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How and when do you guys decide whether to invest or not on an ICO? Do you have a checklist that you follow?

My tip: Do not invest in ICOs. ICOs are not as much profitable these days compared to last year. If I were interested in a certain ICO(though extremely unlikely), I'd probably buy it after the distribution instead, as prices are sometimes lower after the coins/tokens are accepted on exchanges.

Due diligent before investing into any of the crypto currency related business has now become more important since many ICO have fall short of investors confidence. Instead of one to invest his or her during ICO I will recommend one to invest after the project get listed on the exchange because as its value cheaper as compared with during initial coins offering.

First of do a deep research about the team, project, usefulness and the compliance with ruled and regulations as most of ICOs are either scams or just fancy whitepaper ICOs.
Usually, early investors get a considerable discount for the ICO when compared to later phase of an ICO. I think it is the best chance to invest in an ICO.
Once the token get listed in exchanges, sell around half of tokens at a good price become break even. This means you are risk free now. Then you can decide at what price and when you sell the remaining tokens to make profits.
Please note that this is not an investment advice it's just my own opinion. :)

First check carefully their white paper. make sure you understand all that information.
Now check team profile and advisor profile.
If you really want invest into ICO. you need to know price will fall down soon after ICO because people dump their bonus and bounty hunter dump their token.

If you want to invest in ICO projects then you should choose the right time to invest because this year is a disappointing year for the entire market and investing in ICO projects is absolutely wrong because of the demand very low investment. Personally I always choose time to invest because if it is a good project then it will definitely choose the right time to develop

I always see ico, every time it pops up, I am selective to see the details of ico. where ico is seen from the composition of the team, concept, roadmap and whitepapper. if it feels like it gives profit I think it can be used as the best choice right now for ico. because we know if before making an investment in ico we have to be selective and careful and researching ico that appears.

I am seeing everyone saying do not invest in ICO at this time, for the fact that ICO's aren't doing fine this period doesn't mean that it is general, it will take a very good ICO to survive this market and the may change the perspective of ICO's again, Just two or thru hugely successful ICO's will make people troop in again, ICO's were not popular until Electroneum made over 10x, any other ICO that may earn this will help increase the faith of people in ICO's again

This is a very good time to invest in ICO's. All you need to remember is to check basics everybody already mentioned. One thing I may add is to remember to invest in ICO's that are bringing something new to the table. Copies of Copies are bound to not be successful in bear market.

I am supporting mjglqw.Because ICO is not profitable right now.

Here is some tips for you if you want to invest in ICO.If you are totally newbie in ICO and don't have enough time to make own research then please Don't invest in ICO.Because have possibility to jump in a scam ICO. Before investing ICO read there whitepaper, find the team and check out that they are real or fake.And find product.If the product is real and team member,roadmap is ok then we can tell the ico is good.Though we can not give you 100% right info because most of ico is failed and scamming people.

I agree with mjglqw and now ICO projects rarely use escrow and maybe now almost none.
Escrow aims to avoid investor funds being taken away if fraud occurs

for now, price of dumps after entering exchange, and it is difficult to rise, is because bitcoin prices tend to decline, thus affecting the price of ico tokens. it is true, buy a few moments after listing, and you will get best price

ICO’S now a days is quite in bad shape but  there are ICO’s even against all odds will  definitely surface because of it's integrity and the functioning products and services are really profitable and truly manage by the team of experts that  what's makes more valuable.

Have you ever heard 99% ICO will fail?
ICO investments are extremely risky, it requires an experience and a deep research and analysis about the project. A lot of people said 99% ICO is damned to fail, but it does not mean ICO isn't a right way to make an investment.  nevertheless, I believe there is a better way to make an investment, the one who has a lower risk rather than ICO which is currently, is clogging up by scam project.

First of all you need to remember that ICO investments were more risky,so you have to invest only the money which is affordable for you to lose then you need to pick the good potential ICOs and then split up your investment capital,never invest all money in one and also check the project team if that were fake profiles then you can avoid the scam.

always make a research don't fall real fast in any testimonials of the project. Because that is the common technique nowadays of some  scammer to convince more investors. So make a drastic analyze to avoid ponzi  and don't ever rely on other thoughts as well which is make your own research to assured what are certain and uncertain projects.

Just choose the good projects you invest and hold them in the long run is profitable, the investment in electronic money just be patient, patience will give you all. Do not rush and hurry

If you want to invest in ICO, take note of these few things;

1. Who you are investing into - this has to do with the team in which you really want to be doing proper investigation on their profile authenticity, the experiences they have had in the past and what they have currently on the table.

