Investors Believe This New Altcoin Is The Best Crypto Investment Before Q2 2026, Here’s Why
The crypto market is being given a second look by investors, who believe the market is moving toward the direction of a stronger second quarter in 2026. The capital has been moving into new projects as opposed to the same large caps that supported the previous cycle.
Preliminary feeling is that Mutuum Finance (MUTM) is one of the possible best cryptos to purchase currently ahead of Q2 rearranging performance rankings. Analysts believe that the next breakout can be made by altcoins that have some connection to real use and not tokens that operate based on memes or pure momentum. Mutuum Finance fits the thesis and the figures of its presale are beginning to support that.
Mutuum Finance (MUTM)
Mutuum Finance (MUTM) is a decentralized lending protocol. Users are allowed to lend, borrow and become liquidators. The protocol concentrates liquidity in a model that some commentators have likened to early Aave and Compound which they argue were some of the greatest cryptocurrency investments of their time.
The first market is called P2C. Other users borrow the assets in a common pool supplied by the lender participants. The suppliers are awarded mtTokens that indicate that they own a portion of the pool and the amount of interest they obtain over a period.
The second market is P2P. It manages assets that do not necessarily fit well within a large communal pool and establishes a separate lending and borrowing setting with unique borrowing rates and Loan to Value limits.
In the case that a user pledges a 70% LTV collateral, he or she is allowed to borrow 70% of the collateral. In case volatility drives the loan to exceed the safe level, liquidators will be able to settle some debt and acquire the collateral at a discount. The design also maintains the protocol in solution when the markets are moving very quickly.
The pre-sale has received massive interest. Mutuum Finance has collected $19.8 million in total. Over 18,800 holders participated and sold 830 million tokens. Mutuum Finance issued its presale at the beginning of 2025 at $0.01. Phase 7 started at $0.04, that is 300% growth since phase 1. The launch price is officially set to be $0.06.
V1 Launch and Security Confidence
V1 protocol is scheduled to be deployed on testnet. The team updates development show that there are Sepolia deployment and mainnet deployment. V1 also contains liquidity pools, mtTokens, debt tokens and liquidation bots. The first day one asset will be ETH and USDT with additional ones.
Security has been managed prudently. The audit of the V1 protocol was done by Halborn. MUTM token also received a CertiK scan of tokens at 90 out of 100.
Certain analysts pin this degree of preparation towards the perspective that MUTM may end up being one of the finest cryptocurrency investments in the first half of 2026. Early price forecasts on the bullish side will have a value of more than the $0.10 to $0.14 range.
Stablecoin and Layer 2 Alignment
The on-chain lending is based on stablecoins and layer 2 networks. Stablecoins offer the predictability of prices to the borrower. The layer 2 networks facilitate gas costs that increase throughput and decrease liquidation friction. Mutuum Finance in its turn intends to align with these segments and provide stable collateral and low cost execution.
In case the crypto prices move up, the collateralized loans demand is likely to increase. This explains why there are traders who have branded MUTM as the best crypto to invest in before the next liquidity cycle. They consider it a revenue associated altcoin, but not a story only presale.
In brief, Mutuum Finance has established itself as a new utility cryptocurrency with valid use, solid presale mathematics and legitimate launch implementation. When seeking the next big crypto, many investors believe MUTM has climbed that list with increased confidence.
For more information about Mutuum Finance (MUTM) visit the links below:
Bitcoin climbs above $96,000 as social media sentiment turns sharply bearish
Social data from Santiment Feed suggests Bitcoin commentary on social media has turned more and more bearish as the coin’s price flipped its negative run to a 7% uptick in the last seven days.
According to Santiment, markets are moving in the opposite direction of retail sentiment. Bitcoin has crossed the $95,000 mark and is changing hands 1.82% above its value 24 hours ago, and some market watchers expect the price to continue climbing towards the end of this business week.
However, social media is witnessing the most FUD seen in the last 10 days, which the social chatter analysis platform believes might push the king coin to its first revisit above $100K since last November.
Fear dominates social chatter as Bitcoin price hits $97,000
Santiment’s behavioral analysis chart, which tracks Bitcoin’s market value against the ratio of positive and negative commentary on social media, showed that when Bitcoin traded in the mid-$80,000 range 30 days ago, the market sentiment was extreme fear.
Greed, Neutral, Fear Index against the BTC price chart. Source: Santiment
Bitcoin spent large portions of late December in this zone, with prices consolidating well below $90,000, and traders doubting any possibility for a near-term upside.
When the calendar turned to January, sentiment briefly moved into the neutral zone and pushed Bitcoin above $93,000 for the first time in weeks. But that equilibrium did not last enough to map the largest coin by market cap’s course to six figures.
On Wednesday, bulls finally put up a fight for BTC to climb up to a 2-month high of $97,500, but according to Santiment, the market does not currently believe it can sustain its rally. The platform suggested that this lack of conviction could become the catalyst for a positive price movement to $100,000.
Market bull index records historic lows, whale exchange inflows slump from December highs
Over the past six years, the Bitcoin Bull Score Index has dropped to 20 or lower only seven times. According to CryptoQuant’s BSI index, the market is currently within the seventh instance of a low bullish sentiment.
Yet, Binance exchange flow since the beginning of 2026 counted whale transfers reaching approximately 15,800 BTC, significantly lower than December’s total of about 37,133 BTC. Binance whale inflows so far this year amount to 42.5% of the volume recorded in December.
