I think that one should do quite a comprehensive study before investing as there are so many good projects and not so much money. My advice is that you should invest in coins that are listed on great exchanges, as they do quite a bit of research before signing a coin.
Research is a must before buying any coins. Whatever the amount of money we have, don't hurry to buy without deep analysis.
You are right that the coins listed on established or reputable exchanges are the priority. If the coins are listed on the exchanges like Binance, it means the developers or teams have good quality and they are serious to run the projects. Binance won't accept bad coins to list, they have some standards. And the developers must pay big money to list on exchanges. Only a serious project to list the tokens there.