How to Buy New Crypto Before Listing – Your Guide for Pre-Listings

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Before a new coin launches in the cryptocurrency market, the project team always offers early investors a chance to buy the assets at discounted prices. Usually, this happens before listing through events like presales, initial coin offerings (ICOs), and initial exchange offerings (IEOs). 

These opportunities allow investors to find new cryptos and invest early, hoping to have profitable returns when it is listed on exchanges. However, since many new cryptocurrencies are on the market, it’s important to know how to buy new crypto before listing. We review the process in this trading guide to help investors make informed decisions.

What is Pre-listing Investment?

While this article is about how to buy new crypto before listing, it’s essential to understand what a pre-listing investment is before diving into the details. 

As the name implies, a pre-listing investment is geared toward getting people to invest in an asset before it hits a decentralized exchange (DEX) or a centralized exchange (CEX). At their core, companies use pre-listing investments to raise funds. Like traditional startups, the idea is to get individual and corporate investors willing to back the crypto project. 

Fundraising typically involves getting funds from angel investors or venture capital firms at the initial stage. These include investors with a proven track record in the crypto space. However, the larger public can later invest in the project through presales or pre-listings. 

During the presale event (also known as a presale ICO), the project team raises money from people’s pre-listing investments. However, it’s important to note that a presale ICO isn’t the same as the main ICO that happens after a presale. 

However, as a retail investor, more focus should be on the presale and final ICOs, as they are more common pre-listing investment options available to you when considering how to buy new crypto before listing. 

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Investing in Cryptocurrencies Before They Are Officially Listed on Exchanges

As stated earlier, this detailed guide on how to buy new crypto before listing is for people looking to invest in cryptocurrencies before they hit the general crypto market through exchanges. In other words, pre-listing investments happen in different stages. 

• Investments from private angel investors who usually support the project with massive funding.
• Presale ICOs or initial decentralized exchange offerings (IDOs) that give the public the chance to own a share of the total asset supply at a discounted rate.
• The major ICOs offer additional investors from the public the opportunity to raise more money after the presale and before the project listing.

How Can You Buy New Coins Before Listing?

There are two significant ways to consider when thinking of how to buy new crypto before listing. The first is to find the best defi apps that let you buy tokens from the projects before they are listed on CEXs. Secondly, you can join the crypto presale event and get tokens directly from their official presale websites. 

Regardless of your investment method, the only way to invest in a project during a presale ICO is by buying its coin, which is usually at a discounted price. For example, before Ethereum was launched in 2015, the project team held a presale where the token was sold for $0.30, but the same Ethereum sells for $1,630 at the time of writing. 

So, the idea is to find the best crypto presale projects at a particular time and invest in them early, hoping to profit from the difference between their presale and exchange listing prices. Alternatively, you can hold the coin for more potential gains in the future. 

Where to find these projects include their proprietary presale events or ICOs, crypto launchpads, social media platforms like Reddit and Twitter, presale Telegram groups, ICO calendars, etc. 

Benefits and Risks Associated with Pre-Listing Investments

While investing in crypto before listing offers numerous perks, including potentially massive return on investments (ROIs), it’s crucial that investors know that there are potential pitfalls to avoid. We highlight the pros and cons of pre-listing investments below. 

Benefits 

1. Requires No Strong Investment Knowledge 

You don’t need strong crypto investing skills to invest in presale tokens. With just about enough awareness of how presales work and finding out the best presale tokens to invest in, you are good to go. 

2. Offers Potential for Massive Gains 

Another reason to consider buying coins early before listing is the potential gain you stand to earn if the coin explodes after getting listed on CEXs. Apart from the potential price increase after listing, you can also sell the coin for more gains when the project grows. 

3. Access to New Discounted Tokens

Presales and IDOs give you access to new coins at discounted prices, offering a low barrier of entry to investors. In other words, both beginners and seasoned investors can take advantage of the early investment opportunities. 

4. Offers Access to Exclusive Membership Perks 

Some crypto presale projects offer members exclusive perks like bonuses, free event access, customized merchandise, etc. These prizes are additional incentives you can enjoy by investing in pre-listed assets. 

5. Offers Investors a Stake in the Total Coin Supply 

Pre-listed crypto projects usually dedicate a percentage of their total supply to their presales and IDO. That means investors have a stake in the asset’s total supply – similar to being a shareholder in the conventional world. 

Risks 

1. Market Turnaround Due to Volatility 

A major risk of crypto investments is the likelihood of money loss due to volatility. Because of the constant price swings, a token may not live up to its price potential, leaving early investors with little or no profit. 

2. Presales Are Highly Unregulated 

Another potential pitfall is that presale events are unregulated or well-established. So, there’s no guarantee that you can swap the token for a more valuable asset like Bitcoin or Ethereum. 

3. There Are Scam Presale Projects on the Market 

Since buying pre-listed tokens is unregulated, many malicious actors sell fraudulent projects to unsuspecting investors. The process is called a rug pull, and it involves people investing in crypto projects from a team that only wants to cart away with their money. Ultimately, investors are left with valueless coins. 

