When researching a project, the following questions provide a good guideline for evaluation.

First Look (most to least important)

  • Token (Is the token fairly distributed? Does the project need a token at all?)
  • Value/Mcap (How good is the value proposition, if any, relative to the market cap?)
  • Price (Has the token survived at least one bear market?, Is price generally uptrending?)
  • Development (Is there active development on Github? Are the commits/branches solid?)
  • Team (Is the founder+team capable of executing, or fake/anon?)
  • Potential (What’s the potential of getting exchange listings/CT attention/actual users?)
  • Socials (Is the project active on socials? Is there a supportive community?)

Idea

  • Is there a clear value proposition?
  • Does the project solve a real problem and provide a valid use-case?
  • Is the use case intentinonally based on hype/buzz words?
  • Is there a hot narrative driving the momentum of the project?
  • Is the project disrupting/innovating, or copying/forking?
  • How crowded is the space? How many competitors are there?
  • Can the project achieve a large network effect/go viral?

Intent

  • Does the website urge to buy (with buy prompts etc)?
  • Is the team shilling their own token?
  • Is the project just in for the money, or to create value?
  • Can the team execute on the intent?
  • How scammy is the project/token?

Team

  • Is the team fake/anonymous?
  • Does the team has quality backers/founders?
  • Is the team qualified and sufficient in man-power to realize the vision?
  • Does the team or the backers have good connections within crypto?
  • Does the team provide regular community updates from their individual accounts?
  • Is the team working full-time from a single location, or sporadically from around the world?
  • Do they have a large community & following?
  • Do they have a marketing strategy & sufficient funds?

Technology

  • Have they been audited by multiple parties?
  • Is there regular & active development on Github?
  • How technical is the whitepaper/the team?

Price

  • Is the token recently launched with continuously declining volume?
  • Was there a second push/demand run for the tokens?
  • Is the token available on T1/T2 exchanges?
  • Is there enough liquidity to enter/exit without large price changes?
  • Is the price currently pumping, or in discovery?
  • Is the token in accumulation or distribution?
  • Is the market cap sufficiently small for 10-100x growth?
  • What is the risk/reward given the current price?

Token

  • What is the quantity of tokens controlled by the team? (Not just team tokens)
  • What is the quantity of tokens controlled by VCs?
  • What is the unlock schedule of tokens by team & VCs?
  • What are the distribution, inflation, vesting periods, circulating supply schedules?
  • Does the token provide a staking, locking or deflationary mechanism?
  • Does the token provide actual utility beyond speculation?
  • Does the token demand increase as the use for the project increases?
  • Could the project operate without a token? Why exactly does it need a token?
  • Is there a holder rewards mechanism (fee burns, revenue sharing, etc)?
  • How obvious is it that the token is a security?