcat price has dipped in recent days. Having hit an all-time high, Popcat now trades 25% below its peak. What’s more, with a modest market capitalization of about $1.5 billion, Popcat still has plenty of upside left.
2. dogwifhat (WIF)
Next on this list of top-performing coins is dogwifhat. This meme coin is from the dog-themed category, which also includes Dogecoin, Shiba Inu, and FLOKI. Although dogwifhat was launched as recently as December 2023, it’s already one of the most valuable meme coins. Currently, WIF has a market capitalization of over $3 billion.
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However, it previously hit an all-time high in Q1 2024, so current buyers can secure a 37% discount. Dogwifhat – which has a huge number of unique wallet holders, has produced YTD growth of +333.90%. It’s built on the Solana blockchain, ensuring fast and cheap transactions.
3. MANTRA (OM)
MANTRA is also one of the best-performing coins this year. It’s a layer-1 blockchain built for regulatory compliance. This will enable MANTRA to serve institutional clients wishing to build on-chain. This includes a “Know Your Counterparty” feature, enabling stakeholders to comply with existing anti-money laundering laws.
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Moreover, MANTRA is an efficient ecosystem with cheap, fast, and scalable transactions. MANTRA will also target the decentralized finance niche, with yield-bearing vaults and RWA tokenization. Currently, MANTRA’s native coin, OM, is priced at $3.79. OM has produced YTD gains of +5252.96%.
4. Mog Coin (MOG)
Built on the Ethereum blockchain, Mog Coin is one of the largest cat-themed meme coins in the market. It’s also one of the top coins with high returns – MOG is up +4678.89% this year. Crucially, cat-themed coins are expected to perform well when the altcoin season arrives.
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And, considering Mog Coin currently trades 27% below all-time highs, current prices offer a solid discount. Another notable factor is that under 23% of the supply is held by whales. This ensures Mog Coin has a fair distribution, meaning individual holders will struggle to influence the market.
5. Pepe (PEPE)
Pepe is the third-largest meme coin by market capitalization. It’s based on Pepe the Frog, a character from Matt Fury’s “Boy’s Club” comic. Pepe launched in early 2023 when the broader crypto markets were largely bearish. Even so, as reported by Bloomberg, Pepe increased by over 7,000% in just 17 days of trading.
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While Pepe has witnessed various pullbacks, it has enjoyed a prolonged upward trajectory since its inception. This year, Pepe has increased by +1582.77%. Pepe was recently listed on Coinbase and Robinhood, making it even easier for retail clients to invest. Ultimately, Pepe has every chance of flipping Shiba Inu during the next bull market.
6. Raydium (RAY)
Raydium is the largest decentralized exchange for the Solana ecosystem. It enables traders to buy and sell SPL tokens without opening an account or revealing their identity. Trades are executed anonymously via liquidity pools, ensuring a safe and private experience. Raydium’s success aligns with Solana meme coins, which have exploded in recent months.
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Its native coin, RAY, has increased by +420.30% this year. It provides holders with governance rights, allowing them to vote on key proposals. RAY can also be staked for passive income. And, when staking, users get early access to initial direct offerings (IDOs). RAY’s current price is $5.00, which is 67% below all-time highs.
7. AIOZ Network (AIOZ)
AIOZ Network is an established project that launched in early 2021. It’s one of the best crypto coins for gaining exposure to DePIN (Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Network), which is a high-growth market. AIOZ Network covers various DePIN industries, including streaming, storage, IPFS, and AI.
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Its ecosystem allows anyone to become a node and thus – earn passive rewards. In terms of performance, its native coin, AIOZ, trades over 70% below its initial launch price. Even so, AIOZ is one of the top-performing coins this year, with growth of over +488.84%. Its market capitalization is sub-$1 billion, so the upside could be sizable.
8. FLOKI (FLOKI)
FLOKI is another dog-themed meme coin that makes this list. It was one of the best-performing coins during the 2021/21 bull cycle. The FLOKI price lost significant value when the crypto market turned bearish. However, FLOKI not only returned to its previous peak in June 2024 but it recorded new all-time highs.