Benefits and Risks Associated with Pre-Listing Investments (Summary)

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Why Invest Before Listing?

Now that you understand the concept of how to buy new crypto before listing, it’s important to understand why it may be considered a good investment option. We highlight some of the reasons why investing in a cryptocurrency before presale may be a good option. 

Potential for Early Access to Promising Projects

As stated earlier, new crypto projects that are yet to be listed on CEXs offer investors early access to their tokens through presales and IDO. That way, investors who buy the tokens on time get early access to them. 

Interestingly, some of these projects are promising, with solid teams and roadmaps that make their tokens some of the best cryptocurrencies on the market. So, investors may gain multiple folds of their initial investments when the coin lists on exchanges or explodes in the future. 

Possibility of Obtaining Tokens at a Lower Price Before Public Trading Starts

Pre-listed projects usually sell their tokens at discounted rates to encourage more investors and raise more funds to push their goals. The presale event ultimately offers people the opportunity to get these tokens at lower prices than their projected listing prices and potential long-term market prices.

Conducting Due Diligence

Before investing in a new crypto project, it’s crucial to do due diligence to mitigate the risk of falling prey to fraudsters or rug pulls. We explain the due diligence process to take when doing your own research. 

Evaluating the Project’s Whitepaper and Technical Documentation

The first thing to do when conducting your research on how to buy a new crypto before listing is to assess its intricate details, including the tokenomics (demand and supply) and project roadmap. All these details are usually available in the project’s whitepaper, which is a documentation of everything related to the project. 

Going through the whitepaper will also help you answer common questions you may have, including the project’s marketing plans, unique market approach, and unique selling points (USPs). 

Some of the questions you’ll find answers to include the following:

• What are the overall concept and goals of the crypto project?
• Information about the asset’s ICO in terms of dates and times
• What is the price of the new coin when it is listed on exchanges?
• Who is the team behind the project?
• Are there any anti-rugpull and other fraud prevention mechanisms in place by the project developers?

Assessing the Team’s Experience and Credibility

Another important detail to look out for when researching a new crypt token is its development team. Good projects are usually pioneered by experienced teams with solid track records in the crypto space. Information about the team should also be public and easily accessible by investors to help determine their past success rate. 

Investigating the Project’s Use Case, Market Potential, and Competition

Finally, when thinking of how to buy new crypto before listing, you should assess the project’s use cases, as projects’ valuation and longevity are usually connected to their utility. Also, assess the project’s competitive landscape, market potential and other related information to see how it plans to thrive in its niche market or the general crypto market.

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Analyzing Partnerships and Community Engagement

Another way to assess a new crypto project or token is to check its marketing plans. Usually, you can get insights into these details via its partnership plans and community presence. 

Researching Strategic Partnerships and Collaborations

Projects with solid potential usually partner with reputable brands to drive conversations about them. The brands include reputable CEXs and DEXs, crypto calendars and trackers, market analysts, top-rated crypto mass media and other marketing channels. These marketing partnerships will drive the project’s publicity and make it top of mind for investors. 

For instance, if a new crypto project team decides to list its token on a tier-1 crypto exchange like Binance, potential investors will have a decent level of trust in the project because of Binance’s reputation. 

Gauging the Level of Engagement and Activity in the Project’s Online Communities

At the same time, a good project should have a solid community presence among crypto enthusiasts and their investors on social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and Discord. Customers should be able to ask questions via DMs and get responses. There should also be positive conversations, reviews, and testimonials among the community members. 

Otherwise, investing in grossly unknown projects on social media or projects without solid brand partnerships is highly risky. 

Private Sales and Presales

While exploring how to buy new crypto before listing, we mentioned that you can access coins before they list via private sales and presales. Though both fundraising models offer cryptocurrency projects to early investors, they differ in practice. 

Understanding Private Sales and their Requirements

A private sale is a fundraising model that happens at the earliest stages of a new crypto project. It offers accredited investors exclusive access to a new crypto project. However, in private sales, investors are experienced people in the crypto space and need a certain level of wealth to invest. 

Investors from private sales also get discounts on their coin purchases, with the hope that their investments will ultimately be rewarding. 

Participating in Presales through Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) or Token Sales

The presale (or Presale ICO) model is a public fundraising model that allows retail investors to get tokens early at a predetermined price. The general public can access presales via the project’s official presale website and via presale ICOs. The pricing model here is also discounted, offering investors a potentially high ROI. 

Though presales offer more potential rewards, private sales are usually more secure because they are offered to only certified buyers who understand the intricacies of crypto investing. 

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Initial DEX Offerings (IDOs) and Launchpads

An Initial DEX Offering (IDO) is a more recent crowdfunding model that new crypto projects use to raise money. The IDO model was launched as a better alternative to ICOs, as they offer a decentralized fundraising system. 

On the other hand, crypto launchpads (also known as crypto incubators) are third-party platforms that new crypto projects leverage to offer early-access investment opportunities to the public. Both launchpads and IDOs happen on DEX-based platforms, offering more investment security to both investors and project founders. 

