What to look for when investing in Crypto

[yaku]

I didn't write this...saw it over at Reddit and thought it was a great way to distinguish the shit coins from the good ones. A good list of questions to ask before you invest:



FOR THE INVESTORS



1) How is the TECH/Whitepaper? (this should always be your FIRST question)

2) How is the Dev Team?

3) Do they have a funding scheme? What kind? (community donation, venture capital, institutional investment/buyouts, ICO etc.)

4) How are they organized?

5) How is their track record?

6) Do they have any institutional or prolific backing?

7) Does it solve a goddamn problem or alleviate friction anywhere?

8) Does it have competition and where does it stand within that?

9) How close to ready is it?

10) Any plans to create, stimulate, and maintain adoption?

11) Does it have a Marketing and media presence? A good one?

12) How is its Mainstream visibility?

13) How about Accesibility and Liquidity?

14) Growth potential based on current price and supply

15) Can it survive or at least get around the regulatory hammer?

Regardless of what you think your coin's shit smells like, these are the things you need to know in order to decide where the hell you're putting your money. Because each and every single one of these questions is important in determining the value potential and sustainability of your coin. If you actually care about making money then you'll shed your need to be on a single team and diversify your assets based on the fundamentals. Yes, I know a month feels like an entire year in crypto, but investment is NORMALLY supposed to be a multi-decade affair. Meanwhile longterm for most of us means 2022 at the latest. DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH.

 

[RedPillUK]

A lot of people on Reddit are just repeating what other people are saying and posting mental masturbation, I seriously hate the place, I prefer the design of traditional forums like this one, where you can see reputation and post count, not just a username and some points. That helps you judge the poster's opinion.

Yes do your own research, I see that on every other Reddit post, thanks for the reminder.

OK, let's take a look at these questions. Straight away, they all look like very broad questions with vague answers as a lot of them start with "how".

1. How is the whitepaper?

I couldn't understand all the jargon but it looks pretty well designed and pro!

2. How is the dev team?

Pretty good! I think, I heard one of them used to be a developer for Ethereum!

Stupid questions get stupid answers. Maybe we should pinpoint something specific. Does the whitepaper do/say x? Who are the developers and what are their experience and qualifications? Do they have experience in these types of projects? What type of developers are you looking for?

Then there are questions on there that no one can really answer.

Can it survive or at least get around the regulatory hammer?

Uh... I dunno, I don't make laws and regulations. Am I supposed to now research into laws and regulations to try and figure out how likely it will get banned? It seems like too much time and effort to me.

 

[yaku]

Those who already know everything probably won't need a checklist to help determine a coin's potential.

Congratulations on being at that level, Red Pill.

 

[SamuelBRoberts]

I know a lot of traders and I don't know any of them who use this for anything except potential ICO buys.

 

[Australia Sucks]

When it comes to Crypto there is only the one thing that matters and that is potential hype. Crypto are pretty much all worthless so you just have to pick the one you think will have the most hype.

 

[RedPillUK]

I think it's important to make a distinction between trading and investing. OP is talking about questions before investing long term in a cryptocurrency, Sam and Australia Sucks are talking about short term trading.

I wasn't trying to imply I know everything, just that most of those questions were quite broad and kind of meaningless. I was trying to brainstorm ways to make them more precise and useful. People new to cryptocurrency wouldn't know how to answer most of those questions meaningfully.

It's probably some Reddit nerd humble bragging about the knowledge he has and research he does, rather than someone actually trying to help people decide on which coins to invest in.

 

[Deepdiver]

Yaku no disrespect but that list seems like a handout a VC gives to an intern before he sends them out Target Hunting on the internet..

Its basically a CYA list.

Fact is the first and most dramatic Crypto Bitcoin was developed by a person who using linguistic analytics was ONE person oinly with a known grudge against the Globalist Banketers that caused him to suffer during the 2008/2009 crash and he knowing the Govt would retaliate against any threat to their Clepto Currency monopoly used a Secrect Pseudonym "Satoshi Nakamoto" and stays private even to this day... so the list is good basic advice ... and Meaningless in the big full Scope of Crypto Reality...

Fact is Cryptos are not correlated to any other investments unless the dev team intends for it too...

What has value is a good project with an active team actually getting things done (GitHub Etc Commits) with a decent whitepaper that illustrates a roadmap they are following that solves a real world problem or challeges.

Then it has Traction, Buzz because NOISE = TRAFFIC=DEMAND and unlimited demend meets limited supply the Crypto 10x or 100x or if you are really lucky 1000x from your entry point...

Then you have to Phocking put your own ballz and cash on the line and take action as follows:

Last Day of the Year 2017 Update:

Its Arctic Frigid in Sunny New England Today at +7F above Zero at 11:00AM Sunday 31 December 2017:

Well the more interesting Altz Projects are HOT HOT HOT again today:

Just in the past 24 Hours...

