DYOR, or Do Your Own Research. It's an acronym much more easily spoken than accomplished, it seems. Doing your own research can be challenging, complex and quite frankly scary, at times. DYOR became popular in the crypto space with a surge of catchy headlines and 'expert opinions' without much proof to back them up. Research can help investors answer exactly why they are buying or supporting a project or token. While the suggestion is sound, not knowing how to do your own research can lead to more confusion or succumbing to the peer pressure of other backers.
Asking questions to friends who've been in the space for longer than you is a great way to learn what to do and what not to do while learning more about crypto. It’s also useful to see if any of your trusted sources are following or talking about the project/token/coin that you’re looking into. We compiled a list of some people you can look up to in web3 (insert link).
Before investing in a project/token/coin, learn as much as you can about it. Not just from the original source, but also from other trusted sources that tell you both the pros and cons of the project. Be sure to search Twitter for any threads or articles found on it. Take the time to know what you're getting into.
Often, people shill projects they have some financial motivation towards in hopes to boost the price, and will only promote the upsides of the project, without painting a true picture. It can be hard to distinguish between someone shilling for the project vs. an unbiased post. A good way to check is to look at the project’s social media and website. Search the project’s community on Twitter and see if there are a lot of fake bots that are shilling it. The more you look into things the better you get.
Take a look at a project’s:
Join the Discord community or Telegram group of projects you're interested in and see what the community is like for yourself. The more time you spend in them, the more you learn about the project, and the more equipped you become with knowledge before making any investment.
If you do want to invest in something, it's probably wise to not dump a lot of money into it at once. Only invest what you're comfortable with losing in the unfortunate event that a project doesn't take off. Consider dollar-cost averaging your investments.
It's important to acknowledge that research is a continuous process given that the nature of the crypto space is constantly changing and updating. Always stay on top of your sources. Take everything with a grain of salt.
At the end of the day, it's your money and your decision. All investments have some level of risk. So make sure you gather as much information as possible from all kinds of trusted sources across different channels and not take anyone's source too seriously.
