To begin your quest and search for 100x moonrockets, begin by utilizing a resource such as Dapp.com, DappRadar, Coinmarketcap or other major watchlists to study major categorizations of coins, such as DeFi, NFT, Play to earn etc.
I often sort by User Volume, Transaction Volume, Social Signal and Market Cap. (Any metric to measure the shift in user base)
After identifying a list of the top 'trending' cryptocurrencies in a given area - I will take my list of the top 5 or 10 that interest me and I will begin by A) Checking Coinmarketcap, PooCoin etc to view the graph of the coin for the daily, weekly, monthly, 3m and year to determine overall trend. (looking for rug pulls, downtrends, any clues about the overall market direction for that coin) I will also study the circulating supply, max supply etc.
B) I will visit the coin's website and attempt to interact with the product. I believe this is the GREATEST tool for research - there are some projects that are booming on social media etc. that have poor interfaces and are not user friendly in the least and have major typos in their interfaces. I will attempt to study which groups are invested in, and see if I can identify any team members and research their credentials as well. (so many fakes and frauds!) If the product is good, and I like what I'm using/seeing I will then check out their social media pages on Twitter, Reddit and Youtube.
C) I will study the social media page for events and then reference the events to the graph of the coin. I look for red flags - such as a recent join date on Twitter, repetitive/bot responses/paid responses and fake investors that run a coin up superficially. I study the overall nature of the marketing - does it feel pressured? Do I feel like I'm buying a used car? A real product will allow its work to speak for itself.
D) I check BSCScan, ETHscan etc. to study the addresses, wallet holders etc. I particularly look for the obvious 'rug pull' and try to determine if there are any large whales or if the owners of the contract also hold a large portion of the coin. Additionally, check for buys and sells of the coin to be CERTAIN you are dealing with a coin that is not a scam. I've also begun reading the smart contracts themselves - while I have limited knowledge in this area, I have been studying for known scam protocols (such as ridiculous buyback gas fees, no token buybacks etc.) I hope to organize and categorize a list of 'red flags' to look for and will be looking for an avenue to share what I find with the community.
E. If the coin passes all of the above tests - I will interact with the contract and buy/sell small amounts in succession to be certain the coin is operating legitimately. One new trick that scammed me recently - the coin is legit, you can buy and sell it, even stake it in pools - however, the gas fees associated with unstaking/harvesting are INSANELY high compared to the price of the harvest/unstake.
Lately this method has brought a few intriguing coins to my radar - and saved my butt from a few legit scams. This is the wild wild west - stay alert!
*Not financial advise, just the delusional ramblings of a sleep deprived crypto junkie*
