While it's important to understand the products and markets before investing, Mostly when it comes to investing in cryptocurrencies, one should be able to distinguish a security from a commodity properly before any investment.
What is a security it a commodity has been a hot topic for crypto enthusiasts from the very early days. Regulatory bodies have long ruled Bitcoin to be a commodity and recently did the same to Ethereum, this means it's not about what we consider an asset to be but what it is defined to be by the authorities. Most people only classify BTC and ETH to be commodities and everything else a security while a couple of altcoins with their own chains are making their claim to be regarded as a commodity.
If we go back a few steps though, I'll advice anyone investing in crypto to stick to Bitcoin after doing their research.