If we are to compare and contrast last year bull run with this year, I will say altcoins didn't do much better than previous performances, perhaps it's because this movement was base on pure adoption and most alcoins aren't worth the real use case. DeFi was the only part that performed good at their time, though most of them collapse due to unforeseen circumstances and greediness among individuals.
Bitcoin did better just as it was heavily pump during 2017 but altcoins never followed it rally that's was why we couldn't make a trillion market cap.
I hope we do better in the coming years.

We need to know the difference between a custodian wallet and non-custodian wallet. Using a custodian wallet is very risky, we all see what happened to the ledger the other day and how some accounts were compromised and also email was stolen by hackers. You risk your fund keeping funds on such wallet and platform just as stated OP.
Get a custodian wallet and safe your self, remember that your keys is your fund, don't let anyone hold your head earned money for you.

So because they are self-funded, you think they are a gem and new thing. It will dawn on you when this project exit scam as most of them don't perform as expected. Even if they do, team token end up dumped on the market because they mostly want their money back since they invested heavily on the project.
There are good project on coin market cap that are performing good you can invest but if you think otherwise good luck mate

This is an interesting question but no one will tell you the real answer to this question. Most everyone in DeFi system are nothing but after the money, they chase after the money with pump and dump. You hardly see good project stand firmly by their words, little supply, lending and borrowing, copy cat of the same Uniswap without uniqueness.

Its very annoying when I come across same project with same idea that has been on the market. Its time we wake yp6frok this slumbering.

I don't wish anything negative to happen to Bitcoin but the question is are you sure the same pattern will not happen again. The greatest challenge with this market has been volatility. It's always difficult to pump price but Bitcoin can dump - 10% in just an hour which make it bad side of it.
Economist, bankers or whatever all made predictions base on what they know and their limited knowledge about bitcoin and cryptocurrency. They were also afraid that bitcoin and it hype will break their system.

It's not really reliable but do you think this minted tokens are done unpurposely, I don't think Tether will be so careless and foolish without making more development and proper regulation to allow minted USDT to reach $20b usd and one day allow it to crash, what I'm saying is that crypto market always does the opposite, there is possibility and probability of doing necessary changes without informing the public. This would give them hedge to accommodate bitcoin and pump the market, one can never tell. Anything is possible in cryptocurrency.
If USDT ever collapse, Bitcoin will gain more shift with inflow of cash and liquidity. A added advantage for bitcoin lovers and maximalists.

I was navigating through beginners board and I came across two wonderful topics on Price increase = scam increase - BE CAREFUL, friends and [Tutorial]: How to search for Scam Giveaways in Youtube. They are an eye-opening with amazing scam exposure but they aren't really details, there are some hidden scams you will find in every YouTube crypto channels.

Have you ever wonder why you keep seeing a specific Google ad on your phone Apps, browser and other useful software on your system? That's because Google tailored ads based on your search history and other activities you do on your gadgets, you can't do without ads on your phones, you just have followed and allowed the Skip button to pop up and continue with your work.

There is this popular scam and annoying ads that always pop on YouTube videos, they come with different images of influencers. These scammers tweak thumbnail images of influencers such as Vitalik Buterin, Changpeng Zhao, Elon Musk, Justin Sun and other high profile investors and business personnel to asked people for funds, giveaway such as send 1 Bitcoin to receive 2 Bitcoin, 1 Eth to receive to 2 Eth. These are obvious scams, nothing is free on the internet and please, don't fall victim.


We are bonded by one body which is a decentralized ecosystem, when you come across these ads on YouTube, please tap on the ADS as I have indicated on the image, it will take you not less than 30 seconds to save BEGINNERS and what cryptocurrency stands for. Please report these ads and save everyone.





