Bitcoin Forum

I have $5.000 to invest in altcoins.
Should I buy directly in ICO sales or in Exchanges ?  I'm seeing some altcoins in exchanges with lower prices than the ICO.
For instance: buying OMG in an exchange of APPC (https://appcoins.io) on the ICO sale that opens in Wednesday ?

The potential explosion I think come from the ICO sales.
When it's going down in exchanges, it takes more time to recover.
There are exceptions, of course, like the IOTA case.

Never buy a ico! The chance you will regret is 99% because you simply don't buy just one ico, it will be a lot. Buy on exchanges even coin has lots of potential.

Going for an ICO is a very risky business imo. If you wanna put money on ICO, just consider you are buying a lottery ticket and consider the money you put in is lost.

You can go into ICO investment but it is indeed risky if you have no knowledge on the project.
There are good ICOs running atm, like trade.io and im planning to invest in them. I'm already participating in the Bounty and look forward to the future of this new blockchain trading platform.

In my opinion, 5000$ is not a lot so I  think it's better to put in ICO, check out my signature for a very promising new ICO, they raised over 30 million usd already ! crazy right !?

Some of the promising ICOs going on at present that I can vouch for are Bankex and INS. Though you must do your own research and only invest into those that you believe in. Don't believe the hype as its easy to create on facebook, twitter with bounty campaigns.

If you don't want to put the time to research and come at your own decision, then just buy some of the long held coins at exchanges that have delivered for some time. There is no safe invest in crypto right now. 5000$ is a sufficiently big amount depending on where you live and what you do.
So I'd suggest that put some amount in ICOs that you have researched and believe in, some in exchanges buying established coins (GNT, LSK, ARK, CAPP, ETH, XRP) and atleast 30% of your investment in good'ol BTC.

I can't understand people who want to invest the whole their money into only one type of assets. You are at a very risky, but very profitable market. You ought to make different portfolios for different purposes. For example you may invest your $5k in two portfolios: 70-80% for the investing in already existed cryptos, 20-30% for ICO.

I believe now that it is better to buy some tokens that are greatly undervalued currently because of BTC rally, you can also diversify your portfolio because it will be a foolish thing to put all your eggs in one basket

Yes, buying on exchanges is better idea in terms of safety as prescribed by taditional finance folks. But hey!, you are reading this in a bitcoin forum. We are here to change the rules.
You decide what you want.

If you have to ask, i'd probably point you towards exchanges. ICOs are very risky and there are way too many scam artists running ICOs to try and get rich quick. Buy a solid coin with proven track records on one of the alt exchanges (like Binance, for example), your investment will be much safer and you might end up even making more money out of it.

With my experience with Electroneum ICO, I will say buying at the exchanges is a better option. Till present, I am yet to access ETN bought during the ICO meanwhile some people were able to get ETN lesser than the ICO price at cryptopia exchange before the price started shooting up.

Exchanges are better as the prices are bound to be dumped as soon as coins bought during ICOs hits the exchanges, you can then mop up at a cheaper rate.

I would buy into 1-2 crypto currencies, and maybe 1/3 of the funds would go into some ICO.

It depends on the ICO but most of the ICOs which are offering huge discounts for investors usually end up trading lower than ICO price when it hit exchanges. There are some examples also in which coins went low as 70% below the ICO price after trading on exchanges like LAtoken, monetha, airtoken etc.

 I will advice you to only go for genuine and legit ICO and before invest in any ICO you have to research well about their white paper , Deveper team, and is there the real product they launching in market . If you satisfy with this then only go for that ICO.Because now a days you have seen many ICO coming in market to raise funds, in this lot ICOs are scams. Other side I will suggest you to invest in good altcoins like Ether, Ripple, Dash and also invest some capital in Bitcoin

The return of investment in exchanges is lower, I would say...

What strikes me is that for some altcoins is actually better to buy after the ICO in exchanges, when people start to dump the altcoin.
But the coins with better RoI, are the ones bought at the sale, because typically don't dump these good coins.

i think not a right time to sell your altcoin, correct the altcoins are in a lower price so far wait the right time for altcoins to grow the price in the market cap before you use in anything what do you want to invest, but its depends on your decission i'm only sugeesting with you mate.

I wouldn't suggest buying coins that haven't be officially released to the market, such ICO token would rekt you hard when baggers are dumping their tokens with bonuses, also it's very hard to determine the price when everything is new, there are case where flips happens but very unlikely (1 of 10) if the project is not hype enough. Wait are you referring to the Appcoin platform that would list OMG on their launch? that's even more unlikely to get cheap OMG from them, better look into standard exchanges like Bittrex for your purchase.

I would say purchasing in exchanges is way better in terms of security and if i were you i wouldn't buy on some ICOs although they offer discounted price some with bonuses but think of the huge risk you'll be taking. Ofcourse not all ICOs but in my own observation around 4/10 are fake. Anyway we're in a business world its a matter of taking a risk or done nothing.

For me I prefer buying on an exchange to buying on an ICO because the price will always drop due to dumbing activities of bounty hunters.

Do exchanges do a kind of due diligence ?

Yes... a coin to enter in a tier1 or tier 2 exchange has to reply to a lot of questions, be investigated and to pay a lump sum.
Not easy because there are a lot of competition to be listed.

the most safe way and cheapest is buying right after the ICO because it could give guarantee to you that their coins are in exchange already while if you bought during an ICO even if you have a bonus you don't know how long you will wait for them to list it and there is a sure dump because of bounty hunters.

Personally, i try to buy during the ICO as there is usually some sort of bonus/discount involved. The one you mention here, AppCoins, seems to me to be one of the most promising ICOs of late 2017/early 2018, alongside Utrust. I have purchased tokens during pre-sale as a test and will definitely buy more during the sale. On their telegram group it has been announced that there will be a 20% discount for early investors. count me in  ;)

Well it depends on the project. I would rather invest in a ICO sale than trade in a exchange.


For me its better to make your own research since this is about money and its returns. Access to many info and sources as you can and people behind the projects. Also, check their previous projects if any and their roadmap and whitepaper, its am must.

My current portfolio:
RAIDEN

APPCOINS (sale just opened, the technology looks hot)

CINDICATOR

all utility tech tokens with strong teams

I try to buy tokens on the pre-sale, where give bonuses to bought tokens. This purchase minimizes the risk that, after entering the exchange, this token will not bring me a profit. Now more often on the exchange you can buy tokens cheaper than they cost on ICO. It all depends on the project. ;)

Looking at the recent run and poor performance of ICOs when listed on exchange, i think it is better to pick them up from exchanges because of some impatient investors that can't wait to move to the next big thing

It depends, surely ICO are more risky than investing in consolidated cryptocurrencies that are already on exchanges, but if you do the right research about the project, usally you will earn more from your investment in ICO, for example now I'm interested at Gilgamesh (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2162600.msg21654565,) Platform, this project has a top notch team

Definitely in exchanges for you have assurance on buying that coin because you know that it will might pump up. Buying in ICO sales dont have any assurance that you'll have a great profit. Sometimes its true but it is too risky for you as an investor.

I have several times participated in the ICO, but all times were not very successful.
I mean, after the ICO, the price dropped sharply when entering the exchange.
Therefore, I decided not to buy tokens during the ICO, and buy when the token is already traded directly on the exchange.