The crypto market is in a correction — an ideal time to invest in Bitcoin, Ethereum, and others. But which coins should you invest in for 2025?
Anyone looking to invest 100,000 dollars in the crypto market today faces a key question: which cryptocurrency should I buy? Which strategy delivers the best long-term return — and matches my risk profile? A look at historical data and current trends shows there’s no one-size-fits-all answer. But there are clear patterns. Three concrete portfolio strategies make sense for 2025 — depending on goals, experience, and risk tolerance. Here are three model portfolios for a crypto investment in 2025. This is how to invest profitably in cryptocurrencies.
Portfolio 1: Bitcoin-Only – 100% BTC
Over the long term, Bitcoin has delivered exceptionally strong returns. Over the last five years, BTC achieved a cumulative return of around 841% — equivalent to a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 57%. That left traditional asset classes far behind. For comparison, the S&P 500 returned a total of 83% over the same period. In other words: 100,000 dollars would have become about 198,000 dollars with U.S. stocks, but about 1.1 million dollars with Bitcoin. However, this outperformance came with high volatility — interim price drops of over 50% were not uncommon.
A Bitcoin-only portfolio beats the stock market enough to provide a satisfactory return for most investors. Bitcoin has established itself as a relatively robust crypto asset — a drop of more than 80% is now unlikely. Lower volatility also means you won’t get rich overnight. A Bitcoin-only portfolio therefore suits long-term investors. Another advantage of a buy-and-hold strategy is the tax treatment of crypto assets. If you hold BTC for at least a year, gains are not taxed.
Portfolio 2: Bitcoin and Blue Chip Altcoins (moderate risk)
Bitcoin belongs in every crypto portfolio. It is the engine that drives the market. But higher returns can be achieved by selectively adding altcoins. The target audience for such a portfolio is investors with medium risk tolerance who want both safety and growth.
Ethereum (ETH) posted a five-year total increase of around 921% — similar to Bitcoin. Other blue-chip altcoins, for example Binance Coin (BNB) or Solana (SOL), also produced significant gains. However, that applies only to a few top projects; the majority of altcoins lagged behind Bitcoin or disappeared entirely. An altcoin allocation therefore makes a portfolio more aggressive. The question is whether the higher risk is rewarded with a substantially better return. The short answer: it depends.
If you had invested broadly in all larger altcoins (for example by buying every new coin in the top 100), the result would have been more disappointing than a Bitcoin-only approach. An analysis by K33 Research shows that such an “altcoin all-in” strategy since 2015 would have grown nominally, but by 2023 would only have reached around $7,000 in portfolio value — versus $50,000 with simple Bitcoin buy-and-hold. Put differently: Bitcoin alone would have beaten broad altcoin diversification many times over. Only in short altcoin seasons (for example late 2017 or spring 2021) did altcoins temporarily lead, but those phases didn’t last. Overall, fewer than 10% of more than 1,000 analyzed altcoins were profitable at all, while around 700 projects fizzled out or became worthless.
A portfolio consisting of Solana, Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP would have massively beaten the Bitcoin-only portfolio. However, that is solely due to Solana’s overperformance — which you would have needed to buy shortly after launch.
This portfolio is more broadly diversified but keeps a clear focus on the two heavyweights BTC and ETH (together 75%). The remaining 25% can be spread across two to four other established coins — for example BNB (Binance Coin), Ripple (XRP), Solana (SOL), or Cardano (ADA) — i.e., projects from the top 20 that already have large market caps and active ecosystems.
Here too, the focus is on holding positions long term. Typically you wouldn’t constantly rotate between coins but might do one or two rebalances a year. Example: if Bitcoin surges in 2025 and suddenly makes up 60% of the portfolio, you could take profits and shift some into ETH or other coins to restore the original weights. Such gains would be tax-free after one year of holding; for shorter holding periods, taxes must be considered.
Strategy 3: Opportunity-Oriented Altcoin Portfolio (high risk)
For much more risk-tolerant investors seeking above-average returns and willing to accept significant volatility and loss risk, here is a model portfolio. This portfolio is suited only to experienced crypto traders because frequent rebalancing is required — with tax implications.
In this setup, BTC and ETH together make up less than half — they still serve as a base and safety net, but the lion’s share of over 40% goes into smaller altcoins with high growth potential. These 40% can be spread across 5 to 10 different altcoins, depending on conviction. In addition to top-10 coins, mid-cap projects come into play here. The exact selection depends on 2025 trends — it’s important to do the homework: which coins have active developer communities? Which coins are trending now? Which coin might get an ETF soon? The 5% stablecoin share serves as a reserve for averaging in or for briefly parking profits if you want to time an exit.
Expectations Management
Such a portfolio can perform extremely well in strong market phases. Altcoins often exhibit multiplier effects in bull markets. Broadly spreading across several altcoins increases the chance of having a few big winners even if others disappoint — the memecoin component further increases volatility but can lead to outperformance. Historically, there were indeed altcoins that clearly beat Bitcoin in certain cycles. At the same time, many altcoins fail: more than two-thirds of coins that once made it into the top 100 are now practically dead. The art is to filter out tomorrow’s potential winners — which is harder than it seems in hindsight. You should assume some altcoin investments won’t work out. Risk management is therefore central: no single altcoin (perhaps except ETH) should account for more than single-digit percentages of the total portfolio. That way, a total loss of one position cannot ruin the portfolio. At the same time, with 5 to 10 altcoins you still have enough focus to benefit meaningfully from individual successes. The BTC-and-ETH cushion helps ensure you don’t go completely underwater if the broader alt market collapses — in a crash, many investors flee back into Bitcoin, which tends to be more stable than small caps.
This strategy requires more active management and monitoring. You will likely trade more often — for example, shifting into promising new projects or taking profits on coins that have exploded. Tax planning matters: gains realized within one year are taxable.
Conclusion
The crypto market is evolving; an altcoin allocation is much more volatile but no longer automatically beats Bitcoin. The sector’s institutionalization is advancing — and among professional investors, Bitcoin remains the cryptocurrency of choice. Anyone who still wants to allocate part of their money to the altcoin sector should know what they are doing. Over the years, coins have repeatedly disappeared from the top 10 that once looked promising.
There will still be altcoin seasons in the future. Anyone all-in on Bitcoin then will miss out on excess returns. New projects keep entering the market where even small amounts can generate big returns. For this, it’s crucial not to be “all-in” but to keep a stablecoin reserve on hand to invest in up-and-coming projects.