When scanning through comments on this channels, I'm very certain that one will come across these set of scammers impersonating the owner of these channels since most of them are good at predicting this market, giving fundamental and technical insight and making good reviews to their members. They have a good reputation and trust from their community but scammers used this influence to lure others into some shady deal and cheap offers.
I will be using two popular crypto channels as an example:

(A)The Moon: This is one of the most followed and subscribed YouTube channel with lots of views daily, his contents are topnotch and well delivered, predictions aren't 100% accurate but always similar in movement to market. The videos always covered both fundamentals and technical analysis, his love for Btc made him gain lots of followers on YouTube and Twitter but sadly, Scammers always find a way to use their merit to create similar names for scams.
From the image below, you can see comment under one of his videos asking users to pm him on WhatsApp for investment, they sometimes ask you to meet in Telegram. Owners of these channels cannot monitor over thousands of comments alone, the two images are clear and different, please report and save beginners.




(B) Cryptojack: This is another big YouTube influencer and fundamentalist who believe in crypto adoption, his videos are inspiring and motivating. The crypto space isn't regulated, one needs to be extra careful with advice especially when they aren't physical.
The image below indicates the difference between the real crypto owner and another fake user making a useless comment. You can see that his profile was created just a month ago but his comments got likes that can easily convince Noobs to contact them. They are fake likes, please tap on the comment and report them so save beginners.



Don't fall for likes on YouTube comments. Please report them to Google because they violate Google terms. One should also Note that YouTube is not a place for financial advice

I also prefer Bounty that are well escrow so that I and other participants wouldn't chase after the team or manager for payment. The challenge is we face with this condition, it's very hard to see a bounty that will escrow a payment except for signature campaigns. It's very difficult and even if the team decide to give out the fund, it's usually little with limited participants. Very discouraging.
When you choose to go this way as a bounty manager, you may end up nothing after the end of the year as there are other Bounty managers that are ready to accept the offer with open hands.

The year is already coming to an end, my plans were all fulfilled and I'm greatful for all, it wasn't easy since the spread of covid-19. The lost jobs the economical downturn and brouhaha, human losses and trauma. The challenges were endless but we survived.
As the year comes to an an end with just 10 days to go, I hope bitcoin don't make crash like that of 2017,it will be a joke on entire cryptocurrency if such collapse should repeat it self. As OP already stated, I wish we find an everlasting solution to Ethereum network, enough of all the huge fee on a small transaction.

This happens when as a result of inflow and outflow of money from from one coin to another. Since bitcoin has potential of making gains and widely traded and accepted than altcoins, some traders who like to make some quick gain tend to push and move their money into Bitcoin, that's why you often see this altcoins depreciate when Bitcoin is growing.
The current trend isn't like 2017 where almost all altcoins ( shitcoins included) were pump without any real use case, I think 2020 is one of the year we see real coins and project adoption, unlike in the past when project make promises that are always dead on arrival.

Your country may be among the develop countries of the world, have you consider other countries that don't have access to Internet to make transactions, how will they survive without physical cash when they can't even purchase via the internet?
Stable coins may have shown the world how far they have gone but what will you back them with? You want to use the same cash you want to eradicate?
If you have plans on making bitcoin and other alternative coins as option to bay bills and exchange value, then I wouldn't take you serious. We shouldn't be blind by profits in the space and not saying the truth. Cryptocurrency and economic concerns are far different though correlated in some aspects.

Nothing is fully secured over the internet, anything can happen any time which can lead to security breach.
I don't see anything fun with this, they are regulating cryptocurrency not because they want to stop you from investing in them, they actually want to separate the shaft from the good once that's why they were doing anything to protect the interests of you and other investors.
The good news keeps coming, what happen when the market cycle changes? 

The rate at which stable currency are minted is becoming scary particularly USDT, it's one of the most used stable coin in crypto space without much and proper auditing ( I don't know the last time we had one ) of this massive printings. It's going to be a suicidal and a slap on everyone face if government decide to crack down the used of stable coins which they have been against even by the central Banks. USDC that's even recognised in US doesn't mint tokens the way Tether is been generated every month, capitalization increased by 8X should be questionable.