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This shows the power of FLOKI’s ever-growing community. What’s more, the FLOKI team has created multiple use cases for holders. This includes a play-to-earn game that doubles up as a metaverse ecosystem. Today, you can buy FLOKI at $0.00018, which is 27% below its peak valuation. Nonetheless, YTD, FLOKI is up +499.54%.
9. Sui (SUI)
Sui is another layer-1 blockchain that has produced solid growth. YTD, Sui has increased by +488.84%. Its blockchain was designed for the Web 3.0 era, supporting developers from multiple niches in the crypto space. This includes everything from gaming and decentralized finance to commerce.
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Sui’s native programming language is developer-friendly too. It’s also one of the most efficient networks, with Sui’s blockchain technology handling up to 297,000 transactions per second. The average finality time is just 400ms and fees are minute. While Sui already has a market capitalization of about $10 billion, some experts believe it has plenty of upside left.
10. Dogecoin (DOGE)
The world’s first and largest meme coin, Dogecoin, has produced massive growth in 2024. YTD, Dogecoin has increased by +420.30%. This sustained growth is an impressive feat, considering Dogecoin is one of the largest coins by market capitalization. Crucially, Dogecoin’s resurgence could be linked to Elon Musk’s recent government appointment.
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He will co-head the newly created Department of Government Efficiency which, incidentally, is abbreviated as “DOGE”. That said, Dogecoin still trades almost 50% below its all-time high, which was achieved in mid-2021. Therefore, those interested in Dogecoin can enter the market at a reasonable valuation.
What is a Top-Performing Crypto?
Top-performing crypto coins outperform the broader market. Various benchmarks can be used for this purpose. For example, suppose Bitcoin prices have increased by 150% this year.
Any coins producing higher returns than 150% can be defined as top-performing. Another benchmark is to use the total performance of all altcoins. For instance, suppose altcoin valuations are up 300% YTD.
If you’re holding a coin that’s increased by 400% over the same period, it’s a top-performing project. Ultimately, these are the coins that produce the greatest financial gains over the respective time frame.
How We Measured The Coins with the Highest Returns
We used a simple but effective process to rank the top coins with the highest returns. Here’s a breakdown of the key criteria we used:
Market cap (40%)
We only looked at coins in the top 100 by market cap. These bigger projects usually have more stable prices, high liquidity, and lots of daily trading activity—making them easier to buy and sell without much hassle.
On the flip side, small-cap coins can be super volatile. Sure, a new project with a $50,000 valuation might shoot up 100x, but that doesn’t reflect the broader market.
YTD performance (30%)
We focused on year-to-date (YTD) performance to get a full-picture view of how a coin has performed. A coin might spike 200% in one month but then crash 80% the next. YTD data smooths out those short-term swings and shows how consistent the returns are over time.
Liquidity and trading volume (20%)
Coins with high daily trading volume and strong liquidity made the cut. The more liquid a coin is, the easier it is to trade without massive price changes—super important if you’re looking to avoid price slippage.
Hype and trends (10%)
We also considered how well a coin aligns with popular trends and market buzz. Coins riding big narratives, like AI or meme tokens, tend to see higher interest and sustained momentum.
How Do You Find Crypto Coins With High Returns?
Now that we’ve covered the top coins with high returns, you might be wondering how to find them.
Read on, we discuss some of the best methods for 2025.
Look For Cryptocurrencies in Presale
Crypto presales are one of the best ways to find high-growth coins early. This is because presales offer new crypto coins before they trade on exchanges. They enable projects to raise funds from investors, meaning presale buyers get preferential prices. This also means an immediate upside is often available when the listing eventually takes place.
Even better, the best crypto presales have low-cap valuations. This provides a solid chance of targeting substantial gains. For example, consider that in presale, Solana SOL was initially priced at $0.04, as per ICOdrops data. Solana’s all-time high is $260.06, so early investors could have gains of over 650,000%.
