The cryptocurrency markets are notorious for their volatility – the rapid price movements provide the potential for explosive gains, but also major losses. Therefore, it’s no secret that the crypto market tends to attract traders and investors who are willing to take on a lot of risk in search of high returns. 

In this market, we have seen certain coins display massive gains compared to their initial price, sometimes up to 1,000x and above. However, it should go without saying that finding the next 1,000x crypto is an extremely difficult task.

In this article, we’ll show you the tools you can use to have a shot at finding the next 1,000x crypto. Before that, however, let’s address the risks of investing in highly speculative cryptos.

Key highlights:

  • Getting a 1,000x return in any market is extremely unlikely.

  • Seeking very high returns is more similar to gambling than investing.

  • However, there are tools and strategies you can use to improve your chances of finding a cryptocurrency with significant potential for price appreciation.

Getting a 1,000x ROI is very unrealistic

Before we begin, we should clarify that trying to get a 1,000x ROI (return on investment) is much more similar to gambling or buying a lottery ticket than it is to investing. There are no strategies that could reliably deliver returns anywhere close to 1,000x – in other words, you’ll need to get extremely lucky to turn $1 into $1,000 or $1,000 to $1 million.

If you’re after 1,000x returns, you should forget about cryptocurrencies that are already established and have a significant market cap. 

Let’s provide a quick example to put this into perspective. As the cryptocurrency market stands (October 2024), a coin with a market capitalization of $100 million would be ranked approximately #280 in the crypto rankings. If a $100 million market cap coin were to increase by 1,000x, it would have a market cap of $100 billion, which would make it bigger than all cryptocurrencies except for Ethereum and Bitcoin.

If you want the best shot at a 1,000x return, you’ll need to focus your search firmly on micro-cap coins – we’re talking about cryptos valued at $10 million or even less. Of course, such cryptocurrencies are extremely risky as investments, and investing in them is like purchasing a lottery ticket. There’s a very small chance that you get a big return, and a very big chance that you’ll simply be throwing your money away.

How to find the next 1,000x crypto?

Now, let’s take a look at the best steps you can take to find cryptocurrencies with potential for large gains.

Limit your search to coins with a very small market cap

If you want to find cryptocurrencies that could theoretically display very large gains, you need to focus your attention on cryptocurrencies with a low market cap.

CoinCodex provides the “Customize” feature, which allows you to search for cryptocurrencies that match certain criteria, including market capitalization. In the example below, we’re using the feature to only display coins with a market cap of between $10 million and $50 million.

If you want a chance at a 1,000x crypto, you’ll realistically have to limit your search even further and focus on cryptocurrencies with a market cap of around $10 million or even lower. Coins that are already somewhat established simply don’t have a chance of increasing by 1,000x.

Analyze the project’s tokenomics

After finding a low market cap project that seems interesting to you, it’s crucial that you carefully analyze its tokenomics. 

The first thing you should look at is how much of the supply is allocated to project insiders. This includes the development team, early stage investors and advisors. If these categories of holders control a large portion of the token’s supply, that is a red flag.

Insiders with large holdings tend to provide strong selling pressure that prevents tokens from increasing in price even though there might be some organic demand for the token.

Another red flag to look out for is projects that only have a small portion of the total supply in circulation. For example, if a token only has 10% of its supply in circulation and the remaining 90% of the supply is locked, it will likely be very difficult for the token to significantly increase in price. When a token’s supply increases (assuming the demand remains constant), its price will decrease.

We recommend that you use on-chain data from tools such as Etherscan to see how a token’s supply is actually distributed. Here is an example of how the Shiba Inu token supply is distributed.

Image source: Etherscan

Beyond analyzing a token’s supply distribution, we also recommend you take a look at the on-chain activity related to the token. This includes checking how many holders the token has and the frequency at which the token is being used in transaction.

Let’s quickly break down the most important factors to consider when it comes to tokenomics:

  • Avoid tokens that have large allocations for insiders. This includes team members, venture capital investors, advisors and the project treasury.

  • Avoid tokens that only have a small percentage of their total supply in circulation.

  • Avoid tokens that have a very small number of on-chain holders and very low transaction activity.

  • Avoid tokens where a small number of whales controls a large portion of the supply.

Check if “smart money” is buying the token

If you want to gain an edge in the crypto markets, it’s important that you have a good understanding of what’s actually happening on the blockchain. Tools such as crypto whale trackers will allow you to see the transactions made by large holders, which can have a significant impact on the markets.

Here are some platforms that you can use to get insights about the activity of large holders on the blockchain:  

  • ArbitrageScanner

  • Arkham Intelligence

  • DexCheck

  • DeBank

Since you’ll be limiting your search to small coins and tokens when looking for the next 1,000 crypto, you will need to be well aware of what’s happening on decentralized exchanges. Here is where DEX screener tools come in – these platforms will allow you to get all the information you need about trading on decentralized exchanges, and quickly identify coins that are gaining momentum in the market. 

Mainstream crypto exchanges like Binance, Coinbase and Kraken take some time to list new cryptocurrencies, and often list coins after they already see a significant price increase. In today’s crypto landscape, it’s crucial to monitor DEXes if you’re interested in high volatility and high potential returns. 

Here are some of the best DEX screener tools you can use to find out what’s happening on decentralized exchanges across various blockchain platforms:

  • DEX Screener

  • Defined.fi

  • Dextools

  • DexGuru

The bottom line

To sum up, we don’t recommend you to chase extremely high returns. Instead of buying obscure coins with the hope of a 1,000x return, a more conservative investing strategy is much more likely to deliver better results. 

When trying to get a 1,000x return, it’s more likely that you will lose most or all of your investment instead of making any gains at all, let alone a 1,000x.

If you’re interested in crypto investment opportunities with a higher chance of success, make sure to check out our list of the best crypto to buy now.

Still, if you want to have a shot at very large returns in the crypto markets, you will need to try your best to outsmart the competition. This includes tracking activity on blockchains, especially when it comes to “smart money” addresses and decentralized exchanges.