After pump and dump 2013-2014 the market has recovered in more than 2 years. Then there were other conditions. We should be ready to wait for more time to recover.
If in 2019 there will be at least some improvement in the market, I'll be glad of it.

Professional investors are buying potential, but not something completed. There are many non-professionals in crypto who act impulsively. But the company's funds can not grow rapidly, especially if there is no finished product. Such investors are waiting for quick profits. Not surprisingly, the price almost always falls after listing. Even for a promising project.
Thus, if you don't want to be in the dump, just do not participate in the ICO . This is the most reliable way.

Yes, STO may seem like a good alternative when working with ICO imperfections. But the STO has a number of flaws, one of which is not availability to most. This is something like a digital stock of the future company. Are you sure you can buy such tokens?

Regardless of what the whales are doing, but if they want to make long-term profits, they must maintain interest in the market. By killing the market with futures and options, they will earn, but its to bite the hand that feeds.
If we assume that huge market players are smart (and how else?), then for long-term profit, they will not allow the market to remain half-dead.

You will not find any truthful and convincing evidence. Major players make a lot of effort so that ordinary players do not recognize the whale. Moreover, most likely, they will try to mislead us.
If you look at a distance of 2-3-5 years, then you should look for projects on which the team worked for quite a long time, and they have plans for the future.

Selling since the summer of 2018 does not make sense. This is about 1/10 of the original amount. This applies to assets bought and received as a rewards. Buy now there is no desire, no funds. Thus, I will try to forget about my assets until 2020 or before the crypto hype.

For example, in 2018 the market fell by 80%, and in 2019 the loss in weight would be 50%. This is certainly better, right?

None of the crypto assets protected by real assets is credible. Even security such as gold, diamonds, emeralds is often fiction. Even USDT and similar assets are being questioned.

There are so many scenarios in crypto, even fantastic ones, that it’s simply pointless to predict.
The easiest:
Being impressed by the downtrend of 2018, you can easily believe in a new bottom.
If you recall the Q4 2017, you can easily believe in new highs.
What will be will be.

Demand creates supply. There are enough people in the world who will buy everything with "bitcoin", "ripple", "ethereum" ... in the title of any project at the next hype.

What do you mean worse? What is the purpose of the developers in this case?
Replacing PoW with PoS doesn't look like something bad. At first sight. Ethereum is fairly centralized, and changing the mining system will not change anything. Maybe something else?

Despite the fact that some believe that in addition to hype 2017 there is nothing in this coin, it is still something. A crypto team means a lot. They continue to do something. Even if it is just to create impressive activity, this may be enough for the next pump at the right time.

Strict rules for creating a new token; verification of the identity of the creator (lead dev), if it is a commercial project.
Creating a new coin is more difficult to regulate, but not many scammers can create it.

This old stock market rule also works for the crypto market. As a rule, you need to have time to sell before the event, which is mentioned in the news. In this case, to hard fork. Perhaps the time to exit the positions is very close .

Yes, in current conditions, BTC can be a leader for a long time. But conditions may change. Crypto is changing fast. For example, a year ago there was an ICO boom, now it is in decline.

The best run-up should take into account as many scenarios as possible. The uptrend is only one of the options of scenario. It should be understood that this option may not appear soon, including never.

It makes no sense to guess what will happen next year. But it is very useful to think about what to do under different scenarios.
As example: If the fall continues, I will try to trade intraday in the stock market. Maybe something else. I will rarely look at my assets so as not to get upset.

The crypto market lives by its own laws. In this market, the New Year means nothing, although seasonality takes place.
While there is no reason to hope for change for the better. I think that the news that will be soon, is already in the price. Therefore, it makes no sense to take to news in the next month or two.

Yes, the team has conceived something new. The community did not support this. Now the token can greatly depreciate, despite the fact that the price has already returned after the pump in spring-summer.

In general, a good way to navigate investments from the activities of the team. But this is not a panacea, unfortunately. The vast majority of crypto assets are speculative tools, nothing more.

As shown by past experience, everything is possible. Expect such a price, of course, not worth it. Moreover, one should not believe such predictions. This is also the experience of the past. ... but everything is possible in this crypto world.