Altcoins with strong fundamentals and growing ecosystems could see a rebound in February. Jupiter (JUP) has strengthened its position in the Solana ecosystem with key acquisitions, pushing its TVL past Raydium.

Aerodrome Finance (AERO), the dominant DEX on Base, is trading near key psychological levels after a sharp decline, making it one of the most interesting altcoins to watch. Meanwhile, Grass (GRASS) has struggled with the broader AI token correction but could recover if AI-related hype returns next month.

Jupiter (JUP)

Jupiter (JUP) is expanding its presence in the Solana ecosystem through key acquisitions. It recently acquired Moonshot, a coins launchpad, and SonarWatch, a portfolio tracker. With these moves, JUP has surpassed Raydium in Total Value Locked (TVL), reaching $2.87 billion.

Despite a 7% drop in the last 24 hours, JUP remains up 29% over the past week. As one of Solana’s most used platforms, its growing ecosystem could drive further gains. Increased adoption and integrations may continue boosting its relevance.

If momentum continues, JUP could test $1.22 and $1.27 soon. However, if the trend reverses, it may fall to $0.98, with further downside to $0.83 or even $0.76.

Aerodrome Finance (AERO)

AERO is the leading application on the Base chain, with $1 billion in TVL and $1.16 million in daily fees. As the most used DEX on Base, it holds a dominant position despite being 56% down from its all-time high on December 7, 2024, making it one of the most interesting altcoins for February.

Over the past month, AERO has dropped nearly 31%, now trading around $1 with a market cap of $765 million. The recent decline has pushed it closer to key psychological levels, making the next moves crucial.

If AERO regains strong momentum, it could see a major rally in February. Key targets include $1.4 and $1.6, with a potential move above $2 for the first time since mid-December.

Grass (GRASS)

GRASS has been hit hard by the recent correction in artificial intelligence cryptos, with its price dropping over 27% in the past 30 days. It is now trading at its lowest levels since November 5, 2024, just days after its airdrop.

The token attempted to break above $4 on three separate occasions in 2024 but failed each time. Since January 6, 2025, it has remained below $3, indicating a clear downtrend.

If AI-related altcoins regain momentum in February, GRASS price could benefit from the renewed interest. A rebound toward the $2 range is possible, and if the uptrend strengthens, the token could revisit the $3 level as well.

AI agent tokens are experiencing a resurgence after suffering a $5 billion loss this week due to DeepSeek’s sudden popularity. 

Several challenges for DeepSeek emerged today, shifting market sentiment and fueling gains in AI-related tokens.

DeepSeek Faces Mounting Pressure

On Wednesday, Alibaba unveiled Qwen 2.5, an AI model it claims outperforms DeepSeek-V3. This announcement shook investor confidence in DeepSeek’s sustainability in the AI sector.

Additionally, OpenAI accused DeepSeek of using “distillation” techniques to train its AI models on OpenAI’s outputs. This is a potential breach of OpenAI’s terms of service. 

“Deepseek’s r1 is an impressive model, particularly around what they’re able to deliver for the price. We will obviously deliver much better models, and also, it’s legit invigorating to have a new competitor! We will pull up some releases,” Sam Altman, OpenAI CEO, wrote on X (formerly Twitter). 

The technique allows smaller models to replicate the performance of larger ones at a fraction of the cost. More importantly, it raises ethical and legal concerns within the AI research community.

Further complicating DeepSeek’s troubles, Italy’s data protection authority initiated an investigation into its use of personal data. 

As a result, DeepSeek’s app has been blocked from Apple and Google stores in Italy. 

“DeepSeek is not that special, the only thing that makes it better is that you can use it for free. China knew that USA won’t compete with free and cheaper products. USA, instead of competing, they want to ban the app in USA. The only solution for USA is banning the competition,” Mo Magoda wrote on X (formerly Twitter). 

AI Agent Coins See Market Rebound

Following these developments, AI Agent coins, which had faced heavy losses earlier this week, began to recover. 

Virtuals Protocol surged over 8%, while AIXBT and Ai16z both gained over 10% as investors redirected their focus toward decentralized AI projects.

The market correction comes after DeepSeek’s initial rise had diverted attention from AI-focused cryptocurrencies, leading to a sharp decline in their valuations. 

At the beginning of this week, DeepSeek unveiled its AI assistant, which rivals existing models but operates at a fraction of the cost. 

This innovation led to a substantial selloff in US technology stocks, with companies like Nvidia losing $589 billion from its market capitalization. Consequently, the stock price of crypto mining companies and AI-based cryptocurrencies dropped sharply. 

However, as the hype cools down, the market is starting to see the potential downsides of this new AI model. 

Also, several fake DeepSeek meme coins have surfaced on decentralized exchanges. Although DeepSeek has clarified it doesn’t associate with any cryptocurrency, scammers are still exploiting the hype.