Update: I will continue to add to this article as I grow and discover new strategies.
This article will not discuss in depth the technical details and definitions behind the terminology. This is written from my point of view as an investor, highlighting tips and tricks I have found to have a high rate of success when it comes to investing in a coin. These are short term tactics. Investing in a coin long term due to fundamentals is a different strategy.
Catalysts — Well documented events that cause positive price action.
First percentage represents price at announcement->one week prior to event. Why a week prior? Coins dump nearly every time prior to a catalyst. Which brings us to the second percentage: one week prior->day of event. The third set of numbers is the change in marketcap: announcement->one week prior->day of. Holding through these events is not recommended. Selling off a week or even a few weeks to a month before the event is a wise choice.
Current examples reflect the price as of the writing of this article.
Engagement and Vitality of the Community:
This is more of a “fuzzy science”. Every coin has a community surrounding it, some healthier than others. You will find the same types of people in each reddit, telegram, or discord group. These are the classifications:
When looking at a community its important to identify the ratio of these groups. Communities with only techie die hards is not a great sign. No traders or enthusiastic plebs suggest death (VTC). Groups with a large number of crying noobs is a possible buy signal (buy the blood, currently NANO). Groups with a large number of post-pump noobs is a neutral signal, you never know when the pump will end (XVG up until it dumped).
USD value, an extremely important indicator.
Unless you are a gifted individual who can identify a price of .0005661BTC being a steal, I would recommend sticking to USD values for long term holds. This can be an extremely powerful indicator. Ethereum dropped below $400 recently, it was all anyone was talking about. NEO hit $50 for the first time in months. Stellar Lumens hit $.20. These prices were nearly identical to the prices pre massive December-January gains. USD values were a solid indicator of the end of a bear market, and there was a rebound shortly after. Watching USD values can be enormously helpful, even though its often ignored.
Past price action, price waves, fast or slow.
Every coin follows a somewhat different pattern. TRX, XVG pump hard when they get going. STRAT, WAVES, VTC are slow moving. These patterns have been consistent. If a coin has moved quickly in the past, chances are it will follow that pattern in the future. Below is a great example of price waves.
Higher highs, lower lows, volume increasing every time. Combining this with a catalyst (hard fork) it seemed like a fantastic buy.
Satoshi values
Coins priced in signal, double, or triple satoshi digits are a unique beast. They are extremely quick to pump or dump, as each price point has an enormous percentage effect. Taking DENT for example, 127m marketcap, 0.00000130BTC. 1 satoshi gain or loss is nearly 1%. A more extreme example, CarVertical (CV) 23m marketcap, 0.00000045BTC. 1 satoshi either way is a 2.2% difference. When buying marketcaps >10m with solid fundamentals, this is a great sign. Once it starts going, it will go fast. Same goes for microcaps >1m. Its important to be cautious here, quick moves up can also be quick moves down.
Thought Process Behind Recent Digs:
Daneel (DAN) stood out for several reasons. It entered IDEX at 70% below ICO price, and the ICO raised 2.8m with a goal of 16m. That could be a red flag, but in this case it wasn’t. Running an ICO in an intense bear market has that effect. ICO discount? Check. Next was the fundamentals and team. Team+advisors had experience and connections to big business. Additionally the concept was easily understandable to most, and was also entirely unique. DAN uses IBM’s Watson to gauge market sentiment on crypto coins. Team is affiliated with IBM. Far below ICO price, solid team, and unique and easily understandable concept. Next is risk/reward ratio. 70% below ICO price probably can’t go any lower, especially at a 300k marketcap. Chances of growth far higher than chances of continued dumping, it all lined up to a great purchase.
Where to go from here?
Start digging. There are gems waiting to be found. I highly recommend use of coinmarketcal for finding catalyst events. Check charts of low marketcap coins. If you see price action in waves, check for a catalyst. Reach out to the community, join every telegram, discord, or reddit group you think may have potential one day and check their pages once or twice a week. Being active in the space is the ONLY way to stay ahead of everyone else, and get in before it gets juicy.
I hope you found this article useful!
Disclaimer:
I was not paid to write this, I do not have a paid group, I do not offer paid advice. All my content is free and will always be free. I currently hold HXX, ANIME, PRL and TRX. I do not hold XSPEC, XVG, STRAT, WAVES, XLM, ETC, or NEO. I have reached out to the Hexx team to discuss details about the upcoming fork, and am awaiting a response. Nothing in this article is investment advice, do not take advice from internet strangers. Just because these strategies work for me, does not mean they will work for you. Invest at your own risk, never invest more than what you can afford to use.