When compared with the total Bitcoin transferred to Binance since the New Year, nearly 75,800 BTC, whales accounted for only 20.85% of total inflows.
Lower whale activity on exchanges spells the end for selling, and when coupled with a 10% price uptick in the last two weeks, Bitcoin holders might be confident of a six-figure comeback before the end of January.
Moreover, Glassnode analysts mentioned that long-term holders are realizing profits at a far slower pace than during the previous cycle, which could further lessen the sell signals on the market.
The Long-Term Holder Supply Distribution Heatmap shows a dense cost-basis cluster between $93K and $109K, forming a substantial overhead supply zone. Any sustained push higher must first absorb this supply, with a decisive breakout above this range typically required to reopen… https://t.co/m1oD2wiuxl pic.twitter.com/3nKtF7cMbD
— glassnode (@glassnode) January 13, 2026
When Bitcoin traded well above $100,000 in last year’s peak spells, these holders were offloading more than 100,000 BTC per week in realized profits, equivalent to $9.62 billion, but they are now selling approximately 12,800 BTC per week.
“This moderation suggests profit-taking remains active, but far less aggressive than during prior distribution phases,” Glassnode said in a recent note.
Bitcoin support level peaks $90,000, old holdings yet to enter markets
According to CryptoQuant contributor Carmelo_Alemán, Bitcoin confirmed its new support level by breaking above the $94,200 resistance level and then surging to the $97,500 zone, amid the heavy pessimism seen on social media platforms.
Alemán supported his theory with the Value Days Destroyed indicator, a chart of the average age of coins being spent on the network and by how long coins remained inactive before moving.
So far in January, the VDD reading is near a historical low of 0.53, which means that “young coins” are changing hands more than older holdings. Long-term investors are not aggressively distributing their positions, and the trend would likely continue as prices recover toward six-figure territory.
“When Bitcoin’s price rises while VDD remains low, the market tends to be in a healthy expansion phase, where demand absorbs the available supply without generating structural selling pressure. A sustained increase in the indicator would signal distribution from long-term holders,” the analyst concluded.
Lighter DEX introduces mandatory staking across its platform
Lighter, a decentralized exchange platform, has introduced a new staking feature for its native token, LIT, requiring all users to stake LIT to access liquidity pools. Lighter launched LIT tokens last month, staking 50% of its supply, including airdrops and funding for future incentive programs.
Perpetual futures trading and the Ethereum-based DEX announced that they have introduced LIT staking as a core utility feature for accessing their tools and features, beginning with the Lighter Liquidity Pool (LLP). Staking LIT is now mandatory, and depositing into the LLP unlocks a 1:10 deposit ratio, meaning one stacked LIT unlocks deposits of up to 10 USDC. The rollout is mandatory for new users.
Existing LIT holders get a two-week grace period to begin staking
According to the Lighter DEX, existing members have a two-week window ending on January 28 to maintain access to LLP without staking. After the deadline, all participants will be required to stake their LIT tokens in the liquidity pools. The Perpetual futures trading DEX noted that the introduction of mandatory staking for LIT will lead to greater alignment between LIT holders and LLP holders, thereby improving LLP risk-adjusted returns. The platform promised to replicate similar mechanisms across public pools to align with the vision of democratizing on-chain hedge funds.
We are rolling out staking of LIT on Lighter! Here we will describe the initial utility from staking and how it will affect the Lighter ecosystem. pic.twitter.com/5NC8b4utuv
— Lighter (@Lighter_xyz) January 14, 2026
Lighter noted that accessing liquidity pools (LPs) is vital across DEX ecosystems, as they provide insurance against liquidations and offer rewards to participants. The DEX platform announced that it will adjust premium fees for market makers and high-frequency traders in the next two weeks. According to the DEX platform, overall fees will increase, and staking LIT will introduce fee discounts, noting that current fee levels will be marked as the lowest fee tiers.
Staking 100 LIT will unlock zero fees for withdrawals and transfers in addition to the existing features. Staking is also being rolled out to mobile users in the coming days, according to Lighter’s statement.
According to a recent Cryptopolitan report, Lighter launched its native token, LIT, at the end of last month, just two months after its public mainnet launch in October. The platform distributed 25% of the supply to users via airdrops, with the remaining 75% fully unlocked and ready for trading. Additionally, 50% of the supply was allocated to the team and the ecosystem. 75% of the LIT tokens are to be vested over time through buybacks, staking, and incentives for growth and governance.
Lighter to detail premium fee tiers for trading firms to adjust algorithms
Lighter plans to roll out the exact details of the premium fee tiers soon so that trading firms can adjust their current algorithms accordingly. The DEX confirmed that retail trading will remain free on the platform. Importantly, staking LIT on Lighter will unlock yields, with the firm set to begin publishing the APR once it goes live. Based on the previous mechanism, yields were generated from staking rights granted to premium users.
The perpetual futures trading DEX platform gained popularity after launching its public mainnet in October and reported approximately $200 billion in trading volume in December, according to DeFiLlama data. The platform outperformed other Perp rivals such as Aster, which registered $177.5 billion in December, and Hyperliquid, which recorded $169.3 billion during the same period. Lighter has so far achieved $54.9 billion in trading volume this month, against Hyperliquid’s $81.4 billion.
The LIT token price was down approximately 12% at the time of publication, trading at $1.88, with a market cap of $469 million. The launch of LIT in December saw the price surge to $2.62 before dropping to $2.30 later. The token reached an ATH of $4.04 24 hours later, but has since been in a downward trajectory.
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