Because of rampant scams in this industry its best to be careful about who you share your personal information with and only do so if its really worth your while because there's plenty of giveaways that can appear to be genuine or promise to offer great value but are just an illegitimate means of collecting private data for other uses so always verify who you're providing your details to before submitting them

In this climate its essential to use the best security measures possible including trading on transparent and reputable exchanges with strong security features and good customer feedback, ensuring your coins are stored safely in cold storage or on a hardware device, and making sure you check each website for authenticity and be wary of phishing attempts and malware each time you access any important services

ICOs aren't "dead" so to speak but they have declined in popularity with the lowest amount of funds raised so far this year compared to the previous two years and many of these projects were outright scams or poor quality offerings, but the crowdsale industry is evolving toward IEOs which are slowly beginning to gain in popularity and can offer investors a more reliable proposition with exchanges vetting startups to ensure quality standards are met just make sure you choose the most reputable launchpads

Ethereum has potential to appreciate further due to growing anticipation for the approval of futures products which will attract lots of interest from institutional investors and development milestones for Ethereum 2.0 proof-of-stake testnet are on track as well as further updates planned for later in the year so it's certainly not going to be an asset to ignore

The cryptocurrency industry is rife with scams and projects that are based on nothing more than vaporware, but this shouldn't discourage you from taking an interest in these types of technologies if you are curious about what they have to offer because there are many startups that are developing innovative platforms, protocols and dapps that have genuine use cases so just make sure you research each one thoroughly to ensure they are worthwhile

Market leading assets such as these two have enjoyed a decent performance during the last week or so and lots of top ranked alternatives have also benefited from this moderate increase, which can be attributed to steadily improving market sentiment, however, considering the regulatory uncertainty concerning many tokens that have not yet been classified as securities it would be ideal to focus on startups that don't have these potential issues and only add well established assets to your portfolio

Airdrops can be a fun way for beginners to obtain some coins or tokens for free and also for anyone who wants to collect some of these assets just in case they appreciate in future and become worth something and although there's not that many available at the present moment IEOs will likely utilize these as a marketing gimmick and should provide more to participate in if they increase further in popularity

Whenever there's a dip in prices its always a great opportunity to pick up some bargains and the recent momentary collapse has led to some alternatives becoming a great value buys so don't hesitate to capitalize where possible just be certain to accumulate good quality assets with a provable use case and long term viability which may provide the best results during the next uptrend

When promoting a crowdsale it would be helpful to disclose some further details such as who can participate, what regions are excluded, and if there are any limits for each type of investor and private funding rounds if there are any along with a detailed prospectus because this will make it easier for investors to evaluate your offering

Dips that occur in the current market climate are a good opportunity to pick up some bargains provided you invest only in good quality assets and don't add too much risk to your portfolio because there may be some volatility as the market trends upwards, however, if you take into consideration the positive developments and potential for increased interest in these assets as an alternative hedge to traditional markets there may be more reasons for being optimistic

Hype such as this can have some positive effects on sentiment, although it may be more speculative, especially in this case and it's not the only asset to gain wider exposure to the institutional market because BTC and ETH have gained wider attention too with LTC and BCH coming up second and all of these top ranked assets should perform well during the next uptrend however, be aware that this asset still hasn't yet received classification which could become problematic in the future

Taking profits is a good idea especially if you are after shorter term gains then a strategy of buying only when the market is indicating it's well oversold and selling once it has appreciated again can be an ideal way to benefit and you can either use this capital to diversify your portfolio or recoup your initial investment just make sure you don't take on board too much risk and focus on well established assets for the best outcome

The cryptocurrency market generally appears to follow a cycle of boom and bust so obviously the best time to invest is after a bubble has popped and the market is considered to be in bear conditions and consolidating or starting to break out of that phase regardless of what year it may be and then you simply wait patiently until it appreciates significantly once again just make sure you invest in good quality assets moving forward and you'll likely avoid making any losses with your portfolio

Since this was posted the market has been in an uptrend and has enjoyed a healthy appreciation thus far and although alternatives have been slower to catch up to Bitcoins increasing lead there are still some good opportunities as a result of this if you research which assets have strong fundamentals and represent viable long term investments you may find there's still some bargains to be found

Technical analysis does indicate the market has turned bullish but that's not to suggest it will remain that way as there are many factors that could slow the momentum that is building, however it is looking increasingly positive for further growth and Bitcoin is increasing its dominance due to investors realizing just how much potential it has and are being more careful about what they invest in and no longer splashing out on any flashy new coins or tokens that may promise quick returns but don't represent long term viability

This is an important issue to address because not all offerings will be worthwhile investments and you are definitely going to benefit from first doing in-depth research into what exchange is hosting the crowdsale, what rate of profitability recent offerings using this launchpad have had, and what due diligence is conducted to ensure you're making a well informed choice before you commit any capital

Investing into alternatives will always have its benefits, but it can depend on when you choose to invest because if you purchase an asset once its already appreciated or if new developments have already been priced in well in advance you're basically doing it wrong, so first make sure the asset is worthwhile considering some of the useful advice provided herein then determine if market conditions are favorable and the timing is appropriate before you invest

In the current market conditions the reward is not the only thing that matters when you evaluate a new bounty campaign it's also the quality of the offering and its potential to appreciate in future post-sale so focus on analyzing the quality of venture capital and private funding, business partnerships, advisors, and marketing strategy to determine which ones are worthwhile participating in and you'll likely benefit more from doing so

This is the big question that many investors want answers too but it's not easy to predict which assets are likely to achieve such exorbitant gains and its debatable whether the market will see these sorts of returns from newly launched projects even IEOs considering investors have become more careful of what they invest in and are less likely to buy into pumps and dumps or anything that's way too over hyped so if you are after moderate returns focus on good quality projects with new announcements coming up like mainnet releases, business partnerships, and bigger exchange listings etc.

At the time this thread was created the market was experiencing a heavy retracement from the peak of the last bubble and the end result was it removed a lot of speculation from the market, but this boom and bust cycle appears to be normal for cryptocurrencies and by no means should they be considered "garbage" if you take into consideration how much potential these new technologies have and hopefully now the outlook is becoming more favorable for investors who stuck it out and are waiting patiently for crypto spring to arrive