I highly suggest you to start with learning technical analysis.
I would like to prefer you a book called "Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets" by John J. Murphy.
He has wrote this book according to shares and Forex market, but the concepts hold good in crytpo market as well. You just need to adjust the concepts according to the high volatility of crypto market. Book is equipped with all the Technical aspects and is quite a good for beginners. Just go through it and then start with paper trading for the practical understanding of the concepts learned.

The basic understanding of TA is very important for a successful trader.

Anyone who raises money by issuing tokens that is ICO needs to clarify their token distribution for the investors. Investors should know about the circulation and supply of tokens, else no one will invest in it. A project has to declare its model for tokens and what percentage is available for public, is there a token burn, how much is spent where and how is much is reserved is always available on the company's website. So whatever coin you are looking for, you can search and even ask the team about the proper distribution of tokens.

October is expected to be bullish. Institutions are making their move inside crytpos now. Crytpo is a new and a thriving industry and many people want to enter it. This has made many big financial institution consider set up a trading bench for their users. Goldman Sachs did announce about launching a crypto trading desk in near future. A report by Thomson Reuters clearly states that by October , we could see many institutions putting their money in cryptos which is waiting on sidelines for now.

For me, IT IS!

I don't really invest a lot in ICO during bearish phase, the one we are witnessing right now. ICO tokens after listing on exchanges tend to perform poorly in such market conditions. So, if you haven't during ICO. After listing is the best possible period to invest. So, I usually wait. But if a company comes with a product or MVP, I tend to invest in preICO stage because such projects are overly subscribed and you don't want to lose an investment opportunity in a company with some serious idea.

The huge pump happened in BTC only. Altcoins are still stuck to bottom. No coin was able to copy BTC pace. This is because the ETF launch is expected in August which has resulted in the outflow of money from altcoins to BTC. You must have seen the increased dominance of BTC which is nearing 50%. This volume is expected to increase till next month mid when the ETF is expected to be launched. After that the market condition will be dependent upon SEC decision for the ETF. If there is an approval, be ready to see altcoins growing along with BTC. If a disapproval takes place, BTC will fall sharply resulting in a few percentage downfall in altcoins as well.

Binance being the biggest exchange does charge a lot when it comes to listing and hence, addition of new coins is not so frequent like KuCoin. KuCoin does have a better UI than Binance, but Binance one isn't that bad too. They both have mobile apps which make it easier to trade. But i like Binance because of the high volume. I do trade on KuCoin. Actually it never hurts to have account on multiple exchanges.

I tend to spend 3-4 hrs everyday on charts and technical analysis. What I have seen is this all upward market movement is a manipulated one by bots and big exchanges. There isn't any actual money inflow which can give direction towards an organic growth and appreciation. This growth is highly being manipulated with artificial volume and is not going to sustain if BTC doesn't go above the resistance of $8800. The speculation of ETF launch on 10th Aug is majorly driving the price and if that doesn't happen, price might undergo a severe dump.

IMHO trading is the best way to earn high returns in cryptos. Day trading and short term trading (weeks to few months) would earn you the best possible ROI in very short period. No other asset is that capable. There might be less risk in other assets, but if you trade technically and wisely, you can make it big in cryptos. Only newbie traders suffer here and panic sell or FOMO. If you understand market, then you can diversify your crypto portfolio in such a way that in long term, you will be profitable. You need to have a large cap coins in such percentage that a day trading with small cap coins can be compensated in long term if you go through a loss.

Trader/investor needs to create a perfect portfolio keeping in mind the risk-reward ratio.

There isn't any good amount. You can invest whatever you can afford and will earn profit accordingly. Regarding whales manipulating the market, whatever you will invest, you are not going to overcome that unless you yourself are a millionaire. So, don't worry about that. You still can trade without getting much affected by whales manipulation. But for that you need to be well versed with technicalities of the market and charts. I would like to prefer you a book called "Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets" by John J. Murphy. Perfect for beginners to learn technical analysis.

Mastercard can definitely help in pushing the use of cryptocurrencies in everyday transactions. This in turn will going to push the demand. Since, cryptocurrencies are built over deflationary model, this can create a price pump. Bitcoic largely lacks use case because merchants are not really eager to use cryptocurrency as means of payment. This restrict the demand aspect which is only running on speculation right now. This move by Mastercard is not going to give cryptos some popularity, it is also going to boost demand.

