New Altcoin Research Checklist
Verify identity, contract permissions, product evidence, supply, ownership, market quality, security, governance, and custody before discussing a new token’s valuation.
Verify identity
Confirm the official domain, documentation, repository, chain, verified contract, migration history, and primary announcement channels.
Separate product and token
Describe the user problem, live product state, token function, fee asset, and whether token utility is active or planned.
Reconstruct supply
Map minting, circulating estimates, vesting, unlocks, treasury, insiders, market makers, emissions, burns, and bridge supply.
Test market quality
Review pairs, quote assets, spreads, depth, pool concentration, venue dependence, withdrawals, and liquidity after incentives.
Inspect security and control
Review audits, deployed code, upgrades, admin keys, multisignatures, time locks, oracles, bridges, incident history, and recovery paths.
Write the decision memo
State the thesis, strongest contrary evidence, unknowns, invalidation conditions, next event, confidence, and review date.
Signals that require stronger evidence
A red flag does not automatically prove fraud or failure. It raises the burden of verification.
Identity and contract
Unverified contracts, conflicting addresses, copied documentation, unexplained proxies, or admin powers that are not disclosed.
Supply and ownership
Missing vesting terms, concentrated control, discretionary minting, unclear market-maker loans, or supply figures that cannot be reconciled.
Market and promotion
One dominant venue, shallow liquidity, guaranteed-return language, paid endorsements presented as analysis, or volume that does not match depth.
Use the expanded checklist
The complete guide walks through every stage, with source mapping, contract verification, supply reconstruction, liquidity tests, and memo structure.
Read the full new-altcoin checklist →