According to recent recearch, 56% of 2017 ICOs fail. And you know what? That's OK. 90% of startups fail but the rest grow so high that they compensate venture investors 90% loss and provide very high profits.
So the basic rules with ICOs are very simple:
1. Do the research before you invest
2. Diversify, diversify, diversify
3. Ignore news and HODL
I agree. New-born ICOs will oftentimes look like a big failure even after reaching the targeted market cap because usually a few weeks after the ICO, there is a sudden decrease of coin value. But don't judge quickly! I know someone who earned this particular token last October 2017 and he immediately sold it. Guess what, its price as of now is five times its price last October.