Best ICO for June-July is with no doubt Evident Proof. Evident Proof is a blockchain and token-based service, Evident Proof turns documents, transactions, and data events into immutable, unhackable proof. They have team of sheer expertise and some big partners. Ranked 4.3 on trackICO. They have good community support as well.

This would be a brilliant pick with a potential project.
ICO is ending on 31st July.

This always happens!

When BTC undergoes a sudden pump, altcoins dump a bit because money starts flowing towards BTC. But in some days, altcoins too follow the suite. People start getting in altcs as well because when BTC sustain the pump, it could be a start of bullish cycle and people take this as a positive news which reflects in the price. This is how usually the market reacts. Don't worry! altcoins will move along BTC.

BTC wasn't developed by a backing project. BTC was backed by blockchain technology which was a huge jump. Blockchain tech actually was the backing. It was developed as to give people a means for online transaction in a safest and decentralized manner. Regarding ETH, it went a step ahead and brought another utility of blockchain. This doesn't mean that the BTC which brought blockchain tech with itself is anyway inferior. It is still the most preferred investment when it comes to cryptos and still has a market dominance over 40%.

By your this question it is clear that you are new to cryptos. In such a situation any coin below top 5 is never a good choice as it can get you rekt. In start you should play safe. Even top 5 are so volatile that they also possess huge risk but a long term hodl and reduce the risk percentage. Anyone can time a bullish season and sell then. So, that won't be a big problem. Just never panic sell and have patience.

ICO, even the best ones, are quite risky when it comes to investment. Almost every ICO coin gets below the value after listing on exchange which is something not expected by the first time trader. If you are really into ICO, get into them after the coin gets listed.

I highly suggest you to start with learning technical analysis.
I would like to prefer you a book called "Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets" by John J. Murphy.
He has wrote this book according to shares and Forex market, but the concepts hold good in crytpo market as well. You just need to adjust the concepts according to the high volatility of crypto market. Book is equipped with all the Technical aspects and is quite a good for beginners. Just go through it and then start with paper trading for the practical understanding of the concepts learned.

The basic understanding of TA is very important for a successful trader.

Every coin has suffered a huge downfall after the last year ATH. ETH has gone through a downfall of 66% from ATH. It has huge support at $400 and hence, going below it is rare a case as is happening with BTC at $5700 range. So, worry not about any major downfall in ETH. If you averages out your portfolio by buying more ETH at $400, you are at safe zone. Moreover, ETH has huge community support and is getting famous among institutional investors as well just like BTC. This is all going to bring a price surge in second half of the year.

HODL is indeed an overrated term. People think that hodl is solution to all the risk and volatility of cryptos. This makes people think that hodling every damn coin is going to earn them huge ROI. Shit coins have lifetime of maximum of a year. People loose their whole investment by hodling such coins. Hodl is good for large cap coins that too in bearish phase. People do a big mistake of hodling through the bullish phase as well.

Investors should try to understand the market situation before developing the market strategy and whether to go long, mid or short term.

The growth projection for the large cap coins is 500%-700% by the year end.

Where BTC is expected to breach $35k price, ETH is likely to cross $2500. This growth projection is created due to many factors like last term growth data, institutional money entrance, increase of new investors near thanksgiving etc. Market is due for a bullish cycle and this long term bearish phase has built that inner momentum. If everything goes right without any major negative news, then ETH can successfully reach $2500 by year end.

A coin without an utility has a time period of less than a year.

So, it will depend upon your choice of altcoin whether long term investment is a good idea or not.

If you have limited knowledge of trades and analysis, long term hold is best way to earn decent ROI off this crypto market. But a choice of altcoin will decide everything. Don't take risk with low cap coins when it comes to long term investment. It's safest to stay in top 5 for long term goal. You can also take a chance with next 5 coins as well. But don't go below that in greed of more profits and diversification. If you are here for long term, please play safe and don't get rekt.

Market is so immature right now that people don't invest in the actual idea or use case. While utility backs the coin in long term, for traders/investors the present price influence is of more importance because they create trends. People right now invest according to bitcoin price movement because of its 40%+ market dominance. It has become a psychology that if Bitcoin moves up the market is in healthy situation, so there is an investment opportunity. Market will take time to mature when coins will be started to being valued according to their utility and use case instead of BTC price movement.