March was a good month for most crypto investors.
The world's top 2 cryptos both surged higher, setting a bullish tone for the wider market of altcoins.
Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC), the world's original digital token, gained 20% in March.
Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH), the second biggest player in the virtual currency space, did even better, surging 25% in March.
Below we look at how some of the other leading cryptos stacked up.
For the purposes of this article, we're sticking to the top-10 by market cap and excluding the stablecoins as their prices tend to move closely with the fiat currencies they're intended to track.
This crypto gained 27% in March
First up we have Terra (CRYPTO: LUNA).
On 1 March Terra was trading for US$85 and by 31 March the same token was worth $108. That's a 27% gain, beating both Bitcoin and Ethereum last month.
Terra also happened to be the fifth best crypto performer (out of the top 100) in 2021, gaining 10,121% over the calendar year.
If you're unfamiliar with the token, CoinMarketCap tells us, "Terra is a blockchain protocol that uses fiat-pegged stablecoins to power price-stable global payments systems."
Terra launched in April 2019 with the intention to provide fast and affordable settlements.
The token reached an all-time high of US$119 just two days ago, on 5 April. It's currently trading back at US$109. That gives it a market cap of $38.3 billion, making it the 6th biggest crypto in virtual circulation.
This crypto came in neck and neck with Ethereum in March
On 1 March Cardano (CRYPTO: ADA) was trading for 97 US cents and the crypto finished the month worth US$1.21. That 25% gain beats Bitcoin's performance and puts Cardano neck and neck with Ethereum's strong run.
Cardano was founded in 2017. According to CoinMarketCap, "Cardano is a proof-of-stake blockchain platform that says its goal is to allow 'changemakers, innovators and visionaries' to bring about positive global change… [It] aims to allow decentralised apps and smart contracts to be developed with modularity."
Any investors who hold Cardano also hold voting rights in how the network operates and over any potential software changes.
Like most cryptos, the Cardano price has retraced so far in April, currently at US$1.05. That gives it a market cap of US$35.8 billion and puts it in the number 9 spot on the list of top tokens.
At the current price, Cardano is down 66% from its 2 September all-time high of US$3.10.
And this altcoin soared 33% in March
Handily beating the performance of Bitcoin and Ethereum last month was Solana (CRYPTO: SOL).
Solana was worth US$96 on 1 March and was trading for US$128 on 31 March, a gain of 33%.
Solana launched in March 2020. CoinMarketCap states that, "Solana is a highly functional open source project that banks on blockchain technology's permissionless nature to provide decentralized finance (DeFi) solutions."
Solana has slipped from its 31 March levels and is currently trading for US$112. That gives it a market cap of US$37.2 billion and puts it at number 7 on the list of top cryptos.
Despite the strong performance in March, the token remains down 56% from its 6 November all-time highs of US$260.
