5 Altcoins Primed to Explode Before Ethereum Rockets to $5,000

Ethereum's march toward $5k isn't just a price target—it's a launching pad for altcoins. Here's what's positioned to ride the wave.

Layer-2 tokens are eating ETH's lunch

While Ethereum struggles with gas fees, scaling solutions like Arbitrum and Optimism are vacuuming up TVL—and their native tokens are priced for takeoff.

DeFi blue chips waking up

Uniswap's UNI and Aave's AAVE have been hibernating since 2021. With institutional DeFi adoption accelerating, these sleeping giants are stretching their legs.

AI crypto's brutal efficiency

Projects like Fetch.ai cut through the hype with actual enterprise adoption. Their secret? Delivering machine learning results without burning VC cash on ChatGPT knockoffs.

Gaming tokens finally playable

After three years of broken roadmaps, gaming tokens like ImmutableX's IMX now have working products—and players spending real money.

Privacy coins: The regulators hate this one trick

Monero and Zcash keep dodging delistings while quietly processing more private transactions than your 'compliant' exchange's off-chain spreadsheets.

Will these actually outperform ETH? Maybe—but as any hedge fund manager will tell you between yacht payments, diversification is what you do when you're not confident in your primary bet.

ETH Rebounds to 2021 Highs, Closing in on an ATH Over $5,000

Softer US inflation has markets leaning into a September rate cut, lifting risk assets across the board. ethereum has been a big part of that bid and is again within touching distance of its prior ATH, echoing historic catch-up phases where ETH typically outpaced BTC.

To give you a sense of scale, ETH’s latest rebound from the $3,300 support level has helped the coin gain nearly 40% over the past 11 days, whereas BTC increased by about 6% in the same period.

As it trades just around 3% below its ATH, market observers are now early waiting for the altcoin to hit a record high and break the highly anticipated $5,000 mark.

Crypto market commentator Ted Pillows mentioned his short-term target for Ethereum is $8,000, and he doesn’t think that’s unrealistic.

He points out that ETH has already reached $4,878 (its ATH from 2021), while bitcoin has nearly doubled since its high from that period and is still climbing. In this context, Ted believes $8,000 for ETH isn’t a far-fetched “moonshot,” but rather an obvious move.

My short term target for $ETH is $8,000.

People act like that price is crazy. Why it's not. 👇🏻

Ethereum ATH? Literally $4,878.

Bitcoin’s almost double its old ATH and still running.

Those numbers for ETH aren’t some moonshot, they’re just a step past where we’ve already been.…

— Ted (@TedPillows) August 12, 2025

Looking ahead, analysts believe ETH’s historic rally could spark a bullish wave across the broader altcoin market. With a new all-time high looking imminent, we’ve reviewed some of the best altcoins to buy before ETH hits $5,000.

Bitcoin Hyper

Our number one rank for the next leg of the bull cycle goes to Bitcoin Hyper (HYPER), the first Bitcoin Layer 2 built on the Solana VIRTUAL Machine (SVM).

Informed investors are rushing in to scoop up HYPER during its ongoing presale, where it has raised more than $9.3 million. With the crypto market heating up, the presale has become one of the fastest growing in the sector.

But Hyper’s momentum comes primarily down to its next-gen Layer-2. The scaling solution will allow you to transfer original BTC through Hyper’s proprietary canonical bridge and mint wrapped BTC (wBTC) on its Layer-2 network. This WBTC can then be used for multiple use cases, including gaming and DeFi, and can then be settled back to Bitcoin per its owner’s request.

The HYPER token is key to the L2, as it’s designed to be the network’s primary fuel. It will be used to cover gas fees on the L2 and is slated to offer governance rights on upgrades and other crucial matters. Bitcoin Hyper’s staking portal also allows you to stake HYPER for an annual yield of up to 115%.

You can currently buy HYPER tokens for just $0.0127 each, but that price is set to increase in the next presale round. Visit Bitcoin Hyper.

Cardano

Next on our list of top altcoins is Cardano (ADA). In a momentous move, Grayscale recently filed to register a Cardano trust in Delaware, following a similar step it took before launching its Bitcoin ETF.

Prediction market Polymarket now shows an 80% chance of an ADA spot ETF approval by the end of this year. A potential green light from the regulators will place cardano in an exclusive group, alongside Bitcoin and Ethereum, as one of the few cryptos with its own Grayscale trust.

From a technical standpoint, the altcoin has seen an impressive breakout rally, surging more than 15% over the past day to trade just under the $1 mark. This MOVE follows a classic bullish pattern breakout from a bullish pennant formation on its daily chart.

ADA is now supported by strong momentum across its 20, 50, and 200-day EMAs. If bulls hold this level, ADA could soon target the $1.14 resistance.

Best Wallet Token

Finally, we think Best Wallet Token (BEST) is set to continue achieving new milestones in its presale this altseason. Enthusiastic supporters have already helped BEST tokens raise $14.7 million in presale.

Best Wallet Token is the utility coin of Best Wallet, a non-custodial wallet with a quickly growing active monthly user base, already reported to be well over 250,000. The app supports more than 60 blockchains, including all tier-1 cryptocurrencies, and integrates a DEX aggregator to provide the best swap rates to its users.

From a safety stand point, Best Wallet is one of the first wallets to fully integrate Fireblocks MPC-CMP key management to ensure the highest standard of security. And for additional high-returning investment opportunities, it also offers an “Upcoming Tokens” section, which allows users to purchase vetted presale tokens directly within the wallet.

The BEST token will unlock lower in-app fees for trading and early “Phase 0” access to presales in the Upcoming Tokens portal, as well as granting numerous perks across the ecosystem. Holding the tokens will also give the holders governance rights to vote on key platform decisions.

Interested buyers have a limited time to lock in the current price of $0.025475 per token before the next presale round begins. They can also immediately stake BEST for an annual yield of up to 91%. Visit Best Wallet Token.