FUN up 75% whoa now at High Cryptos Noon 108% and rising in only One day!
CND up 21%
TRON TRX up 23%
FUEL up 26.7%
Triggers TRIG rebounding up 12%
CMT up 11%
ENG up 12%
ADA Cardano simmering up 10% after sizzling 41% yesterday

Ripple down 15% to $1.94 on Binance...

Ancient wisdom holds that when the last Day of the year Goes out on a high the New Year comes in Booming...

Wishing all a Happy, Healthy and Wealthy 2018

P.S. THIS IS NOT FINANCIAL ADVICE - Cryptos are VERY Volatile - Cryptos rise and fall several times a day/week/month so results today are different from an hour from now so go to coinmarketcap.com etc read the project websites and whitepapers, review the team and the projects and the real world problems they solve, their social media buzz and engagement and only invest money you can afford to see evaporate in the worst case and multiply many times in the best case.

 

[SamuelBRoberts]

I think it's important to make a distinction between trading and investing. OP is talking about questions before investing long term in a cryptocurrency, Sam and Australia Sucks are talking about short term trading.

Yaku can you provide some times when you've used these guidelines to help you pick a good coin, or avoid a bad one?

 

[yaku]

I know a lot of traders and I don't know any of them who use this for anything except potential ICO buys.

Yaku can you provide some times when you've used these guidelines to help you pick a good coin, or avoid a bad one?

It was just posted today. So no, I can't tell you when I've used those guidelines any more than I can tell you now how my lunch tomorrow will taste.

Of course, none of the traders you know use this list because it was just posted today. I do imagine that traders you know will read a coin's white paper before they invest. They will know who is on the team, and their track record. They will want to know who is backing them, and what is the purpose of the coin. Or if there are other coins that also serve the same purpose.

Samuel, perhaps you can tell us what you look for when you invest in an alt-coin.

 

[Scrapper]

My current strategy: Follow the FORKS! (via Twitter)
I am making an absolutely killing right now, money hand over fist, never been this easy in my life by following the ZCL to BTCP fork.
Saw an early mention on Twitter that all ZCL coin holders were going to get a 1:1 BTCP coin after the fork.
Bought in approximately @ like $43 a coin and within a few days it is now sitting pretty @ $101 a coin
All these major buy walls are getting shredded like a chainsaw on particle board, it is nuts.
Rumor is ZCL is going to hit $150 before it forks to BTCP and BTCP is expected to Open @ $1,000+++

TLDR: Bought a bunch of shitcoin $43, going to get a 1:1 Fork on BTCP Coin for $1,000+++

May the Forks be with you!

 

[SamuelBRoberts]

It was just posted today. So no, I can't tell you when I've used those guidelines any more than I can tell you now how my lunch tomorrow will taste.

That list, or a variant of it, has been kicking around R/Cryptocurrency since at least October. I've seen it plenty of times.

I mostly look at hype, at marketcap, and volume.
I'm also a big believer in google trends, though data for them is only updated once a week so it's not as useful as it could be.

 

[Travel Museums]

ZCL was a sleeper that got no mention. I think the privacy monies flowed into it. Crazy gains.

 

[yaku]

That list, or a variant of it, has been kicking around R/Cryptocurrency since at least October. I've seen it plenty of times.

Maybe. But most of the people here don't read R/Cryptocurrency. That's why we have individual threads for specific coins, threads on where to buy crypto, how to store it, paying taxes, why you should or shouldn't invest in crypto, and so on. Now we have one to help people determine the long-range potential of a coin. Nothing wrong with that.

 

[dasher]

Here's my list:

1. Does it have a cool name?
2. Does the whitepaper look like it had effort put into it?
3. Can brainlets understand why this is a valuable coin?
4. Does the coin/token have an actual purpose?
5. Do they have a good looking release schedule?

 

[whiteknightrises]

When it comes to Crypto there is only the one thing that matters and that is potential hype. Crypto are pretty much all worthless so you just have to pick the one you think will have the most hype.

Amateur opinion:

Short to mid-term, high-risk/high-reward:
Projects that are getting a lot of hype, obvious pump and dump, "to the moon/HODL" memes everywhere on Reddit, etc.

Example:
Verge (XVG)

Long-term (relative to crypto), probably lower returns than above, unless you plan on holding for a while:
A real project that isn't just buzzwords and vaporware/empty promises.

Examples:
Monero (XMR)
Raiblocks (XRB)
Edit:
+ Steem (STEEM)

Remember that most people in crypto = "dumb money", broke and dumb 20 something losers looking for their lottery ticket out of mediocrity