I was looking at the price history of the top 50 coins and they all seem to have very similar price charts. They all seem to have spiked up the first half of this year even if they have been around for several years. My question is what caused all these altcoins to surge up in value so much?
My question about mining is how to start it because I want to be mining, so I would like to know how thankful I am to answer?
To start mining you need an initial investment of about 2k to do it "right" (5-6 mining GPUs). Even so at today's values for mine-able coins you're only going to make about $7-10 a day mining. You'll make your money back in about 8 months or so. That's if valuation stays about the same. You can mine coins that may net less profit initially but provide a good profit margin in the future; this is more risky however and you may need to hold them a while...
This article (and the links within it) may help you to get started GPU mining:
http://www.legitreviews.com/silent-ethereum-mining-evga-geforce-gtx-1060-22-mhs_195529