When more investment products arrive for VC and institutions it will be ideal to have a larger percentage of your portfolio in the lower risk assets rather than the higher risk ones as they will likely perform better and more reliably from the beginning of next year than the latter

It's not surprising to see Ethereum is the leader so far because it definitely has enough potential to eventually match it adoption wise but may not supersede it in the near term as the market is still dominated by Bitcoin and that won't change for a while although it's likely to have a big year in 2019

Ethereum's platform isn't solely dependent on the ICO industry for its value proposition because it has far more use cases than that although they do make up a large portion of its utilization at present but this will change as more businesses begin to use the platform not just consumers

This is a modest improvement so far and you're right about prices still being quite cheap across the board if you're looking to invest now and wait for what next year has to offer in terms of solid developments for many of the top ranked assets so you're not going to be in a losing position if you're accumulating early

These types of assets aren't really for inexperienced users but are more for enthusiasts who like niche markets or more experimental technologies and you won't necessarily be able rely on them for steady returns as the market matures because the very top assets will capture most of the incoming capital initially

It can be ideal to diversify your assets into lower risk ones if they're too high risk or take profits if your assets have appreciated but if it's a good quality project then it can be beneficial to hold onto a portion for the long term just in case it ends up becoming worth a lot more when the market improves

Most of this will depend on market conditions and what impact regulations will have on crowdsales so doing some research into these aspects will help provide you with an indication of where the best opportunities might be in the near future

You can avoid the majority of these issues by choosing your campaigns carefully based on how much future potential the project can have not just whether its paying the most rewards or has the largest social media presence or biggest hardcap as these factors don't necessarily guarantee success especially in todays rapidly changing market place

Adoption is not a bad thing in fact the more popular cryptocurrencies become the better chance they will have of establishing themselves as a future innovation that has real world use and this will only serve to benefit the ecosystem as it evolves from here

This is impossible to determine even for the experts so if you're new to investing do some research into trends and over bought and over sold market conditions, even delve into some technical analysis if your curious and then form your own conclusions and perhaps figure out what a decent entry price is if you're investing with a long term view and begin building your portfolio from there

This is an amusing thread but it really is testament to just how crazy the cryptocurrency world is despite having practically fallen over this year because you can never really imagine what can be possible and it is proving to be surprising enough to keep anyone guessing at what may happen next which is not boring at all

Lots of new comers arrive and get caught up in all the hype and FOMO and chasing quick profits and end up losing money from ineffective investment strategies or poorly constructed portfolios but on the other hand there is no specific guide to making it rich as its all unpredictable just ensure you've equipped yourself with enough knowledge and then focus on gaining experience

This year there was plenty of hype generated by the media which helped grow mainstream awareness for this asset but that's faded a little so it'll be interesting to see what transpires next year as there'll be spotlights on other assets but it seems to have developed solid potential for steady long term growth

Buying anywhere under $5,000 from a long term perspective is not a bad idea so don't worry so much about it getting cheaper or more expensive if its in the current range as you're not likely to lose out in the long run if you make sensible investments now

Regardless of whether there's a bull run or not from next year the big money will be investing in the major assets so you'll find they'll probably be getting far more attention than lower capped or unregistered assets so just focus on developing a good strategy for trading those if you want more reliable results

This is insignificant in comparison to VISA, PayPal or the likes which demonstrates just how much potential there is for future growth

If the top cryptocurrencies can capture more marketshare and increase adoption further it can have a positive impact on the ecosystem and this will gradually occur as the technology evolves

There's more than just this upgrade to look forward to as it's possible there will be a futures product announced next year for Ethereum which will help add some hype and grow the market base considerably so don't focus too much on minor drawbacks if they prevent you from seeing the bigger picture

It's perfectly fine to ask for some opinion but always make up your own conclusions based on doing as much research as you can because each individual asset has different potential if you're investing short, medium or long term or if you're trading with them so make sure you analyze each one carefully before you decide what to do as the market can be very unpredictable

HODL'ing can be beneficial depending on when you buy an asset which should be when its indicating it's near the most oversold it can get and then you can adopt this strategy and be patient in order to gain profits later, but of course you don't continue to hold if there's a better option to diversify into and selling a portion to recoup your initial investment once it has appreciated is advisable

There isn't much that can start a bull run at present not before the end of the year as the bear market is still prevalent but that could change however, new developments and capital will arrive next year so you shouldn't have to wait too long just be prepared for any volatility that may occur