Best Cryptocurrencies to Buy Today, April 18 – Solana, Stellar, Chainlink

Highlights:

• Solana gains attention after the Canadian ETF launch, and strong interest from institutional buyers boosts market confidence.
• Stellar rises as Southeast Asian retailers adopt XLM and USDC for payments using AEON mobile integration.
• Chainlink’s market cap surpasses the New York Times, showing rising investor trust in blockchain over traditional media.

The cryptocurrency market is dull today, with little notable price movement of major coins. Traders had hoped for positive news after weeks of uncertainty due to the ongoing tariff war and other macroeconomic activities that have influenced the market.

President Trump has attacked Jerome Powell for not cutting interest rates, with the president stating that his termination is imminent. The move comes after the European Central Bank cut interest rates by a quarter of a percentage.

At press time, the global market cap is at $2.66 trillion, down by 0.01% in the last 24 hours. In addition, the total trading volume is down 19.72% to $62.27 billion. The fear and greed index stands in the fear zone at an index of 32. Bitcoin has slightly recovered to $84,684, with a 0.09% increase in the past day. Moreover, its trading volume is down 21.11% to $21.33 billion. The dull momentum presents a buy opportunity and makes these the best cryptocurrencies to buy today.

Best Cryptocurrencies to Buy Today

1. Solana (SOL)

SOL is currently trading at around $133.8, with a 0.09% decrease in the past day. Its trading volume has decreased by 28.41% to $3.52 billion, while the market cap stands at $69.09 billion. In addition, the coin has been on an upward trajectory lately and has gained 14.26% and 5.94% on the weekly and monthly charts, respectively.

The renewed interest by investors in Solana stems from its recent ETF introduction in Canada. The introduction of spot SOL ETFs drew strong investor interest from institutional buyers. Four asset managers have launched the ETF on the Toronto Stock Exchange after regulatory approval. Solana is the third crypto asset with a publicly traded ETF after Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Canada makes crypto history with first solana spot ETFs:

—4 firms (Purpose, CI Global, 3iQ, Evolve) launch spot SOL ETFs on TSX with staking rewards.
—SOL joins BTC and ETH as the only 3 coins with Canadian spot ETFs.
—Will retail bite? Bloomberg ETF analyst @EricBalchunas is…

— Bitcoin.com News (@BTCTN) April 18, 2025

Separately, a couple of futures-based Solana ETFs were launched in the United States but have not attracted major retail investment. The renewed interest from institutional buyers is expected to drive the price of SOL higher.

2. Stellar (XLM)

XLM is trading at $0.2416, representing a 1.27% increase over the last 24 hours. The market cap stands at $7.44 billion, and the trading volume has decreased by 28.03% to $106.66 million. XLM has gained 2.80% on the weekly chart, making it one of the best cryptocurrencies to buy today.

The recent increase in activity and partnerships on the blockchain is driving the price of the native token high. Stellar has partnered with crypto payments protocol AEON to accelerate the adoption of crypto payments across Southeast Asia. In particular, the partnership will allow support for XLM and USDC as payment options at retail stores across major cities.

#AEON partners with @StellarOrg and @BuildOnStellar to accelerate global #cryptopayments!

Now supporting $XLM & #Stellar-USDC across 10K+ brands & 20M+ QR-enabled stores in Southeast Asia, expanding to Africa & LATAM.

Crypto payments just got simpler, faster, and global.… pic.twitter.com/2lzV7LiVK2

— AEON.XYZ (@AEON_Community) April 17, 2025

The transactions will be facilitated by AEON Pay, a mobile solution that allows purchases at major retailers. Specifically, the integration adds to the growing adoption of cryptocurrencies in the payments space.

3. Chainlink (LINK)

LINK is currently trading at around $12.62, with a 0.04% decrease in the past day. Its trading volume has decreased by 19.77% to $236.01 million, while the market cap stands at $8.29 billion.

Chainlink stands out due to its role in the blockchain sector. Chainlink is redefining the digital finance sector with real-world tokenization. The infrastructure of Chainlink is already integrated into Coinbase’s Project Diamond, Apex Group, and Paxos. The proof of reserve, data feeds, and CCIP play a major role for issuers to verify reserves and increase interoperability.

Chainlink's biggest tokenized RWA announcements, all in one place ↓https://t.co/Ra61l9pv4S

— Chainlink (@chainlink) April 17, 2025

The growing role of Chainlink has enabled the blockchain to flip the market cap of the New York Times. The $8.29 billion market cap of $LINK has surpassed the $8.04 billion of $NYT. Moreover, the move demonstrates a shift of investors towards decentralized networks over traditional markets. LINK is set to benefit in terms of price from the growing adoption of Chainlink’s infrastructure.

JUST IN: Chainlink ($LINK) has officially flipped The New York Times ($NYT) in market cap!

$LINK: $8.25B$NYT: $8.04B

The oracle is beating the press pic.twitter.com/lFyfbPdVJm

— AltCoiners.live (@alt_coiners) April 18, 2025