How to Know If a Token Is Worth Buying These days, people completely turn off their brains and trust everything but their own analysis—Telegram chats, influencers, headlines, etc. That behavior turns your crypto portfolios into crypto wallets full of losses. This series is for those who want to think for themselves, not blindly follow crypto "experts."
Here are 2 entry signals that influencers won’t show you.
There are over 20,000 cryptocurrencies on the market today. Most of them are speculative junk, and their price is just a reflection of someone else’s greed.
What does a beginner see?
"Price dropped — it must be cheap."
⚠️ But that’s a mistake.
A token could’ve gone 50x up and still be massively overvalued even after dropping 80%.
What are influencers doing meanwhile?
While you’re watching a "Top-5 Tokens to Buy Now" video, the market makers behind those projects — often the ones paying those influencers — are exiting, while you’re just getting in.
Welcome to their exit liquidity club.
In this article — 3 rational signals that actually work
- Is the token objectively cheap?
- Who bought before you, and how much profit have they made?
VC Funds and Entry Price
Why it matters: Almost every major project is initially funded by venture capital.
Funds buy cheap and then sell — to us.
They’re not holding for the tech. They’re here for returns. While influencers warm up retail interest, VCs quietly exit.
If you're buying the "dip" at $1, that may be someone's 15x exit.
What to analyze:
- Entry price of seed/private investors
- What % allocation they have
- Unlock schedules — and whether their tokens have already hit the market (or been sold OTC anyway)
- How much profit they’ve already made
Let’s review OP, STRK, and SUI as examples.
OP - Optimism investors entry price
- Investors contributed $178.5M
- Got 17% of the supply = ~730M tokens
- Entry price: $0.24 per token
- Current price: $0.64 → already ~3x
! VCs don’t enter for just 3x. In a strong project, they aim for 10x, 20x, even 50x returns.
Target ranges might look like:
10x = $2.40
20x = $4.80
50x = $12.00
STRK - Starknet investors entry price
- STRK Raised: $282.5M
- Allocation: 1.817B tokens (18.17%)
- Entry price: $0.155
- Current price: $0.127 — below VC entry
The market makers have dropped it under their own cost basis to flush out weak hands. This is when accumulation begins — not when it’s hyped at $1.5–2.
SUI - SUI investors entry price
- SUI Series A raised: $36M
- Allocation: 714.2M tokens
- Entry price: $0.0504
- Current price: $3.40 → 68x
Funds could have already exited with massive gains. Think carefully: do you want to be on the buying side of this chart?
Tool
CryptoRank.io (Everything about tokenomics, fund rounds, unlocks, and VC entries.)
Distance from ATH and ATL
Why it matters:
Influencers love to say: "This token is at the bottom!"
But — compared to what?
- 2x above ATL is not a bottom.
- A 50% drop from ATH is not enough for safe entries.
A more grounded strategy is to:
- Look for tokens that have dropped at least 70% from ATH
- Are trading no more than 2–3x above ATL
Let’s review the same examples again.
OP - ATL and ATH Price Comparison
Current price: $0.646
ATL: $0.40 → ~45% up from ATL
ATH: $4.77 → ~87% drawdown
STRK - ATL and ATH Price Comparison
STRK Current price: $0.13
ATL: $0.108 → ~20% up from ATL
ATH: $2.65 → ~95% down from ATH
SUI - ATL and ATH Price Comparison
SUI Current price: $3.40
ATL: $0.34 → up ~890% from ATL
ATH: $5.36 → ~36% drawdown
Yes, this is the same token still being hyped as "undervalued" on YouTube and Twitter.
Summary
Tool
TradingView — for tracking ATH/ATL, volume zones, and market structure.
Why You Shouldn’t Trust Influencers or News
Influencers earn from traffic and referral links, not from trading.
News is always late — written after the move, not before.
Hype is their exit — your entry.
Don’t buy just because "everyone’s talking about it."
Final Thoughts
Buying a token is not about belief, it’s about numbers.
Now you know two real filters to evaluate whether a coin is worth buying — and why you shouldn’t blindly follow influencers with dog avatars and "TOP 3 MOON COINS" thumbnails.
📣 Want more data-backed strategies and anti-FOMO tactics? Share this article — and Part 2 is coming soon.
Editor’s note: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Cryptocurrencies are speculative, complex, and involve high risks. This can mean high prices volatility and potential loss of your initial investment. You should consider your financial situation, investment purposes, and consult with a financial advisor before making any investment decisions. The HackerNoon editorial team has only verified the story for grammatical accuracy and does not endorse or guarantee the accuracy, reliability, or completeness of the information stated in this article. #DYOR