5 tips to spot a good ICO in the cryptocurrency world

Hello steemit, this will be my first post and I wanted to delve right into what I'm passionate about.
Cryptocurrency.
Many people that I interact with on various social platforms or in real life ask me:
''How do you spot a good coin, is this a good ICO to get in on or should I wait?''

I would tell them to do their own research as this is the most important and will also help them create a better understanding of the space itself instead of asking others.

So with that in mind I want to point you in the right direction so you can make your own decision.
Without further adue, here are 5 tips!

1. Problem-Solution:
   Allot of times there's a problem and when there's a problem there's a gap cause there needs to be a solution to the problem.
   Many succesfull coins offer a solution to a proposed problem. Take Monero that solves the problem of privacy with bitcoin.
   Litecoin offers faster transactions and lower fees. If you spot an ICO that has a clear problem and solution propisition then you're in the money, the biggest problem is out of the way. The business has a clear goal which is solving the problem.

2. Team:
   The business has a clear goal which is solving the problem and now the team needs to realize it. You want to be sure the team you will be vouching for by investing into their coin is one that is there to stay. You will want to make sure they are experienced have proper credentials and can be found online preferably with linkedin profiles. Do they have photo's posted? If so then google search those images to make sure they are who they say they are. If they do not have photo's then that's a big red flag and possibly a scam. Ofcourse the team must have vision, they can't just walk away from the project when it gets tough.
   Is there are proper marketeer? Someone on the PR who knows what they are doing giving a healthy amount of publicity.
   I've seen allot of good coins with dedicated teams but they aren't exposing themselves frankly cause they lack the experience and thus their coin never takes off and the hard work is all for nothing.

3. Professionality, Whitepaper & presentation.
   Allot of people don't really want to look at whitepapers but this is very important as it offers crucial insight into whether the team has done it's research or lacks knowledge of the market they want to take on. I've seen countless of examples of this and eventually they overestimated the target at hand and have to start announcing the project has to be stopped, team members start leaving and the coin crash.
   Also does it give a proper professional look? If there's an ICO that's going to deal with the financial industry does it also represent itself that way? Does it keep itself professional and businesslike? Or is it more a dogecoin which can afford itself to and would also be healthy to act a little silly showing a doge in a rocket heading out for the moon on the homepage.
   Is the site groomed has there been allot of thought into the detail and make-up for a site? Or is it just a quick knock off done in an hour, does it instill confidence and trust? Or makes you want to run? Is it user friendly?

First appearances are everything.
Notice the lay-out of steemit. It looks groomed and professional, you come here to either write, read or both. You expect a friendly but critical envoirment with professional feedback on a casual note.
There are no gimmicks and unecessary glossery's. It's user friendly which is a big plus for the readers and will also ensure that writers content can be accesed.

1. Coin supply and circulation.
   How are the coins distributed, are they distributed fairly or does the dev team hold a large share of the coin?
   Depending on the goal of the currency this makes a huge difference, such as in voting systems. ICOS an ICO that positions itself as an ICO regulator for newcomers who lack experience but want their idea publiced and get to work has such a voting system.
   But then does hold 17-20% of the coins for their own team. Meaning a small amount of people have a big say in what ICO's get published trough ICOS and which not. Which was a dealbreaker for me, overall it was a really good concept and could certainly have appliances in the cryptospace.

If you look on coinmarketcap you will see that allot of the high value coins have a relative small supply to the low valued coins with a huge supply. In terms of profits and gains I'm going to leave out of speculation what the influence is of the coinmarketcap since we're talking about ICO's. But essentially 1000 of XRP could be just as profitable as 10 XMR neglecting that XRP has been pegging and XMR has exponentially risen to stratospheric heights.

And that brings us to the last tip, tip number 5 which is...: YOU! Research, ask questions and be prepared.

You are ultimately the one with the cash that want to make more of it or maybe you want to hold coins and accumulate more.
You are the one that has to do the research, you can't depend on youtube, bloggers or china to make those decisions for you.
Inform yourself very well and be carefull what you invest in. Don't go blind and just invest in the first thing you think is a good idea.

Ask questions to yourself: Is this really something that the market is waiting for? Is the idea good, but is it not still too early? (Campuscoin(CMPCO)).
Who will be using this coin? What are the potentials for adoption in the cryptospace and beyond that.
Asking questions is vital and asking the right question can mean the difference between making money and losing money.

So before even considering to get into an ICO question the whole thing, criticise it as if no one really wants it. See if there are answers to your questions and maybe you will go ''huh, that's very smart.'' or ''I had not thought about that.''
When you do finally see that golden ticket ICO it can take a while for it to take off or it might tank a little first before starting to grow. Have patience, follow the team see what progress they are making. If the coin isn't taking off but there's still progress made then you are just going to have to test your patience. Cryptospace is a bit ADD with always something going on and never sitting still so when it is quite in a particular coin while all the others are raging with losses and gains. Be patient knowing your coin still has what it takes to make it longterm and accumulate more for bigger gains.

ICO's can be very profitable but they can also cost you allot if you don't know what you are doing. I can't emphasize it enough to be prepared and do your research. A good understanding of basic economics will get you a long way. If you end up saying to yourself well I don't know what makes a good coin or what makes it rise/fall and have to depend on others. You're better off taking a step back and watch from the sidelines as you inform yourself and learn more than to lose money in fear of missing out.

This was my first post and I hope you liked it and found it enjoyable to read and helpfull.
Please leave a comment, some criticism or if you noticed allot of spelling mistakes please point it out.
If you'd like to see more of these types of content please do tell me so aswell!

... Xanthus