2. What you are investing into - This is the product and really as a smart investor, you do not want to be investing into empty promises, because that is what you may ever get in the long run. So you really want to be sure the MVP is intact and it would bring about real life usage in the long run which is what would increase the demand for it.

3. After all these, you can then decide to check the team's vision, their plans for the future, and the whitepaper for further explanantions about the project.

I dont invest in ICOs when it is not a real potential project. You know, I have a team that analyzes ICO projects and they will produce results and score it. Often they will evaluate the technology and ideas of the ICO project the most. The only thing to make your investments profitable is read more.

At least IO has reached the softcap, when it was confirmed IOO would not fail.
you have the opportunity to get your token. just waiting for the announcement of unsold tokens will be burned.

It is very hard to say because it cant be used in all cases. However, I also give you one advice. That is reading review posts in some good rating websites. Most of them are experts and they can give you important information

I do invest into a projects after reviewing it through many channels.  The first way I do search a project if it is worth investing is through partnership and from there icoreview sites like icobench and icorating.

IMO, you can find local ICO since it's easier and more transparent because you can know them in better way and place.
But remember that investing on ICO far more riskier than bitcoin (IMO) ofcourse the profit is higher ( high risk high profit )

~Try to find their background carefully before investing

There is no hard and fast rule of ICO investments. You need to study hard and I understand all that techniques and then invest that I suppose after careful analysis so that your money is not lost due to weak or scam ICO.

ICO rating is most important for invest to an ICO. Trackico, icobench also helpful for investigating about an ICO. Roadmap of a ICO is also very important part. To choose a best ICO try to search its spreading and their telegram group. Admin will be helpful and also there will be a lot of investors.

In order to be able to invest in ICOs, it is necessary to learn about all projects that have potential, when seeing a real and nameable or experienced team, you can invest in the ICO. What is certain is to see the real team and its performance.

Well, I do not invest into many projects, you know, I am picky if it comes to giving my money to the people I have never met in my life. It takes a lot of time to come through all the documents and even after several hours of positive feelings about it you might glimpse a single statement which absolutely turns off your will to invest. I would advise doing your own research all the time. Everyone can make mistakes and it would be a pity if you break a good relationship with a person just because of a single bad investment. Your money, your responsibility. No one should be blamed for your voluntary decision that turned out badly.

there are many sites that are collecting ico projects that are running. yes you can look for it and start learning it, various recommendations including ico ranking can be an investment choice. but you are wiser to read the whole including white paper and team. after that, compare it with some ico who have succeeded

The first step that must be done is to examine and analyze (white paper) the background and the project team. Because it is very important to underlie before determining your choice to join to invest in ICO. And the important thing is do not be in a hurry.

Depends on the situation if I invest toICO or not. There is no time and date depends if they have new ICO that is good to invest and for sure I invested to that project. I go the ICO list and do every single ICO to make sure I can invest only to ICO that gives me more profit.

if I suggest, if you want to invest you must have an option. ico must have superior technology and products. This is important, because to make a profit in investment ico is not fast. need time and especially the process in each growth.

I like to join ICO in the early stage because they offer high bonus, join at this time give me a lot of bonus tokens, easier to get profit than join in their main sales. In investing the most important work you must do is researching, there are thousands of ICO so it is very hard to find one to invest.

when I analyzed an ICO, the first time I checked was the completeness of the supporting documents from the ICO, such as the whitepaper, all the information contained in the WP can be made as a reference for your analysis in an ICO

2018 is not the year of ICOs. This is associated with the bloody situation on the whole cryptocurrency wherein ICOs are greatly affected reulting to a lot of failed ICOs. Only very few ICOs will reach soft cap for the next days. So, perform due diligence before investing.

The list can be made when you have Fiat money.I invest a little but try to choose carefully where I will invest and what to buy.I can give 1 advice - all in the future successful and promising ICO very often update the news, the team participates in conferences,the product is updated.Ie these factors can determine how the team works.What is natural in the future will affect the success of the entire startup.

i have use mostly this tip, but i don't know if everybody agree: don't invest if the ico have not collected enought money to reach the softcap.

Basics:
1. Professional looking website
2. Well written whitepaper
3. Verifiable team
4. Community support
5. Product use case
6. Do they have a live MVP?

I agree - in my case I always loose from ICO becouse I always buy the ine that gets a Punp&Dump treatment ...

I would give you the best tip ever for this market.
Avoid investing in ICOs ! Look at statistics of passed ICOs and you realise what I mean.Invest in altcoins!

Its not the best time to invest in an ICO. I prefer to wait for an uptrend on Bitcoin prices.
But there are some gems around search on announcements page to find a nice ico.

