Introduction into Alt-Coins Research and Investment 10 Simple Speculative Tools

Introduction into Alt-Coins Research and Investment
10 Simple Speculative Tools
What exactly is an alt-coin? An altcoin or altcoins is a term commonly used in the industry to refer to all currencies that are not Bitcoin. E.g. (ethereum, ripple, lumens, litecoin)
It’s important to note that there are hundreds of altcoins altcoin is different than bitcoin and each is different from each other. For example Ethereum the world's second largest cryptocurrency is similar to bitcoin in that it is also a decentralized blockchain. Unlike bitcoin however, ethereum is also able to process computational tasks like a huge world computer. This puts ethereum in unique place to create a digital marketplace for other coins and programs to sold and run on the ethereum network.
Another good example is Stellars Lumen token, Stellars developers are working on a way to marry traditional banking systems and blockchain. Stellar is uniquely qualified for this capacity given that its code already supports thousands of transactions a second and it’s unique ability to run on banks existing infrastructure costing banks much less to incorporate. It protect the bank's infrastructure by creating complete separation of power among all servers. This would force a hacker to hack each individual server at a time to be able to steal enough votes to form a malicious attack again making hacking practically impossible..
While Ethereum and Stellar are both great examples of how each crypto is different from another it is important to remember that not every coin has the same support or quality team of developers as these two. So when deciding where to put your hard earned money it’s important to look at a few different factors before settling on a winner or winners. I always ask myself the following questions.
What does the coin even do? Before putting your hard earned money into any new cryptocurrency (or investment for that matter), you should ask what does it do, what need or want is it addressing and why would anyone want it? What makes you want it? Luckily for us most altcoins have websites addressing these very questions. You will often find their mission statement and white paper to be very informational about the purpose and scope of the project. For example, is it providing a decentralized security system to banks like Stellar, or is it trying to provide unhackable voting registration to millions like Civic, or even Monero which hides all transaction information allowing its users to transfer value anonymously.
Are other coins doing the same thing? While it’s tempting and exciting to put money into something that seems unique and powerful, it’s even more important to make sure that it is actually unique! Cryptocurrencies are a global phenomenon so chances are there is a similar coin out there doing something similar to the coin you are looking at currently.
Who are the developers? It’s probably a good idea to dig a little into the team behind the crypto you support. A great place to start is the crypto’s official website. Most teams provide a short summary about their individual members and any relevant experience they have had in the past. In addition a quick google search to see if any reputable outlets have any valuable information regarding the team's impact in the crypto community is also invaluable. Please remember to use logical thinking while performing this research, if it's too good to be true and nothing else from an independent source supports it, it probably is.
Who is supporting them? Seeing as how the crypto space is very new it is important to research who is supporting the use of your cryptocurrency. For example, if you are trying to revolutionize global banking transactions it probably doesn’t hurt your future adoption rates if IBM who makes about 40% of it’s revenue from its banking products has decided to work with you as is the case with Stellar. Another great example is IOTA working with Microsoft in creating an “internet of things” to interconnect every device we own and allow them to communicate with each other, essentially Amazon’s Echo on steroids. Sometimes support comes in the form of another cryptocurrency partnering together, or an invaluable experienced developer who’s already solved the same issue in another coin signs on suddenly. I do this to make sure the developers are serious and not some scam to steal my money.
What’s the mood? Read the news! What I mean by “what’s the mood?” is simple, is anyone excited about it and how do you know? This is important for holding crypto long term, but can be invaluable in day trading where the unregulated nature of exchanges allows for predatory groups to “Pump & Dump” coins artificially raising and lowering their respective values to lure new investors. Good places to start are online economic and financial websites, e.g. Fortune, Bloomberg,Forbes, The Economist, Wallstreet Journal and regular old web news outlets life CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, yahoo. Cryptocentric websites like Coindesk, The Merkle, CoinTelegraph as well as tech centric websites like the Verge and Wired as well. These are just some examples, and as with any research please take everything you read with a critical pinch of salt!
Use the forums and groups to your advantage! The forums and chat groups are great places to get a vibe and learn new developments and catch bullshit quickly, as most internet users who occupy these spaces are anal and critical over analyzers they create a uniquely well suited place to share your investment strategies. While the sting of your fellow crypto investors maybe hard to bare sometimes other peoples viewpoints and concerns can provide you unique and honest feedback and insights that you might have never realized on your own. In addition creating relationships in trading circles is a great way to learn new strategies to keep learning and evolving as an investor and most importantly as an economic student.
What can the government do and why do they care? While I hate to be a bearer of bad news, it is always important to keep up with local and federal regulations to ensure you are always on the right side of the law and to be ready to jump out or in into a currency or other investment that new regulations might affect negatively or positively. For example the government deciding to pass legislation to tax bitcoin earnings at 5% would probably increase capital investment into the currency, could signal a time to buy, On the other hand the government could charge 40% and result in a large selloff or a strong signal to sell. While most cryptocurrencies are invulnerable to government censorships, they can still affect how easy it is to invest in them in their respective markets.
Pay close attention to Social Media Cryptocurrency developers are no strangers to social medial spaces. Following them on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc., it is important to keep yourself up to date with dates such as upcoming conferences, and press releases which are created to excite investor interest and can be targets for “pump & dump” operations.
Don’t invest more than you are prepared to lose! Like with any investment don’t throw all your life’s earnings on any one investment, and don't put more than you can afford to lose! While the power of greed is an incredible force of nature it doesn’t put us in a logical state of mind. Financial decisions should be weighed carefully and all aspects carefully examined to minimize risk. It’s always a good idea to diversify your investments and seek advice from multiple trusted sources with good track records.
Celebrate the wins, never forget the lessons from your losses! While it’s important to stay positive and celebrate your success, it’s also very important to recognize our mistakes and try to understand them. While a great rule of thumb for every day life, this could prove invaluable when trading. Eventually with experience you will be make decisions based on many different sources, factors, conditions, etc. The more you start thinking about what went wrong and what went right and why the quicker your investor savvy will grow.
These are just a few of our favorite things to look at when trying to develop a place for a specific crypto in the economic landscape. While these are not every single thing that you can do, it will provide you with a good foundation to allow you start the decision process. It is important to stay up to date with current events as they often trigger reactions from the market.

By Cris Perez