ICO basics for Newbies

[Pantum]

Well, this is a great thread for people who are learning. On my experience, I've seen so many people asking silly questions either on telegram or BTT... that are answered on the ANN or Whitepaper. My advise: Take time to READ! Understand every point of the project, and THEN ask if something is not clear. But if you ask silly questions on their channels you won't be taken seriously.

[umar22pk]

No doubt...
Very useful information not only for newbies as well for all others.
Before taking part in any ICO you should need to study all aspects it will be more helpful to you to choose a healthy project with some extra potential.
You should have to visit the forum & you will get some useful tips.

[baystizzle]

Just when I was about to start Investing in ICOs!!!, great tips, Thanks, I'll definitely be doing deep researches now that I know all this.

[Eternu]

This is good guide for people who don't know what ICO's are, or for people who want to learn something more or to remind them self about something. People tend to forget, that most of the times basic things are most important, and this thread is about that.
There are all kind of ICO's out there and this is good reminder for us to do good research before joining, to be sure that we are not making a mistake.

[chocopapaya]

I am posting this link from another bitcointalk thread.
It is one of the most useful threads by far for those that are having a hard time finding icos.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2552575.0

It has a list of spreadsheets that are maintained by various crypto investors.
Most of them have links to ico's websites, ratings, and information such as KYC, US/Chinese citizen participation, hardcaps, and dates.

Once again, it is important to do your own research.

This means you look at the entire website, read the entire whitepaper, contact people or the devs themselves on their telegram, double check the professional profiles of the team, compare the project to its competition, try the product out if they have one, run the numbers and calculate how much profit can be gained through short term flipping vs. long term holding, etc.

It takes a lot of time but there are huge benefits by doing your due dilligence:

#1) You will have 100% confidence and peace of mind when you invest.  Something that is very valuable in this volatile market.

#2) You WILL get profit. Well there is always a slight chance to lose, but  I have never met someone that has lost money after they have done their own thorough research.  The research will weed out the bad options.  The ones losing money are those who don't research or just follow hype or invest off of a mere suggestion.

#3) You will learn TONS about market economics, blockchain tech, investment principals, and more.  I have been able to use all of the knowledge to increase my ability to do my normal trading.

[Adil Amim]

ICO is very beneficial for newbie, they get good knowledge about the market by studying. They also learn some basics thing from it to get invole with crypto. But it is immensely important to analyse the project before making any investment.

[yomarve]

Great summary for newbie


More links below

https://blog.wavesplatform.com/how-to-run-an-ico-e21b9f8c11d6

[wizzydizzycrypto]

Nice overview, thanks man.

There is a lot of tech lingo that can confuse the beginner into the crypto world and these sort of threads help out new adopters, remember crypto becomes bigger when more people support it!

[Maian]

Just some basic stuff to get you started:

ICO = Initial coin offering.  Sometimes called a TGE (token generation event).
Coin = has it's own blockchain.   Token = attached to a platform that has utility.

Generally, an ICO is a startup company that is trying to raise funds.
Sometimes, it's an already established company that is moving a part of it's product or system to blockchain technology (or they want to expand their business).
Typically, they would have to gather funds through typical investment channels.
Now, due to blockchain and smart contract tech, companies can bypass that and go straight to the community.

Basically, it is like crowdfunding or crowdsourcing with blockchain technology.

People like ICOs because you can typically get a coin for a huge discounted price.
Also, you can be an active part of an exciting new company or project.

People dislike ICOs because there are so many of them, that the quality of startups has really started to decline with many copy cats and startups that have no benefit using coins or tokens at all.
Also, there are many companies that are outright scams or near scams, where you can lose a lot of your investment.

General Advice:
Websites and youtubers that list a lot of ICO's with reviews generally get paid to do the review so they are biased.  However, they are good starting points to do your own research.
You will most likely need an erc20 wallet to invest.  myetherwallet is one of the most popular.  You can adjust gas prices on it, so if you want the ether to go through quickly so you can get a bonus, you can do so.
Become an active part of the community surrounding an ICO.  Join their telegram, slack, or whatever they use and also frequent their ANN thread here in bitcointalk.