The first tip is to never take the team for levity. This should always be your first target and where you should concentrate on the most, as they are the ones you are going to eventually be leaving your funds with and you really do not want to be leaving your funds in the hand of a team that can absolutely not deliver based on the lack of past experiences.

If you feel the team is Ok for you, then you can go ahead taking a look at the availability of a product as that is what counts the most and that is what you are investing into. If all these things are in place, then all other things can follow when it comes to the full technical details of the project.

A good project can create a big hype, remember if the token sale will be sold out instantly and then there was a lot people are still not getting a chance to participate in the crowdsale and they will try to take opportunity through waiting for that token to be listed on the exchange site.
The result of project will depend on the hype of the project itself.

Detailed some steps to follow to avoid scam ICOs here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5024445.msg46019400#msg46019400

But the most important point of all is to find whether it is absolutely necessary to have the coin/token in the first place (i.e. would the project not be possible without a coin/token Eg. ETH for smart contracts) or whether having the coin/token actually solves an existing problem/fills a gap (Eg. Streamr - data ownership and tokenization) or whether it's a novelty item that captures a niche market (Eg. cryptokitties). If any of the above is true, then it is an ICO worth exploring.

I think that it is necessary to invest in strong projects that do not attract investors through the bounty program and which do not have discounts for early investors, all investors should have one price for coins

This is a general tip in investing and not just in investing in ICOs:

In investing you should always have the right or proper mindset and setting of expectations and investing your assets. That would mean that it will be gone for quite sometime so that means if you are fully depending in the investments that you got will not get you food in your plate on a daily basis that means you should always thing of it as another way to circulate your money. Also set an expectation that you can either lose or gain from that investments and not all investment can make gains because some of it will make you lose more than what you think.

This might a big help. I explore most often on ICO's there are bunch of ICO's that willing to raise funds on behalf of bitcoin mainstream adoption. Some developer will copy all the details, whitepaper on different coins that was listed on cmc. So please guys be aware of this kind of ICO's

You need find more info as much as you can check links for team and etc and then you sure its not scam try understnad what they want to do what project would be done hard cap softcap if they have and you need unederstand its long term investiment.

Investing in ICO's nowadays is very risky. You must do an extensive research if the team members are legit, checking their linkedin profiles is if it's not fake, following their ANN thread and joining their telegram/discord channels as it will give you a clue if the team is legit. If you don't see much activity on the chatroom and no productive conversations then usually I stay away from it.

Ofcourse investing in a genuine project will give you a good return. You need to research on the project as most of them are scammers today, also go through media and LinkedIn profile will help you too to check about their status.

Absolutely correct advice, although you may sound like this suggestion is not the same, but the fact is, this year's ICO has too many scams, even those icos that are not scam can not let you get a high return, so from a risk perspective, don't invest in any ICO is the best advice.

for beginners it is best to follow the rating on icobench, their team consists of several experts in their respective fields and projects that get high ratings by them have proven successful.

There some steps that I always do before I decide to buy an ICO, the first one and I think the most important is to check the Team behind the ICO, there are tons of ico that use random google picture, means that it does not have a real team, this kind of ico easily get eliminated from my list. Other type is ICO that has a real team but most of them do not have experience in the ICO or even crypto world, most of the time I will not buy this kind of ICO but sometimes I do check their whitepaper and do deep research about their project, vision etc. if it has a real use-case and legit, I will buy it.

For ICOs investment do not follow any certain rule for all ICOs. You should investigate of your own and first of all check the company website whether it is authentic or not. Just check the website is https:// if not secured then ignore this ico. Then if the website is genuine then search for the company data one by one and evaluate the long-term viability of the company.

You need to really make sure that you have money to invest that you don't mind losing. That is the rule no 1. DO NOT INVEST your grocery money and money you need to pay your rent and bills with. Secondly, check out the Team. Are they creditworthy and legit? Also, check to see if they have partnerships and backers in a place like venture capital companies. These could be good places to park your investments in as these companies have already done a lot of due diligence before backing these projects.

Seeing that it is currently experiencing a downturn, if you use the ICO to make investments, I think that is impossible, because there are so many investors who suffer losses.
Actually this is the effect of prices that do not allow to invest.

I am personally afraid to invest in ICO, because if you even choose a successful project that e will not be a fraud, nor any other kind of Scam, the probability that you will still end up losing money is very high.

If you want to find the right profitable ICO then look for the strong team members and don't waste your time on trying to understand a number of technological peculiarities which are represented in whitepaper.

looking at the project team and in what field the project will have a good impact for the future, and most importantly looking at the sale of the ICO

Before investing or joining a company, I always check if a project is a scam, there are several threads on the forum dedicated to this topic, you can also check through Google search by writing the name of the project and adding the word scam.

