Blue chip cryptocurrency markets are under pressure on Thursday, with Bitcoin (BTC) having dropped more than 2% to the mid-$26,000s and Ether (ETH) down 2.5% under $1,600.

Reports that long-defunct cryptocurrency exchange MtGox will delay repayments for another year to 2024 have failed to boost sentiment, likely given that macro has been acting as a headwind since Wednesday’s Fed meeting.

While the US central bank held interest rates as expected, it kept more hikes on the table for the remainder of 2023, and signaled less rate cuts in 2024 amid a significantly more optimistic economic outlook, boosting the US Dollar Index (DXY) to fresh six month highs and the US 2-year government bond yield to a fresh 22-year high.

Higher yields on US debt (considered a risk-free asset) and a stronger dollar generally tend to hurt crypto prices, given that 1) a higher risk-free rate reduces the incentive to hold riskier assets (like crypto) and 2) a stronger dollar makes dollar-denominated cryptocurrencies more expensive for the holders of foreign currencies.

While major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ether are down, they remain locked well within recent ranges.

Traders thus continue to turn to shitcoin and meme coin markets in the hunt for a better prospect of near-term gains.

Here are some of the top-performing low-cap coins, as per DEXTools.

GOLD ($GOLD)

A new shitcoin called GOLD ($GOLD) has exploded onto the scene since its Wednesday launch.

$GOLD is up nearly 26,000% in the past 24 hours, making it far and away the best-performing shitcoin on Thursday.

As per DEXTools, the token last had a market cap of $3.6 million, amid over $4.6 million in trading volumes in the past 24 hours.

$GOLD has $225,000 in unlocked liquidity, which means a rug pull remains possible, while the token’s contract has three alerts according to the DEXTools security audit.

Traders should thus be cautious that this token could be a scam.

Green Bomberman ($BOMBER)

A new shitcoin called Green Bomberman ($BOMBER) launched on Wednesday and has seen explosive upside in the last 24 hours, gaining more than 800% as per DEXTools to reach a market cap of $400,000.

The shitcoin has seen an impressive near $1.4 million in trading volumes in the past 24 hours and accumulated nearly 200 holders.

The token has around $260,000 in unlocked liquidity and has two smart contract alerts, as per the DEXTools security audit.

Membot ($MEMBOT)

A shitcoin called Membot ($MEMBOT) has seen a solid resurgence in the past two days, and was last up over 100% in the past 24 hours as per DEXTools.

$MEMBOT was launched back in August and briefly reached a price of over $0.0016, but was last trading at $0.00024, meaning it still has a long way to go to reach prior record highs.

The token currently has a market cap of around $240,000 and $80,000 in locked liquidity, and has managed to accumulate over 750 holders.

The fact that the recent 100% rebound was driven by only $18,500 in trading volumes in the past 24 hours is a sign that the recent resurgence may not have much conviction.

The token has a 5% buy and sell tax and four contract alerts in total, as per the DEXTools security audit.

Crypto Alternatives to Consider

Shitcoins are very risky, given most have no real value proposition.

For those looking for an even better probability of near-term gains, an alternative high-risk-high-reward investment strategy to consider is getting involved in crypto presales.

This is where investors buy the tokens of up-start crypto projects to help fund their development.

These tokens are nearly always sold very cheap and there is a long history of presales delivering huge exponential gains to early investors.

Many of these projects have fantastic teams behind them and a great vision to deliver a revolutionary crypto application/platform.

If an investor can identify such projects, the risk/reward of their presale investment is very good.

The team at Cryptonews spends a lot of time combing through presale projects to help investors out.

Here is a list of 15 of what the project deems as the best crypto presales of 2023.

See the 15 Cryptocurrencies

^{Disclaimer: Crypto is a high-risk asset class. This article is provided for informational purposes and does not constitute investment advice. You could lose all of your capital.}