When you do your own research before investing in a cryptocurrency what do you actually search for? What are the criteria for a good crypto investment?
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These are generally the points I look for when assessing a cryptocurrency investment:
Idea / Premise
What is the general idea or premise of the crypto? Does it actually solve a problem or can it be used as a platform for other companies to solve problems (through dApps for example)? Is it likely to disrupt existing technologies and companies and take a piece of that industry? A read of the website should give the basic information here.
Promises
A quick check on what the coin is promising is always worthwhile at the start. If it sounds too good to be true, e.g. if it's promising a huge guaranteed monthly return, then it may well be a scam.
Utility
Does the coin have utility, i.e. can it actually be used for something? There are plenty of good ideas but once I have accumulated lots of these coins, what can I actually do with them? The white paper should give a clear idea on this point.
A coin that reduces my fees on an exchange that I use has utility for me. However many of the PoW coins have no particular utility apart from being (a) "a store of value" (b) "a payment system". Which brings us to ...
Competition and development timeline
Once I have an idea of the idea / utility behind a coin, how does it stack up against the competition offering similar utility?
If the utility is (a) "a store of value" or (b) "a payment system" then the established competition here is huge and Bitcoin / lightning networks may well still be the long term answer.
If it's a "platform play" with smart contracts then will it be better than Ethereum or EOS or Cardano? If not better, why will people choose to use it?
The timeline is important for me here. EOS is already up and running with dApps being built. Ethereum will be moving across to DPOS with Capsar soon. If a crypto "platform" currency isn't up and ready soon then it will need to be significantly better or have some other significant advantage to compete.
The website should have a clear timeline for development.
Team
Checking out the background of the team is important. Do they have the right skills and experience? Do their CVs show a history that fits with the profile of the coin they are launching? Do they have credibility and reputation and something to lose if the coin does badly?
The website should give background and names and linked-in references (although even these can be faked sometimes!).
General views
After that I trawl around looking for general views. Always tricky as half of the people will be shilling the coin, while the other half will be Fudding it to shill something else. But you can pick up a general view from reading reddit and crypto websites to give you further points to check and investigate yourself.
These are just my ideas and views. Please do your own research!