I think you should study and look for the ico review websites which tell for ratings and also to keep the deep analysis of such projects. Please add this analysis to your sheet that  which projects are good or bad and planning and then invest after carefully thinking that it is worth investing or not.

Here are some tips together: https://icoguide.com/en/blog/choosing-an-ico-common-pitfalls-of-scam-icos but really it is not an easy taskt to choose good project among so many ideas

I think you better invest in altcoins listed in the top 20 coin market cap, I think it's too risky to invest in ICOs, I really don't suggest that, if you still want to invest in an ICO, look for ICOs that are really serious in build their project, you have to check each of their members and their white paper.

I use www.icoguide.com to find some good rated ideas, the projects at the platform are properly rated. Then I look at the team, it should be identified, experienced and good background long term proved experience and then it comes to idea, it should be interesting and with perspective. Afterwords it comes to different details, such as information provided, soft cap, hard cap and etc.

I think the best way to invest is to wait until the last 10 days of each oic because if it is successful it is at the limit of the hard cup

Please check carefully their information. If you can not or insufficent of knowledge, ask someone who is excellent at that.

Icos nowadays seemed to make your investment loss. Better to wait on the exchange then buy more. This is my way of getting profit, and I don't have a checklist to follow this is based on my experience so be wise to your investment mate.

of course it must be because you can compare and search for all information related to ico that I am investigating. this is not easy, because in every search always has a risk, especially for current investment. most ico don't have the full power to be trusted by investors.

If you are new to the market and recently started investing, I would recommend to not rush to ICO yet. It's not just risky but also requires thorough experience in order to understand its functionality. Try grasp as much knowledge as you can and then decide where to invest.

For now, investing in ICO is very risky because the bitcoin market is still in a bear condition ...
I recommend you to invest ico when the bitcoin market has restored its price at $ 8k-9K
and you can see good ico on icobench there are many ico lists that are very good ...

Honestly, when you are investing in the ICO-s you should be able to understand the project from both technical and future prospective point. Also you need to check for marketing they are doing ETC. If all things are going well then it might be a good investment.
The problem I noticed is that a lot of people trust sites like icobench and other listing sites where the reviews are paid and the more information is filled the better mark they have, even though it doesn't have to do much with the fact that project might be really good or even really bad one.

Keeping an eye with ICO projects is too hard, it's also risky as we don't know what would be the next movement of bitcoin and ETH as two of those main currency that been accepted by most ICO developers, but if you are using spare money or the one which is really intended for investing what I can say is to invest with project that have real usage for future reference, if you see that ICO have a good community and the target venue will deliver then you can place your money and wait for the growth and full development of the project, success will follow with decent profits for sure.

My advice is only one, leave ICO for now, replace your money out side crypto market. We all know market condition is not good and replace our asset into ICO project will create new bankrupt person, not good for us. If you want invest, please replace your asset into 1 - 3 top coin from coinmarket list and use long term period ( 2 - 3 years ). Think again before replace your asset, see the risk as big picture.

No, I have no lists. I proceed from the market situation and the amount of money in your pocket. If you find a great project, do my own analysis, sometimes I communicate with the development team on social networks and then decide to invest or not.

This is actually a very good suggestion and judging from the way ICOs have been lately during the bear trend and a lot of them trading far below their ICO price, I would even say it is a whole lot better waiting for the project of your choice to get listed first and then go ahead buying them when you feel they have bottomed enough and you are getting far below the ICO price.

However, for general knowledge, I guess the idea of doing due diligence on the team, checking if there is a product and looking at the vision is what is important the most, when investing in ICOs.

if you're an investor or just want to invest in ico I can just say it's a review or make sure you first legit it so you do not lose your investment too much because of risky investing in ico especially ico the scam is so bad Just buy ico so you can not scam.

I have three step rule that I always follow. I take a look at the developers and owners and basically the team of the ICO first. I do research on their names and try to see how important those people are and how involved they are and how reachable they are. If they are good people with great CV's and successful things in their past and they are constantly involved and you can reach and ask stuff thats a plus.

Second is the feature or problem solving, if a coin is coming out that means they are trying to add a new feature to that coin or at least try to solve a problem, if I think thats valuable thats another plus. Third and last is the community, if the community behind is really going crazy and hyped about it, than thats another plus. If a coin gets three plus than I decide to invest to it.

While investing in ICOs can prove to be very fruitful, you should practice due diligence before investing in one. You’ve to remember that just like the outside world, not every company that comes up with an ICO is reliable. This is why you need to make sure you’re making an investment that’ll bring you great returns. Some things you can look out for when investing in an ICO is to check and see whether they have a whitepaper, if their roadmap makes sense and if they’re really making waves in the cryptocurrency market.

