PROLOGUE : The importance of individual research and adequate inquiries can not be overemphasized. From investing in ICOs down to participating in bounties and airdrops all takes important attributes and meaning from us, like our time, efforts, energy, full cooperation, financial resources and privacy. All these things have high priorities to every individual therefore, one can get hurt psychologically or even physically by losing one or two of these possessions. Taking your time and patience to not only research about an ICO but to understand it in your own unique way can not be bought or ignored. All these are needed due to the extremely high raising rate of scam and failed projects.
As an investor, there are several things--attributes and red flag to check out for before investing in an ICO. Over time, several members of this forum has shared ideas and straight forward reasons that can assist investors identify a promising, scam and/or doomed ICO projects. They are; For;
Getting started: The returns of investing in ICO projects may not always be favorable however, as for most of us that invested in one or several projects that finally gave us a score, the returns has been worth it or we are still enjoying from it.
Picking your projects: I have seen many make the mistake of getting an exchange wallet and purchasing ethereum/bitcoin before looking for ICO projects to invest in. This doesn't seem like a good investing move to me because at the end of the day, you find yourself losing your composure thereby leading into haste and haste leads to quick decisions which in turn leads to bad judgement.
I would rather advice investor make and research for the projects they hope to invest that is, identify which project(s) that is/are looking for investors and research about them extensively using the means stated above and more found in the course of your own research. This will reduce your investment project lists since at the end, you will be able to select which project has more realistic goals from the once that has failed to convince you as an investor. For websites that lists upcoming and existing ICOs are;
Owning your wallet: Exchange wallets like coinbase or bittrex accounts are not your wallets, never imagine exchange wallets as your own wallet. A wallet is considered yours if you have absolute control of the contents/ private key with minimal or no risk. A very good example is
MyEtherWallet. This allows investor to use Ether on the Ethereum blockchain and participate in ICOs. Investing in an ICO project through an exchange account will only yield loss of ICO tokens since most times, exchange has no support for new ICO tokens.
Converting FIAT to ETH : Investing in ICOs requires you to convert your local currency(fiat) into ETH/BTC. This can be achieved by getting an exchange wallet.
Coinbase is a good secure way to buy ETH into your exchange account. That being said, Coinbase doesn't support all currency as i have noticed and as for an alternative, i would personally recommend
Luno(especially if you are in Africa, Nigeria to be precise). After-which, you move your purchased ETH into your private wallet and make your investments there.
Investing: After registration, as an investor, a receiving address will be found on the ICO web page. Usually, after proper research and going through the ICOs website, Investors would have figured out the right type of crypto, address and amount to send investment. This is also a very delicate aspect of investing correctly because if the wrong amount or cryptocurrency is sent, investors could lose their money or may not receive the tokens associated.
Tokens : After investing, tokens will be transferred to your private wallet. Mostly likely, the wallet investment was made from, in some cases, you will be required to add a wallet adrdress on the website or application i.e if a specified application was required in order to receive the token once the sale has ended. The ICO website/whitepaper will provide further information regarding how and when the token will be distributed.
Exchange : There is an issue of waiting for the token to be listed in an exchange and finding out which exchange has it listed. An alternative is that the tokens can be used on products/services offered by the company. Possible exchanges that lists ICO coins are ;
Better still, as an investor, an easier option to track your token is through
Coin market capitalization and searching for the token, if it is listed in any exchange yet, it will be shown as well. Once comfortable with the stated price/volume, you can trade or chose to wait until you hit your price target.
Time is very important as an investor. Investor's/company's location can be challenging if not carefully noted during the token sales. If you missed investing during ICO then, you can still invest as soon as it gets listed in exchange. The only difference will be the discounted price/volumes early investors made.
NOTE : Several articles/guides from this forum are included/linked while making this as to help reduce loss and errors while investing especially for the new investors. Clickable words(just click on the word) exist through out this guide and shouldn't be ignore, also, owners of those guide should be recognized for their efforts as well. Thank you.
