Dangerous to invest in new Altcoins?

[ck_singh]

Its always a good idea to dabble with new currencies because they will be very cheap to begin with so it wont really cost u much. Also some give away loads at the start like nxt. People were passing them around on request. So i think just holding on to them is the wisest thing to do. Especially when theyve cost u nothing.
Im trying to get a hold of nxt but everyone wants btc in exchange. Ugh!! If theres anyone willing to trade for cash (gbp) hit me up!...still a newbie but remember my name so people wont doubt me in the near future. lol

[Zerebo]

It's always fun to collect new alt coins. Maybe they will be worth something in the future, maybe not. Don't invest to much and have fun. 

[afxxx]

See it like a hobby, its fun to trade with em. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Dont invest more than you can afford to lose..

[gorgorom]

It really depends on how much work and effort is put into the coin. You can almost tell which will fail and which will flourish. Just remember when investing time and money, if it seems too good to be true or it looks crappy, it most likely is.

[rylian]

be a collector of most of them since they'r generally easy to mine on their first days/weeks. and invest some more on the one that has a potential, you can tell by the development quality and from how the community approach to that coin.

[bitpop]

Amd just turned profitable

[bxp]

95% of coins coming after BTC don't represent anything else, but an attempt to cash out on crypto currency gold rush. very few offer something new or have useful application. but even these represent a risky investment in conventional investment sense.
the best investment is to mine perspective coins at launch, when the difficulty is low.

[Justin2867]

I think it depends on whether you really BELIEVE in the altcoin for its unique characteristics, or if you just want to make a quick buck. Chances are if you feel one of those ways about it, many other feel that way too. If it's just to make a quick buck theres a good chance it will be a pump and dump that eventually fades away. If it actually brings something unique and new it has potential to be big, as all coins have much room for growth in the future, atleast in my opinion. Personally I am only seriously intrigued by Namecoin as a serious longterm altcoin, as the alternative .bit domains seems to me like it could have some serious benefits, especially as internet censorship becomes a larger problem as times moves on, bundled with some ease of access issues that should be fixed in the future. Just my opinion.

[thah00pz]

I wouldn't even put money into any altcoin unless it's been around for at least a month while able to hold a value. Before then you're better off mining it. Even with an old laptop I'm able to get a few hundred of these altcoins the first few days they come out.
Also you have to realize that in the long run a majority of these altcoins will be dead or near worthless if they haven't been able to prove their worth and importance, so like all coin trading, sell at peaks and buy back at dips. I wouldn't hold on to any of these unless you only spent a few hours mining thousands of them and don't care (like our doge friend).

[hjesush]

NXT smells Ponzi scheme ...

[hilariousandco]

Hi guys,

I was wondering if it is dangerous to invest in new Altcoins? I mean, when you look at all the charts, every new coin launches pretty high, or it increases to a high peak and after that it decreases every time. Lots of altcoins are freefalling. So, the question is, are the lot of them a pure pump&dump scheme or a scam so the developer can cash in pretty big? I mean what is the point of all the altcoins when they don't "innovate" over the altcoins; i.e. NXT/QRK coins are indeed an innovation over BTC in the sense it has at least another encryption method.

If we're being honest most are just get rich quick attempts. Very few offer anything new or have any longterm goals or have any longevity. So yes, investing in altcoins can be a dangerous investment, but so can any other investments.

[muchogas]

I would invest (very small amounts) on some of the coins, as sometimes some of them suddenly x10, but read about them, I think this is a quite interesting webpage to see which ones are scamcoins:
http://altcoins.com/scamcoins

[starmex]

Most coins are just pump and dump. Very selected few are worth the investment.

IMO the hype on DOGE now is terribly overrated.

[tabsa]

You should always try to understand and try out things before investing in them.

There are a lot of faucets, and wallet is a free software, so just spend some time trying out each currency you are interested in.
By seeing the differences of all crypto you can choose the best ones.

Some things you can explore:

What is proof of work?
What is the difference between sha256 and scrypt?
How coins are mined?
Who are the developers?
Does the coin has a good marketing and dedicated community?

[Cryptic123]

Most coins are just pump and dump. Very selected few are worth the investment.

IMO the hype on DOGE now is terribly overrated.

Doge is doing pretty well. It's because it's more accesible to the mainstream and it just seems less serious and techy, more fun. That's my guess.

[vanfog]

There's also the idea that cryptocurrency is still, despite much publicity, a very new thing.

I will be interested to see how long the altcoins can sustain themselves once the 'dust settles' - if it ever does.

I am not sure as to whether BTC will eventually be the only true legitimate digital currency around or whether LTC and others will be able to survive.

There surely must eventually be some control over the number of currencies springing up. As someone posted above, altcoins are purely the product of programmers seeking to make a quick buck. The pump and dump nature of multiple-currency pools reflects this.

[wabbit313]

I think for Altcoin, it is ok to invest in small amount.  It is like buying the lottery.  If one of the altcoin goes up in the future, then you gain.

[hilariousandco]

I think for Altcoin, it is ok to invest in small amount.  It is like buying the lottery.  If one of the altcoin goes up in the future, then you gain.

Sounds more like a risky investment than a lottery.

[Cryptic123]

If you get in early enough, people will be giving it away for free. You could just ask, or maybe you could find some faucets. Or buy like a couple dollars worth instead of buying. I assume you'd wanna buy these altcoins to sell them at a higher price. Even if it's an obvious pump-and-dump, you can still make money by either dumping at the right time or buying after the value drops and selling if it goes back up.

[bakedrice]

It definitely is a very high risk investing in Altcoins, especially in new ones. However, on the other hand, there is also a slight first-movers advantage, and most likely you will be able to make a profit from them. Of course, this is also provided you selected the right one, considering that there were more than 10 new alt coins produced in the last 2 weeks alone.