The most important parts of the the company to look at to determine if it is a scam or not is the development team and the whitepaper.  Take the time to look at the team's online present and professional profiles.

To determine whether or not it will be a successful investment or not, look at the max supply of coins, how many and where they will be distributed, the soft and hard caps, the price of the coin, whether they have a working product or not, and their roadmap.

Last bit:
Most of my profit in crypto has been through ICOs.  I believe it is a great way to invest ONLY if you take the time to do some hardcore research, don't just follow hype.

This is true:
"Websites and youtubers that list a lot of ICO's with reviews generally get paid to do the review so they are biased.  However, they are good starting points to do your own research."

Yes its good to do their own research so that they know everything that , no one konw about there researxh in their own ways.

[dumplingsandsushi]

I would add to this, that the best way to do research is to try and get in contact with the actual team themselves.

This will reveal so much about the project and you get accurate first hand information.
Any good ico that I have invested in had some means of open communication with investors.
Some bigger projects might do this through a community manager, but I have found that a lot of them, the ceos themselves will take the time to address concerns and answer questions.

This might be seen as shilling, but it is good to share because I am genuinely impressed with the team behind Titanium.
The ceo took the time to personally answer any questions I had.
That transparency made me confident about the team's ability to carry out their plans.

More than anything, I believe the team is what will determine the project's success or not.

[Bambangs]

hopefully with this tread can help a lot for the newbie, and for myself.
I also recently joined one of ICO with a little experience, and full of confidence, I jumped into ICO

[RadyBG]

Great post man! For sure it will help newbies who want to start investing in ICOs.

[kolesozw]

Very good 101 on ICOs.

My friends are constantly asking me to explain what's this, what's that. Now I will just point then here plus few more places to read.

[kkukkugaga]

This information is really helpful to newbies and to other members who's not really familiar with some terms used here, especially ICOs.

[Donned]

This post is helpful for beginners, many people think it is a very profitable thing, but do not know what ICO is, so this post popularize knowledge.

[buboyskie]

Thank you so much for the sharing idea guys! Looking forward to join in ICO for the first time

[somoscrypto]

investing in ICOs can be pretty rewarding, it is true that you need to do research for obvious things like; who are the people behind it? are they solving a real problem? What about the comunity supporting it etc... I´ve done a few ICOs like Power Ledger, Bankera, LA Token. Eventhough, i am still waiting on Bankera to finish its ICO sale, the oher two have done well for me.

[bluelife]

learn a lot.good stuff.

[Futurm]

If you are a beginner, better fill the Airdrops. Study the forum, score points for raising the rating. And when you get Junior status, then it's better then start to deal with ISO.

Yes, the study of bitcointalk is clearly a good way to learn about ICO, and most of the smart ICO are in the ANN thread.

[joniboini]

If you are a beginner, better fill the Airdrops. Study the forum, score points for raising the rating. And when you get Junior status, then it's better then start to deal with ISO.

Yes, the study of bitcointalk is clearly a good way to learn about ICO, and most of the smart ICO are in the ANN thread.

what do you mean the study of bitcointalk? i would say even the scam ICO is also on the ANN thread.
i believe the author of the post you quote are trying to say about how to increase the opportunity of getting token/coin via bitcointalk forum.

i would love to add some tips on how to avoid scam ICO not present in the OP post
- not only study their team, in some case you can ask them personally if it is needed to confirm whether they are really a part of the team or not. even if he/she does, take a look at their professional history. even if their team have LinkedIn profile, doesn't guarantee that they are not scamming. sometimes scam ICO just copy paste their profile to make their ICO looks promising.
- study the advisors, and again, ask them to confirm whether they are part of the ICO or not.
- in some case, look at the bounty program they run. sometimes scam ICO is running bounty campaign which doesn't deliver any payment for the participant.