I only support projects and coins that I believe in. Regardless of profit.
Project ethics, long-term viability, real world use, innovation and strong development teams is what gets my attention.
It makes any losses more bearable knowing that a project is giving its best and it makes any profits more satisfying knowing that it is making a positive impact.
What i found that works best for me is to have a long term strategy rather than following the hype of coins. With ICO's and with pumps and dumps there is frantic trading and the price first goes up and then usually goes down.
You can analyse the cycles of a coin and predict when it goes up and when it is likely to go down. But I am not a particularly good trader.
I like capital gain rather than trading profits.
I find it easier and less time consuming to buy coins that I think are long term winners.
The criteria that I use are:
If it is POW coins - how much does it cost to mine v to buy ?
Was there a pre-mine and who benefited and why ? (e.g. if it is used for ongoing development then that is good - if it is dev get rich quick then it is bad)
With POS coins - is the rate of return sustainable. How is it generated ? Transaction fees or new coins generated?
What is the total number of coins in circulation.
What is the usual daily number of coins being traded
What is the maximum amount of coins that will be / are created.
How popular is it ?
Importantly - does it have a particular purpose?
How useful is it ?
Do i understand how it works ?
Its special features - Would I use it ?
Does it have some really good features ?
What is the market CAP - is it realistic ?
Does it have a busy developer community ?
Are funds from its value being used to develop it further ?
Is it ethical and does it have legitimate use ? (For my own peace of mind and to prevent regulatory shutdown)
Spread your investment - do some cloud mining, some home mining, invest in a promising exchange / crypto related startup / ICO , Invest in some established coins like BTC, ETH, LTC and invest in some lesser known coins that show some promise. Don't be too greedy - diversify. Take some risk but make sure to do your homework. Last year after everyone was selling ETH after the DAO hack - I took a risk and stated buying ETH mining contracts and ETH. I made a larger % from that than trading. It outperformed my expectations.
Some coins are worthwhile holding on when the price crashes and sometimes you are better cutting your losses.
I hadn't heard of Droxne until I saw the trading volume this morning with a large volume being dumped and the price crashing.
Be Fearful When Others Are Greedy and Greedy When Others Are Fearful
― Warren Buffett
(I have to add - Warren Buffet does not like crypto and has said crypto is a bubble that will burst)