How to choose a coin to mine?

[hdmediaservices]

I sure would love to get into the "IPO" type coins - but with two kids and my own business - I just don't find the time to keep track (even though I have a ton of hash power). 

[joblo]

Maybe a good strategy would be to mine a coin _before_ it is on any exchange, and the difficulty is low, and then dump it during the initial spike. That doesn't help the coin one bit, but it might be a good way to make a buck.

This is in general the best strategy as the difficulty is lower, however not all coins become successful either...

OK, you piqued my curiosity. As an exercise, I pointed my rig at the latest quark coin (SED). I caught it at block 92, pretty much right at launch.
The POW phase should last 3 days. Which would have made around 0.04BTC on Nicehash.
Let's see how it fares :-)

You win djm34, I made 30% more than I usually do on NiceHash today, by only exchanging a third of my SED. Keeping the rest for staking and having fun later.
So, to Joblo, that's a 300% difference. Not really minimal in my book 
Granted, if you factor the time in, I spent a few hours for about 4€. But that's because my rig is ridiculously small. If I had a chrysx-sized farm, that would definitely be worth it.

Look at me, diverging from my own post's subject, while asking everyone to stay on it. I need help.
But you guys gave me a good view of the landscape: I should mine a coin I believe in. And there are no coins worth believing in. I guess when I finally find a coin I believe in, I'll be able to just buy it with my mine&dump dirty profits...
Shit, I'm in a trolly mood today 

I didn't know it was a competition but I'll concede. Well done.

There doesn't seem to be anything special about this coin, not in the ANN anyway, yet you
were able to turn a good profit.

I agree scale would decrease the time investment cost relative to payout. It would also allow
diversification where some of the hash could be earning income in a multipool while another
portion could take higher risks by playing the IPO side. If I ever get big enough I might just
dabble.

I presume you will be repeating the exercise, I wish you success.

[Grout]

I didn't know it was a competition but I'll concede. Well done.

There doesn't seem to be anything special about this coin, not in the ANN anyway, yet you
were able to turn a good profit.

I agree scale would decrease the time investment cost relative to payout. It would also allow
diversification where some of the hash could be earning income in a multipool while another
portion could take higher risks by playing the IPO side. If I ever get big enough I might just
dabble.

I presume you will be repeating the exercise, I wish you success.

Not a competition, just teasing a bit. I told you I was in a trolly mood today
And you are right, there is nothing special about this coin. I was even lucky to be able to sell at 0.00000999. Now the highest buy order is 0.00000276.
Of course, I can't make conclusions after only one experience. Beginner's luck, etc... I can't expect to profit everytime. But once in a while, until I find the unicorn-coin that makes me believe, this can be a good distraction. Not expecting anything, and maybe having a nice surprise.

[CapnBDL]

I have a couple of questions; Are 'scryptN' and 'scryptNf' the same algo just under a different name? The same question for 'blake' and 'blake2b'?
Are they mined the same way and /w same settings or completely different animals?

Please explain!!

Thanks    

[Oscilson]

I have my pool do it for me.

So you use a multi pool? Multi pool automatically mines that coin and sells it for other coins. It does not help the coin apart from mining it.