As other's have mentioned its impossible to get it right all the time. Key is to guess correctly enough of the time. One way to predict prices come up say an altcoin gets added to cryptsy make sure you have some before it gets added.
Steve
exactly -- the pump will be quick once it's a trading pair on a major altcoin exchange. i try to watch out for new/hyped coins that haven't hit the exchanges yet, and if i can't sniff it out before it's added, i usually try to get in quick. once it takes off, it's too late for me, IMO...