Become a Crypto ICO Guru in One Hour
I will list the important factors in choosing a Initial Coin Offering.
This can be used to carry out research or due diligence when you spot a company offering an ICO to the public.
My list of requirements can be changed to suit your own preferences whilst carrying out your research.
When you find a company to research, you can add a points system if this suits you, such as Good Team +10 Average Team +5 Bad Team -5 or what ever suits your type of research.
Once you have scored all of the different categories total up your scores and see if they are above the score you wish to class as a Dump, Watch, Buy, or a Good Buy, or a Very Good Buy. The choice of words and levels of score is yours.
It is always wise to check what other people are saying about the ICO on Youtube, and Google, but do not always believe what you see or hear, they might be wrong in what they say, or they may be promoting the ICO for a bounty.
ICO RESEARCH CHECKLIST
1. Do you have a Interest in what the Company is offering and is there a Need for it in the Future ?
2. Does the company have a well written Whitepaper on their website ?
3, Is the ICO Promoting a Security ?
( A security is where the offer includes paying you rewards or dividends just for holding the token that will be issued. If it does then the token can be classed as a share by the Securities and Exchange Commission and come under their rules and regulations. Exchanges now refuse to add these ICO's to their systems. At this point if the answer is yes I would dump the ICO.)
4. Is there a Prototype or Live Product in existence, if so is it performing well ?
(Scams can be detected where the ICO is solely relying on what they write in their white paper to raise finance, if they do then it maybe they just know how to write well, beware.)
5. Is there a Strong Team in Charge ?
(On the ICO website there should be a page explaining who the team are. Spend a lot of time researching the team it is very important, also it is important to have at least one excellent adviser. Use the LinkedIn website to see what each member of the team have been doing in the past, see if they have worked for big companies (research the companies on google if you are unsure). Make sure the team members past suits what the team member will be doing in the ICO company. Rate each team member, you must have at least 3 very good team members to create a successful ICO. Do not take short cuts in your Team Research.)
6. Do They Have a RoadMap or Set Milestones for the Future ?
(It is important to see how the company will progress through time after the ICO, if you see new products or arrangements coming up in the future, this will allow hype and the company value to drive the token price up on the exchanges as the milestones are achieved.)
7. Token Distribution Capped or UnCapped ?
(Capped may be good if the token distribution cap is not too big, what is too big? it's up to you to decide, check with similar successful ICO's and see what their cap or distribution was. You decide what is too big. Too many tokens will not allow the token price to rise quickly on the exchanges. UnCapped sales mean they will fill demand with however many tokens they can sell on the ICO, always wait until close to the end date of the ICO and check how much the ICO has raised before deciding whether to buy, for instance if you think the company is worth $20 million, and they raise less than $20 million they are a good buy. Let this be your guide as to whether it is worth buying tokens.)
8. Token Pre-sale Discount ?
(A lot of people love discounts when a Pre-Sale is offered. If the discount is too large, then this would be a very short term investment, and in some cases it would be wise to sell as soon as the token goes on sale at an exchange. The reason for this is just imagine a Pre-Sale with a 50% discount, a Whale comes along with a $100,000 purchase, with the discount the Whale will get $200,000 worth of tokens. If the Whale dumps on the first day at the exchange he looks to make a tidy profit while crashing the price, and then move onto the next discounted pre-sale.)
9. Internet Hype
(Search on forums such as bitcointalk, Search on Youtube, and Search Crypto News to see what people are saying about the ICO. Take in the information just in case you have missed something.
10. Safety
(Never reveal your own investment amounts. Never reveal personal details. Always put a disclaimer in any research that you publish, saying whether you have or will be investing in the company, or if you are being rewarded for the published research by the ICO company. You should also state that you are Not a Qualified Adviser and You are Not Giving Advise.)
With the information provided above you can now do your own research.
You can follow people on the internet and understand how they do their research, and check it against your own research.
You can build on the information above and start your own YouTube Channel telling your followers about new ICO's.
You can also earn money here on Steemit professing your new found knowledge.
If you build a good reputation along with a large following you will find that you may be offered interviews, and bounties to review future ICO's.)
I really do hope this post helps you in your future research, please comment below on items you think should be added to the guide. I will edit the post where possible to add new items so please follow me to keep track.