You want to make those 100x life changing gains? You need alpha.
Here’s how to become a pro alpha hunter. Months/years of experience & trial and error in 5 minutes.
Knowledge is king.
- Read the whitepapers. White papers aren’t always as intimidating or daunting as they might seem. They are the most accurate source of info, straight from the founders’ brain. A lot of people don’t read whitepapers, leading to a lack of info or misinformation at times. Reading white papers gives you an edge
- Watch what the VCs are investing in. VCs have unfair information. They hear things earlier. Firms like Dragonfly, A16z, Multicoin cap have a history of success. Watch what they’re investing in.
- Check Job listings. A project that has poised to explode and is well funded is likely hiring. If you suddenly notice a bunch of job openings, that is usually a good sign
- Learn to evaluate projects. There’s a lot of hype and talk in crypto. You need to gauge whether or not teams are likely to execute. Here’s my guide on evaluating the team: https://twitter.com/Cov_duk/status/1511314611672211459
Understand the metrics & numbers.
There are so many numbers — TVL, Volume, dev activity, # of unique wallets, daily activity. Understand what these metrics mean and how they relate to the project’s success or failure.
Become an Etherscan pro
Etherscan has just about everything happening on chain. Etherscan allows you to watch wallets, search and understand transaction history, look up smart contracts and more. Here’s how to become an Etherscan pro: https://twitter.com/Cov_duk/status/1510862171541958656
GitHub.
Crypto is usually open source, meaning that code is available to view on GitHub. Dev activity is one of the most important things that determines success, GitHub shows you the activity.
GitHub can also help detect scams, rug pulls & bad projects. Watch dev activity, look at the the rate of updates and dev activity. A sudden decrease could mean a rug pull. Also, sometimes they may leak updates and announcements on GitHub
Token terminal.
Token terminal is a blockchain. The platform offers a free dashboard where users can revenue metrics, price-to-sales ratios, and more. Using token terminal, users can watch key metrics like TVL and track momentum.
CypherHunter
It shows a bunch of useful info on projects and key people including the team, investors, portfolios & more. It is very useful for looking into new projects or finding similar projects, identifying investors and tracking smart money
Dune analytics
is another useful tool for tracking key metrics and analyzing projects. Users can create and share dashboards that track key info & visualize them nicely.
Here a dashboard tracking Azuki Metrics:
Nansen AI
Use Nansen Ai to filter through the noise. Nansen has a range of features including real time analytics and curated updates. Nansen can offer incredibly precise & useful info as long as you know what you’re looking for.
Walk through the Discord trenches.
Discord is your go to place for info and updates. It’s where the community dwells. You can tell a lot about the project and team based on their communication and the strength of the community
Do they immediately address tough problems? Is the community dead af? As you spend time in a bunch of discords you’ll be evaluate a lot very quickly from these discord servers.
Write.
I’ve been talking a lot about why you should write. Here’s writing in relation to alpha: When you write a lot you read a lot. Reading is key for alpha.
When you write a lot, you get connected with a lot of people. The best way to get alpha is to know the smart guys.
Also, projects will reach out to you to write stuff, read stuff. While a lot of this is bs, it can expose you to some solid projects Here’s my guide on growing on Twitter:
Curate your Twitter following
Curate your twitter following, use lists to organize. You don’t want your twitter flooded with noise, follow with care. Also, you can use lists to curate your feed.
Despite all this, there’s only so much you can do and only so much time in the world. Join alpha groups & communities. Follow newsletters and news aggregators like Milk Road and Bankless
To get you must give. Freely share alpha. It builds connections, increases your credibility and it’ll come back to you. After you get all this, sometimes you just gotta ape.
Do your research, allocate properly and bet. But to make good bets, you need alpha.
Also, it is important to realize that it is normal to get completely confused & lost a lot when you dive in. There’s a lot going on in crypto. Focus on the long game. Be consistent and you will pick a long along the way.