Most altcoins are from ICOs, right? Won't it make any sense to invest on ICO then?

Do you buy as soon as they hit the exchanges or do you wait for the investors to dump their coins? I am not really familiar with this strategy. Do coins generally fall in terms of value after hitting the exchanges or do they go up?

I don't have checklist about ICO that i want to invest. But usually i make red flag checklist if i want to participate in ICO.
It is easy to find the advantage of ICO because they usually promote their advantage to bring many investors. But it will be hard to find the disadvantage.
Thats why i need to create a red flag checklist

To invest in ico you take a look at the white paper, ico's work team. and see the ico reviews on reputable sites.

Before you do any investing, it is a great sign if the project can show a minimum viable product to showcase that their aim is indeed achievable. Many ICOs promise too much but has really no intention of fulfilling any of it that's why one must be careful.

As I have already mentioned many times before, these are the best tips when it comes to investing into ICOs in this extremely volatile cryptocurrency market:

- Development team analysis
- How active are the developers on social media channels?
- Soft cap and Hard cap
- Whitepaper and roadmap analysis
- Campaign manager reputation in this forum
- Bull or bear market

I view the above factors as the best way to analyse any particular ICO which has almost always helped me avoid scams which is why I suggest researching these factors extensively.

I have attended several ICOs before, most of them made it to softcap but after being listed on the exchange the price was broken and very disappointing. maybe this year not to invest in ICO but to invest after ICO. I do not recommend but there are indeed some good ICOs in progress.

Of course, I am not an expert, but even it is clear to me that, given the current market conditions and the situation that has developed in the market of ICO projects, it is not profitable to invest now and this will not bring you profit in the short term. You can buy coins on the stock exchanges, which were lower on the ICO. Personally, my opinion.

It's hard to determine what projects will be in success indeed. Having a viable product is included in my checklist too.

in this time choose ICO is pretty hard to do. many of the ICO but not necessarily everything it could yield as expected. relying on the existing site's rating is also not useful and maybe even many who are stuck because of it. though indeed the ICO produces but it would be better to hold this first time and better learn and find out how to analyze than on direct entry in the investment.

I would advise you to search for a great project and check their stats. You should carefully read the whitepaper, look at the community, maybe check rating websites. And just buy some more coins, when ICO goes live on exchanges. You will get even higher profit.

the only thing that I would advise you is that it is worth investing in startups only in a bull market, otherwise all your funds will fall by tenfold

Is it not more risky investing after being in exchange?For the price are continuing to fall ?

I have observed four poject ,those who become successful and has reached almost the hardcap but now after almost a year ,the value lowered more than 50-70% from ico price

I dont know but thats my observation.though maybe theres an exemption,or depend on the developers on how they  will handle the future of their coins/tokens

I have several sites as recommendations for analyzing ico, and that doesn't become an accurate benchmark because I still have to check from various sources of information. especially in terms of technology and products as innovation.
there are a lot of ico who come with their innovations but only a few that really make sense to me and almost 90 ico is useless. therefore experience is needed

When I was in the ICO stage, I felt that it was the best stage to start investing, when the bid price was still low by seeing and studying the whitepaper and the people behind the ICO.

it is true that you say, if a project can achieve its softcap target it proves that the project can be implemented according to the roadmap. and make sure that the team running the project is also competent

Of course, first you should check if the project is legitimate. In checking so, you should go read the whitepaper of the said ICO. Then you should check if the board members and CEO is known and have experience in the crypto world. See if the project is attainable and relistic to be achieve too. That's how you should check so you would not be scam by shts ico.

As you say, we should analyze the partners of the project is really strong and potential or not, if the project has large partners, the car will be more successful. I know what you mean and I will do as you are suggesting, sincerely thank you very much.

Yes there is always is a checklist before investing in any ICO, first of all check team is real or not, 2ndly how good is product/service project is offering and 3rdly project timeline.

I will evaluate the project before I participate in the ICO project.

Investing is the most risky thing for me in business in life if you will put all your funds in one project and you have a big trust for it.
If you will earn or not at the last. So many investors complaints because loss of funds and waiting for to long and you will not recover your funds.

Yes, the analysis is important, to see the direction and purpose of the project to be followed. Don't forget many scam ICO projects, not to get capital and time involved in scam projects.

The main factor is the news of the project, and tracking the road map to the team had time to perform tasks.

In the current market situation, my only ICO investment skill is to invest nothing.This should be the most practical and safest technique at the moment. :P :P :P :P