A current presale example is Wall Street Pepe. This new meme coin is getting attention for the way it mixes humour and finance-inspired branding. With meme coins still performing well, Wall Street Pepe could be an interesting option for those looking for early-stage, high-risk but potentially rewarding projects.
If you’re interested in early-stage projects, here are two ongoing presales to check out:
Predict Future Crypto Trends in Advance
Crypto markets typically follow specific narratives for extended periods. This could be a few weeks or months. Crucially, many coins within the narrative collectively perform well.
For example, AI coins enjoyed a huge rally through much of 2023. This means diversifying into multiple AI coins paid off for seasoned investors and helped combat market volatility. Similarly, Solana meme coins exploded last year, with Bonk and dogwifhat leading the way.
Looking ahead to 2025, you can keep an eye on new trends, such as RWA, decentralized finance upgrades, or cross-chain solutions.
The key is being informed about which trends are hot, allowing you to maximize the respective wave. Keeping an eye on crypto developments, data aggregation websites, social media, and YouTube influencers can help you achieve this goal.
Follow What Crypto Whales Are Buying
Crypto whales are successful investors with serious bankrolls. They typically invest at least six figures, meaning their purchases can influence market prices significantly. Especially when investing in coins with a small market capitalization.
Importantly, whales have a proven track record of picking crypto winnings. Often long before the broader market catches on. Therefore, replicating whale investors can be a smart move.
This concept is similar to following successful hedge funds that consistently outperform the market. The best crypto whale trackers send real-time notifications whenever a wallet movement occurs.
Some go one step further by adding a copy trading feature. This means you can automatically buy or sell the coins being traded by the respective whale. This way, you’ll act before the wider markets have a chance to react.
Invest in Low Market Cap Cryptocurrencies
Ultimately, most coins with high crypto returns started life with a low market capitalization. These projects can produce rapid growth in a short time frame. Unlike large-cap coins, they don’t need substantial buying pressure to increase by many multiples.
For example, suppose you’ve bought a low-cap coin valued at $1 million. It’s now worth $150 million, meaning growth of 150x. Even so, this is still a modest valuation, meaning continued growth could be on the table.
Now compare this with a large-cap like Ethereum, which had a market capitalization of over $550 billion at its peak. Ethereum would need an $82.5 trillion valuation to achieve 150x gains, which is a mammoth undertaking.
Therefore, the best low-cap crypto coins offer a much higher upside potential. They do, however, also carry more risk, so ensure you’re well-diversified when investing in this market.
Which Types of Coins Deliver the Biggest Returns?
We mentioned earlier that certain coin types have performed considerably better than the market average. This section takes a closer look at these core niches.
Meme Coins – Potential for Huge Hype-Driven Returns
Meme coins continue to produce the biggest returns. Even without any use cases, and founders who choose to remain anonymous, meme coins are the hottest trend to focus on.
In fact, you’ll notice from our list of top-performing coins that the majority are from the meme coin category. Due to their growth potential, many crypto enthusiasts have exposure to this narrative.
We found that the best meme coins typically have strong communities as well as viral appeal. This means a large following on social media networks like X and Telegram. They also boast fair token distribution, transparent tokenomics, and regular updates from the core team.
Just remember that meme coins are the riskiest niche to invest in. What’s more, the only way to achieve those 100x returns is to expect pullbacks along the way. This means the price could decline by 70% before starting the next rally.
Utility-Driven Cryptocurrencies – Best Long-Term Choice
Long-term investors typically prefer utility-driven coins. This means the project is building a broader ecosystem, and potentially providing solutions to real-world problems. Moreover, utility coins aren’t solely purchased for speculative gains.
They provide value or a technological edge within the project’s network. A good example is ETH, the utility coin for Ethereum. Consider a decentralized exchange like Uniswap, which operates on the Ethereum blockchain.
Whenever traders buy or sell tokens on Uniwap, they need a small amount of ETH. This covers the transaction fee when the smart contract is executed. Thousands of other projects operate on Ethereum, so ETH is always in demand.