Exploring IDOs on Decentralized Exchanges

At its core, a project launches an IDO on a decentralized liquidity exchange, which is an exchange that works using liquidity pools. Here, people can swap tokens for stablecoins and other cryptocurrencies. So, with IDOs, investors get instant and better liquidity at different price levels. In other words, you don’t need a waiting period to access your investments, as you can trade or swap them immediately in a liquidity pool. 

Unlike ICOs that favored more project founders than community members, IDOs were launched as a fairer fundraising model to avoid pre-mines. 

In addition, IDOs allow blockchain product developers to work without malicious third-party influencers and eliminate issues regarding hackers and human error. Token buyers and holders’ coins are also secured with their wallets and private keys.

Using Launchpad Platforms Offered by Certain Exchanges to Participate

As stated earlier, a launchpad is a third-party DEX platform that allows crypto projects to get funding from the public using its established investment channel. In other words, the launchpad is a bridge between new crypto projects and existing communities of crypto enthusiasts. 

So, crypto investors can easily find the latest collection of crypto projects they can invest in for a chance to get potential returns. However, the key features of crypto launchpads are security and transparency. The launchpads assess and only select a few cryptocurrency projects that meet their standards. 

Similarly, the launchpads subject registered investors to its mandatory KYC process to combat fraudulent activities like money laundering. It also makes it harder for malicious actors to manipulate the system by creating multiple accounts for transactions. 

On top of that, investors cannot fall victim to pump-and-dump schemes from project developers because transactions are transparent, and such acts will be detected easily. Tokens are also available immediately, so there’s no waiting period, and you can access your tokens immediately after purchasing them. 

Some popular exchanges offering launchpads to crypto developers are Binance, KuCoin, and Bybit. 

Risk Management Strategies

Like every other kind of investment, you need to implement risk management strategies when considering buying new crypto before listing. These strategies can help you prevent losing money to avoidable errors. 

We highlight some effective risk management strategies below. 

Diversifying Your Pre-listing Investments to Spread Risk

A common strategy among crypto investors is to combine multiple assets in one portfolio. Keeping a diversified portfolio of multiple pre-listing investments will help spread risk, as different coins have diverse volatility. For example, if one of your tokens fails to meet its projected price, tokens from other successful projects can help net off the loss. 

Setting Investment Limits and Sticking to a Budget

Another risk management strategy to keep your finances in check is to have an investment plan or strategy with a budget. Setting such limits will help manage your expectations and create a healthy financial lifestyle, as you can stick to your budget and make necessary adjustments from time to time. 

In other words, you should have a healthy investment habit with limits even when diversifying your portfolio. 

Timing and Exit Strategy

In case you invest in IDOs or launchpads that allow instant trading of assets, you want to implement an effective strategy to avoid major losses. While diversifying your portfolio and working with investment limits is good, seasoned investors also manage risks when trading pre-listing crypto by using the timing and exit strategy. 

We explore how the strategy works below.

Setting Clear Goals and Timeframes for Your Pre-listing Investments

You should have expectations for all of your investments when thinking of how to buy new crypto before listing, as this will help assess how you’re doing per time and what may need improvements. At the same time, the goals should be broken down into achievable bits with timeframes and milestones to make them easy to track. 

Ultimately, you can assess your investments periodically and align them with your set goals. 

Planning for When and How to Exit Your Positions

IDOs, launchpads, and NFT apps allow early investors to sell their assets since they have no waiting periods. If you decide to trade your pre-listing assets, you must have plans for your various trading positions. For example, you can set a stop loss on the DEX to buy or sell the token at a certain price. This will help limit your loss or lock in more profit depending on how things go. 

Staying Updated and Adapting

When thinking of how to buy new crypto before listing, it’s easy to see that the systems have evolved from what they used to be in the early days of cryptocurrencies. As such, staying ahead of market trends and adjusting to the current market realities is essential. 

Keeping Track of Project Updates, Milestones, and Changes

The first way to monitor your investments is to keep tabs on your project(s). By following the project roadmap, you can understand its plans and milestones, the latest updates, adjustments to project plans, etc. 

Doing this will help you know if things are still on track or if you need to find a balance that works. 

Adapting Your Investment Strategy Based On New Information and Market Trends

The crypto market is dynamic, and there will always be new trends from time to time. Staying up to date with the latest trends and adapting to them will help build a strong investment portfolio. At the same time, you can devise means to maximize the investment opportunities if you know what works per time. 

How to Buy New Crypto Before Listing – Conclusion

In this guide, we’ve thoroughly explored how to buy new crypto before listing, how to find the best new crypto projects, and how to leverage effective risk management tools and strategies to make the most of the investment opportunities. 

Ultimately, doing your own research is essential to investing in new cryptocurrencies, as there are no investment guarantees – even when you find the most promising crypto assets via IDOs and launchpads. 

However, to trade your pre-listing assets after they launch on CEXs, you can leverage the robust eToro cryptocurrency exchange and commodity trading app on your mobile or desktop devices. You’ll also find different tools to simplify your trading and can anticipate a wholesome crypto trading journey when you create a free eToro account and build your trading strategy with the broker’s effective trading tools. 

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