Solana, Cardano, and Aptos Kick Off the Year With Solid Gains as the Crypto Market Rebounds

Today was a volatile day in the stock market, with all three major indices closing lower to end the day after being up considerably in early morning trading. However, for most top-tier crypto projects, it was a solid day to kick off the first "official" trading day of the year (though the crypto market was open yesterday as it's a 24/7 market).

Major stock indices closed lower on Friday to kick off the first "official" trading day of 2023 (although markets were open on Monday and Tuesday of this week). However, most top-tier crypto projects had a solid day to start the year.

Solana (CRYPTO: SOL), Cardano (CRYPTO: ADA), and Aptos (CRYPTO: APT) all saw gains on Friday, with these three tokens appreciating 5.9%, 4.4%, and 3.1%, respectively, over the past 24 hours as of 3:30 p.m. ET.

Here's what could be driving these gains and why investors may want to watch these three projects closely moving forward.

Solana, Cardano, Aptos: What's driving these gains? A continued surge in the price of Bitcoin and Ethereum can explain some of the movement in other large-cap crypto projects such as these. But there are some other unique catalysts that may be worth diving into.

Let's quickly break down why these top tokens are on a tear today.

Solana, Cardano, Aptos: Key catalysts to watch Given the sheer size of these three projects (with Solana, Cardano, and Aptos having market capitalizations of roughly $100 billion, $34 billion, and $5 billion, respectively), expectations that spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) could be launched and approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is one key catalyst investors are watching. In the case of Solana, Grayscale's Solana ETF application currently has a deadline of Jan. 23 to be reviewed by the SEC, with a decision expected shortly thereafter. The betting markets (and most experts) expect this ETF will be approved, paving the way for a spot Cardano ETF and potentially an Aptos product down the road (we'll see).

Cardano is an interesting project in that it appears to be an investment vehicle many view as a play on broader blockchain adoption. The key selling point behind Cardano is that it's an interoperable blockchain, meaning it can interact with other blockchain projects out there. So, as more smart contract activity and Bitcoin layer-2 solutions are launched, the thesis is that this particular network could take off. Thus far, based on its price action, sentiment remains very bullish with regard to this project's forward prospects.

Aptos has continued to rise following the shocking news a couple of weeks ago that the project's co-founder Mo Shaikh would be stepping down (although he will retain a role as a strategic advisor). Investors appear to be keying in on strong usage data and are broadly taking the view that Aptos can be a beneficiary of the overall growth that's expected to be seen in the crypto sector in 2025 and beyond.

What will 2025 look like for these three projects? Aside from being some of the top large-cap crypto projects in this sector, these really are three very different projects with unique catalysts investors are focusing on right now. Accordingly, I think there's likely to be some divergence among these three tokens as investors pick winners in what will be an increasingly competitive space moving forward.

That said, what is interesting is that liquidations data for all three projects have been significantly skewed toward short positions. This means that those betting against these cryptocurrencies continuing to rise are being forced out of their positions, essentially culminating in more buying pressure (sending prices of these tokens higher still). Thus, until momentum shifts, these are three top crypto projects traders and speculators may want to keep an eye on moving forward. For those with a longer-term time horizon, there are fundamental reasons to own these projects, and that's what makes them enticing options to at least keep on the watch list for now.