Cryptocurrencies With Institutional Backing
Another way to find top-performing coins is to explore digital asset markets with institutional interest. According to an Ernst & Young report, 60% of institutions with crypto investments have exposure beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum. This means that even institutional investors are buying coins with lower market capitalizations.
For example, BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, has previously expressed interest in RWA (real-world asset) projects. BlackRock believes the RWA space could be a trillion-dollar opportunity, so exploring coins in this sector could be wise. The total value of all RWA coins is currently just $40 billion, so it’s still potentially undervalued and poised for long-term growth.
In our comprehensive guide, we discuss the best RWA coins to buy.
What are the most expensive cryptocurrencies?
The most expensive crypto coin in the top 100 for market capitalization is Bitcoin. It’s currently priced at $103,308.00. This is partly due to its small maximum supply of 21 million BTC.
Another popular coin with a high price is yearn finance, which has an all-time high of over $93,000. This project has an even smaller supply, at just under 37,000 YFI.
Which Coins Will Deliver The Biggest Returns in 2025?
Knowing which coins have the best chance of exploding is no easy feat. Considering various factors, including your trading goals, risk tolerance, and time horizon, is crucial. Pricing history, market capitalization, and overall trends should also be assessed.
Nonetheless, in our view, here are three projects that could generate solid returns in 2025:
1. Wall Street Pepe
As mentioned, Wall Street Pepe is a presale project, meaning you can invest before WEPE is listed on exchanges. It has meme coin features, considering it’s loosely inspired by Pepe the Frog.
However, Wall Street Pepe stands out by offering more than just meme appeal as it provides holders with trading insights and strategies. The presale is ongoing, giving early investors a chance to get in before the first exchange listing.
2. Solana
Solana is one of the biggest crypto projects by market capitalization. Similar to Ethereum, it’s a layer-1 blockchain that supports decentralized applications, such as exchanges and NFT marketplaces.
It’s also a popular home for meme coins, including Bonk, dogwifhat, and Popcat. While Solana already has a mammoth valuation, many experts believe it’s worth a small fraction of its true potential. Therefore, having exposure to Solana could be a smart move.
3. Uniswap
Uniswap dominates decentralized trading on the Ethereum blockchain. It boasts significant liquidity and volume, making it a solid choice for long-term investors. Its native token, UNI, provides governance rights to holders.
In the future, however, UNI holders could receive a share of trading commissions generated from the Uniswap exchange. What’s more, UNI trades at a fraction of its prior all-time high, so now could be a good time to enter the market.
Conclusion
In summary, we’ve ranked the best-performing coins this year, with most coming from the meme coin niche. However, many already boast large valuations, which could limit future gains. Newer presale projects offer a new mix of meme appeal and utility for those looking for an early-stage opportunity.
That said, as with any investment, it’s important to consider both the potential rewards and the associated risks.
FAQs
What have been the top-performing coins in 2025?
From the top 100 coins by market capitalization, the top-performing projects are Popcat, MANTRA, Mog Coin, dogwifhat, and Pepe.
Which crypto will have the highest returns in 2025?
Some experts believe that Wall Street Pepe could be the best-performing coin in 2025. However, more conservative options are Solana and Uniswap.
What makes a coin deliver high returns?
Various factors can help coins deliver high returns, including social media, strong community engagement, use cases, solid fundamentals, exchange listings, and trending niches. Broader market conditions also play their part.
Do small-cap or large-cap coins deliver higher returns?
Both small and large-cap coins can deliver solid returns. However, small-cap projects have the highest upside, as they have more room for growth.
How do you measure the performance of a coin?
A coin’s performance is measured by its percentage increase over a certain time frame, such as daily, monthly, or yearly. You can then compare this to the market average.
What is the highest price crypto?
Bitcoin has the highest price and is currently valued at $103,308.00. However, you don’t need to buy 1 BTC, as Bitcoin can be split into 100 million units.
References
Source: cryptonews.com
