Before purchasing any cryptocurrency, I do a ton of research and I would hope that you would do the same (after all, who wants to lose $$$ ). My primary tools are Reddit, Twitter, Bitcointalk, Steemit and Youtube.
With these tools, you can gather information such as the amount of coins in circulation, latest Initial Coin Offerings (ICO's), Developer's or team reputation in the cryptosphere and much much more, but one of the most important things for me is simple hype. You see, when i'm researching and determine that a coin has attractive qualities, coupled with multiple people shilling (A person engaged in covert advertising.) then I usually have a tendency to buy.
Shilling can be a very important factor especially if the people hyping the coin has a ton of followers and subscribers. I've made tremendous gains based on this method.
The top platforms I use for this method in descending order are:
5. Twitter
4. Bitcointalk
3. Reddit
2. Steemit (Yes Steemit!)
1. Youtube
(Google Trends and Google News are also 2 great sources)
For example, right now, if you type Steemit into YouTube and sort by date, it is crazy how so many people are excited about the platform. This is why I recently bought more Steem as I predict the prices will rise exponentially in the not so distance future. It may go up or down, but I plan on holding for a while, just like i purchased other coins and have reaped the rewards.
So Shill away my friends Shill Shill Shill, I will be waiting on the sidelines until the research and you determine my entry point.