I don't want to be anti stable coin, but will really happen when regulation bodies began to suspect USDT, it was once had a negative reputation in the past for manipulating Btc price during ICO maniac.

Why don't you asked the question before you bought bitcoin at that point price, you must have fomo in which is really bad. If you are holder and looking for something next year or 2, now price shouldn't be  a concern but if you are really hoping to sell any moment soon, I think you might have made a mistake.
Some expert are predicted that Btc will head to $40k by next, though to me it looks like shilling and I want everyone to be careful, don't buy the news rather buy into rumor and save your self when every fomo into the market. The excitement is something out of this world.

Now let me hint you some stuff. I know that DeFi trend and its fenzy hype made some people lost heavily, we shouldn't forget that there are other investors who made immense gains on this project. If go to some sub board, you will be amazed at se comments and large amounts of money they made on this trend. The funny thing is that, when a new trend emerge, many will still invest and pump money on these projects both the once with good intentions and bad intentions. It's has always been about profits that's why must of this project don't last long.
Comparing ICO trends =====> IEO trend =======> DeFi trend, the money lost on this trends tend to decrease over time. DeFi can do better by next year, I have some coins I'm holding and I have faith in (literally  )

I noticed something strange during my trading days, each pairs on a exchange behave differently because traders have their preference when it comes to trading. For example, Trader prefer to go with BTC/USDT because he prefer to take profits in stable coin to avoid volatility and trader B may prefer anytoken/BTC to take their profits in Btc since Btc always tend to grow at every chance or news.
The strangest one is futures, if one is not familiar or adapt to it operation, I will advise and recommend to completely ignore. Your resistance and support may not work sometimes and you may get liquidated.

When it come to the market, get the basic knowledge, test one and two, do whatever works for you. You will succeed with little failure

I have came across several non funded projects that has performed extraordinary, though if a project is lucky to be listed like binance, Okex, Gate exchange and some popular reputable exchanges seems to perform better too.
I have also experience some ico projects like DIA raised $18m during their bonding curve sell, their token increased in price from $0.8 to $5 but was dumped due to kucoin hacked. It's still hasn't go below ICO price which is a good thing.
Do proper and personal research, there are good coins that worth investing on either for long and short term.

Bitcoin is becoming scary and I'm afraid 
Now that we are breaking and making a new all time high, I hope we don't make the same mistake like 2017, just sell guys that's my opinion.
This movement is becoming more clearer that adoption is reach though it hasn't reach peak, I wish I have a graph that will explain this with time relationship chart
Altcoins are bleeding, we may not have a altcoins bull run soon except when we have another trend just like DeFi.

PS: Sell at every resistance don't hold your portfolios forever.

It eas during the pandemic lock down I knew how important webinars and online video conference are so important, I am from developing countries, so zoom was something interesting because I could easily learn what ever I want as a group discussion through video conference.
There was also an immense increase of POS ( regularly called point of sales) where anyone can used debit card to make withdrawals right from homes since assessing ATM were difficult because of the lock down, many used the opportunity to gather money from transaction fee they accrued from this sales.
Famers also enjoy this period, there was increased in price of food especially vegetables were so scarce that onions became a rich man investment.
So many opportunities in this lock down and many suffered as well. 

Are you for real, what do have say about institutional investors who have invest heavily on bitcoin? They believe in bitcoin and its revolutionary concepts, they don't want to depend and hope on centralized system that's why they have their share of wealth and investment into Bitcoin and altcoins.
Take it or leave it, Bitcoin is just as good as messiah who gave many individuals an opportunity to show the world the less previlage their power of decentralization to wealth.
Many of today top reach people started earlier, that's why they have been at the top and don't want to step down. $3k to $19k is super amazing as investment than keep money on fixed deposits with shit profits.