Bitcoin Forum

I wonder guys, how do you determine if the altcoin is worth investing in?

It has two parts.
What do you regularly check to find out about new altcoins?
How do you decide if it's worth investing in?

Well and next - how do you keep track of all changes in already established altcoins?

Really interested to read your thoughts. :)

I just pick some that i think will have potential long term but  9 out of 10 times im wrong so if you want i can tell you all the ones I've invested in so you know which ones not to pick.

Sure, it could be start. :)

Well i hold varying amounts of dash,  ethereum, maidsafe nxt and waves.  These are the only ones i have any faith in although i own a few dead coins as well.  Theres a few more i may invest in yet but haven't quite decided.

Out of these I'm hoping waves surpass ethereum eventually but could be wishful thinking.

What are you guys thinking about Sia ?

The trend is your friend.  That's all you need to know. 

Oh, you actually wanted advice on how to analyze shitcoins?  There is no way.  There are no fundamentals and there is no intrinsic value.

Investing in my case means how i and how often i will use it.
As for now i always find the solutions i want with bitcoin., Some alts did seem in some form attractive but i have not yet invested in them.
I do/did use namecoins., i liked the domain idea.

I'd say that bigger the ICO is, bigger it is promising. Then, identify if developpers are known or not (in matter of notoriety and that you know their real identity). Finally, everything which is not a common altcoin (assets, smart-contracts...) is a plus.

You need to find the hype
If you already find it you can join it, enjoy it and get quit before the hype ends
You will got profit  ;)

To determine if it's worth investing you need to watch the coin for 6 to 8 months at least. Most coins die within the first year. So after 1st year it's worth looking at it. By then there is enough history to see what the deal is.
Next is the specs - they need to be solid. A solid equilibrium between the interest of miners and interest of investors and interest of devs must be struck.
Next, the chain should not have forked often as many forks indicate the dev has no clue what he's doing.

Keeping track only of the best of coins.

Best entry after hype is long gone and market is flushed from greedy money and coin is on floor in sideways movement for longtime.

Do you have in mind some altcoins in particular?
What sites do you use to keep track of all those information?

No, don't want to name coins, you got to find them yourself.

There is no unbiased source that lists info - you've got to keep track yourself.

Best is to conduct some rudimentary reseach in top 100 on CMC and find the coins that you think are good or interesting for you, then do deep research on them, then only invest in a hand full and keep good track of those you invested in. That's how i'm doing it.

From time to time look what's new on the market.

It takes a while until you know your ways around alts. The space is also moving fast. You're never done researching.

Well, I thought if you share the coins, it could add to the hype and reward you.

Btw how many coins have you invested in?
How much profit in % have you made?
How long are you watching it?

Worth looking into:
-Vertcoin
-Dogecoin
-Unobtanium
-Litecoin
-Digibyte

(my personal preferences)

profit was good so far but i'm also not the worst of traders which helps - that being said, i suffered 100% losses on some coins in the past. It can always happen. It's important to be diversified. Never put too much on a single coin.


Generally new coins are riskier than older coins


Also: stay away from icos and presales of any kind as the one issuing it can buy into those himself and thus there is no way to tell how rigged the distribution of those coins is. Ico-coins are generally very unsafe and shouldn't be looked at as longterm investements.

Hope it helps a little.

Thank you for your insights. :)

Any other tips? :)

What you are looking for is dependent on your investment strategy and how much time you want to spend on it.
Riding the waves is profitable if you are able to identify them early and are a decent trader. If not, you will end up paying for someone elses profits.
Balu's strategy is effective as well if you have time to wait. You will have a few big losses, but you can also see your coin go up 100x and more. I'd like to add a few points to what he said:
-Look for real development as opposed to fancy roadmaps.
-Find coins that offer something unique that you think solves a real problem
-Stay away from coins with anonymous devs
-Read the coins thread. All of it. It will not only tell you about progress, but you will get an idea what the community is like.
-Pay particular attention to coins that seem undervalued to you. There is either a reason for it, or you have just found the perfect candidate for a good investment. You can often find some of these in lower half of top 100 coinmarketcap.

Edit: And never trust anyone that tells you to buy a specific coin.

What's some hints to look for for "real development" that you would look at?
I can only think of the github repository (if it's open source)

Github is a good place to start, but I recommend to download the wallets too and test them yourself.

Thanks guys. Really good tips.

How do you keep track of active development? Just a threads here at bitcointalk?

Threads at bitcointalk, github, slack, but most importantly test the software yourself.

Read a lot on bitcointalk and communities. Tip for the next weeks? VRC  8)

i disagree! what about the electricity you need to run your computer on, the data you need to download & your time? are those free?
even if you do all your research in a public library still your time is not for free.
being able to test someone's software for free puts you at an advantage;
but does it compensate the resources you put into that test?

imo, balu's approach is legit; its only drawback is being almost all consuming! my schedule is mostly packed!
his edge is his enthusiasm, tenacity & knowledge/experience/skill, my edge is cheap electricity so i'm exploiting that!
What is/can be your edge op? (do spend time on this question.)


for the sake of sharing, i did trade/invest in few alts & barely made losses; the fact is, it was pure luck with capital L!
(e.g. sold my daos day before the hack, their fiat value being twice what i spent on!)
but i never did have the time nor the nerve to lookup 50 alts, deep research 15, pick 8 & involve 5, now i just do it for fun if i happen to stumble at sth i fancy!

Well when im looking for altcoin to invest in (i really rather to stay away from them) the first thing i look at is a volume,it seems most important for me how it changes in lets say a week.If we have it constantly growing,we may think the altcoin have potential.
I also never invest in altcoin's where i may be scammed,for example made by anonymous developers.
good luck in your investment :)