It’s unfortunate if an investor has to get rugged before creating a red flag or green flag list before investing in a coin. Ideally, setting up before investing is best, but experience is the best teacher when it comes to investing, and our worst experiences are often our best teachers.

You’ve already listed the best methods, so I will comment on one that I think is effective. I believe a whitepaper is a dealbreaker, as many projects have been exposed for having a copycat or unrealistic whitepaper. Therefore, I encourage investors to verify the whitepaper's authenticity.