Buying ICO’s and altcoins are like investing in IPO’s and Penny stocks.
Lots of potential reward, but real risk that you may lose up to all your investment. Many ICO’s are for coins that have no practical use (you can’t buy anything with them) – only an investment value that may plummet at any time. For Example, Bitcoin can be used to purchase goods and services from many established companies. Altcoins need to be on exchanges, where they can have a value equal to Bitcoin (BTC) and other coins, so the altcoins can be traded.
If the ICO price is low, You may want to accumulate some over time – adding to your position (or abandoning it) as your comfort level permits. Going “ALL IN” my be fun, but figuring where to start taking profit is a mystery, and many investors have watched their value climb, and then plummet, with little warning. Remember, any profit is good profit.
Two sites you should look at are:
Live Coin Watch – Live coin Watch
How to Differentiate between legitimate and scam coins – IB Times
I strongly recommend that you don’t mortgage your house or max out your credit cards to invest in such unstable securities. Keep your head, study the market, invest with Money you can Afford To Lose. Some people use their Bitcoin profit to invest in Altcoins. Some altcoins have a social component, or are mined to benefit causes, like veterans (see Globalboost). If you are actively mining, see this Mining Profitability Calculator.
Here are some books on Altcoin investing:
Learn all you can, invest smartly, learn from any mistakes you make.
Best of Luck with your alt-coins and cryptocurrency investments!
– Alan