How topicolist.com ICO Analysts Rate ICOs?

In this post I’m going to explain how our rating/grading works and what each number in the rating breakdown means.

 

ICO Rating Spreadsheet

 

Each ICO needs to score at least a “B” grading or above 2.5 as a rated average to be listed on Top ICO List. This qualification is done via our rating system which I’ll breakdown for you below.

 

Each ICO goes through a checklist consisting of 13 main categories and 20 subcategories for a total of 33 items. The ICO is evaluated according to the checklist by giving a number for each category. The total weighted number (not all questions are equal so we attribute more weight to some) is the ICOs total rating and based on the rating a grade is given.

 

Total checklist score to grading scale:

 

Rating Grade
>4.5 AAA
4.1-4.4. AA
3.6-4.0 A
3.3-3.5 BBB
2.9-3.2 BB
2.5-2.8 B
Rejected C

 

Here’s what each main category number in the rating breakdown means:

 

Rating categoryHow to evaluateRating
Team legitimityHow experienced is the team in terms of blockchain and project industry track records?3
First ImpressionWhat kind of first impression the ICO website and whitepaper gives?3
Potential of tokenization modelHow appealing is the token from both project business and ICO investor's point of view?3
Hard CapIs the hard cap of the ICO appealing from investor's point of view?3
Token allocation + Fund allocationHow are the tokens allocated after token generation? How are the funds raised from the ICO going to be distributed in moving forward with the project?3
Professionalism of the available materialHow good are the marketing materials of the ICO?3
Realism of the roadmap compared to the team size and budgetThe roadmap is divided into 4 tiers according to different amounts of money raised3
Partnership networkHas the ICO announced partnerships, if so how big and credible companies are they?3
Background of the managing organizationHas the managing organization a successful track record in business?3
Size of social media communitiesHow big are social media communities, especially Telegram and Twitter following?3
Reviews on other ICO sites and mediaAre there other reviews of the ICO available?3
Is it easy to find the relevant information from the provided materials?Is it easy to find the relevant information from the provided materials?3

 

We go through such an extensive and laborious process to vet that we only list projects that are serious and have potential.

 

Risk Warnings regarding ICO investing

 

Albeit the huge profit opportunities in ICO investing, there are several risks included in ICO investing that you should be aware of before participating in an ICO. ICO industry has started as a self-governed system without any regulations, as regulations are still under development and haven’t been able to stay in pace with the development of the ICO market. According to studies around 80% of all ICOs are scams due to lack of regulations, and therefore it is an attractive market to scammers and you should take precautions to stay safe from them. To do this, you should always follow these guidelines regarding ICO risks:

 

  1. Always do your own research, often referred to as DYOR. You can ask opinions from other people but it is not recommended to completely rely on someone else’s opinion when investing in ICOs. Try to find as much info on your chosen ICO as possible, and use multiple sources when considering if the investment is viable.
  2. Don’t invest more money than what you are willing to lose, as you don’t want to have any serious consequences if you run into the worst case scenario.
  3. Be extra careful when checking team members profiles and past track records. Every team member should have a public LinkedIn profile with corporate connections, multiple work experiences and preferably also recommendations received.
  4. If you can, ask the project advisors their opinion on why they decided to join the project. If the advisors don’t have a comprehensive understanding of the project and valid reasons why they joined it, you will quickly catch on to this based on their answer.
  5. Take your time in reading through the marketing materials of the ICO in order to understand if their business logic makes sense and if the team is building something actually valuable that will positively affect the token price. Good indicator of token price growth would be a clear link between the token price and project success, which can be recognized by mentions of dividends, discounts for token holders or token buyback program in the whitepaper.

 

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