Choosing an ICO to invest in

For an investor looking to make money, Initial Coin Offering's (ICO's) can be very profitable if you choose the right one. They seem to be everywhere right now, as organisations around the world are scrambling to push them out on advertising platforms, eager to entice new investors.

Amid the Chinese ICO ban, and warnings from other financial institutions such as the Russian Central Bank (See CoinDesk article), the future of ICO's is looking a lot less bright.

As the rate of ICO launches continues to increase rapidly, with new ones being introduced on a daily basis, it's only a matter of time before the big banks and governments start putting their foot down! With such an easily accessible way of raising funds at any organisations disposal, it's no wonder we're seeing so many being introduced!

I know I'm heavily involved in cryptocurrency, and Google knows that, but almost every advert I see online is promoting a different ICO!

Take a look at the Google trend data, comparing the search terms; Invest in cryptocurrency (blue) & Invest in stocks (red)

 https://trends.google.co.uk/trends/explore?q=invest%20in%20cryptocurrency,invest%20in%20stocks&date=today%2012-m,today%2012-m

How long until the blue overtakes the red? The gap is tightening, and will undoubtedly move even closer as cryptocurrency gains even more traction.

According to Business Insider in late 2016 (Source), the total market capitalisation, which is calculated by multiplying the total number of shares in circulation by the current share price, was $65.6 Trillion USD. Compare that with the current $162 Billion USD market cap of the cryptocurrency market, and the number of searches cryptocurrency is pulling in is pretty impressive.

This signifies a growing economy (no surprise there), and the ICO market is contributing to that growth. Most ICO's require you to buy in using cryptocurrency.

Now take a look at the Google trend data for the search term 'ICO to invest in'

https://trends.google.co.uk/trends/explore?q=ico%20to%20invest%20in

We can see that over the past few months, searches have increased dramatically, signifying increased awareness and demand of the newest way to raise funds! And there's no shortage of supply at the moment.

So how do you choose an ICO to invest in while you still can?

Well there are a few things you need to look for:

1. Research the team behind the project! Most ICO websites have the team on there somewhere, and if they don't that should probably set alarm bells ringing. If you'd researched
2. With whom have the team partnered with and or connected with? This will be a strong indication of how successful a project is likely to be. If people who know how to make similar feats possible are advising on important strategic decisions, the project is more likely to succeed.
3. Try to read past the buzz words and create copy writing. The purpose of an ICO is to raise as much funding as possible, and often times professional copy writers are hired to basically write a cleverly worded sales pitch. Make sure you fully understand exactly what you're investing in and potential it has.
4. Do they already have a working version of the product they're raising money for? If so, it's going to take significantly less in development capital, and the remainder can be put to better use for marketing, PR, team development and improvements.
5. Have any large, reputable media organisations published any information about them? This doesn't always mean they're set to be a success as this can easily be paid for, but it can be a good indicator.
   There are of course other things you need to look out for, but if you take your time, research on Google, forums such as thebitforum.com, check Reddit and other social media platforms.

Good luck everyone in your ICO ventures, we wish you all the best of luck!

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