These were the 5 best performing cryptos over the past week amid the bitcoin bear market

• While bitcoin and ethereum dominate the headlines, there are nearly 18,000 crypto coins.
• With less liquidity and more volatility, these alternative cryptocurrencies can deliver investors massive losses or gains in a short period of time.
• These were the five best performing cryptocurrencies over the past week, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

Bitcoin's bear market has sucked the life out of many popular cryptocurrencies, with the total crypto market capitalization falling from $3 trillion to less than $2 trillion today. But some crypto coins are bucking the downtrend and moving higher.

With more than 18,000 cryptocurrencies in existence and counting, there are more than triple the number of crypto coins than there are US exchange-listed stocks. That massive amount of supply makes it nearly impossible to keep track of all the big movers in the crypto sector outside of well known coins like bitcoin, ether, and dogecoin.

The surge in new crypto coins came amid a massive bull market for the sector in 2021, but a more than 40% decline in bitcoin from its November high is challenging the space, especially in smaller coins that saw extraordinary gains last year like solana, cardano, and polkadot.

With less liquidity and more volatility, these alternative cryptocurrencies can deliver investors massive losses or gains in a short period of time. Shiba inu is down 65% from its recent high, but is still up big over the past year. Meanwhile, squid game token fell 99% in a single day after delivering swift gains of 75,000%.

Keeping an eye on the weekly winners and losers can help investors identify which coins are beginning to gain and lose traction in the crypto community.

These were the five best performing cryptocurrencies with a market value of more than $1 billion over the past week, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

5. Chainlink

Symbol: LINK
Market Value: $6.8 billion
7-Day Performance: 10.0%

4. Monero

Symbol: XMR
Market Value: $3.4 billion
7-Day Performance: 10.1%

3. Helium

Symbol: HNT
Market Value: $2.7 billion
7-Day Performance: 10.4%

2. Waves

Symbol: WAVES
Market Value: $3.3 billion
7-Day Performance: 16.2%

1. THORChain

Symbol: RUNE
Market Value: $2.5 billion
7-Day Performance: 23.8%