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The Best Resources & Data for Crypto FA

May 8, 2023

4m

Read Time

A portion of everyone’s cryptocurrency journey is subjective. We participate in discussions, chase breaking news, form opinions, think about or observe upcoming events, and so on. However, the other half lies in the domain of objective and unfalsifiable market data that is in the reach of our hands at all times.

There are plenty of resources and data in the cryptocurrency market to choose from. One can keep track of prices using a site like CoinMarketCap, scan for transactions and mining activity via a blockchain explorer, check how many nodes are online, or simply read about the latest VC investments.

The list is truly large. No matter how you put it, blockchains are so open that you can genuinely track each part of the decentralized clockwork. But where do you find the right resources? In this lesson, we will provide you with the perfect answer.

What is Fundamental Analysis?

Before showing you the best platforms and applications for accessing accurate cryptocurrency data and resources, we will first quickly remind ourselves of what Fundamental Analysis is about.

Fundamental analysis is a method of extracting a project’s fair market value by examining aspects such as:

  • Teams
  • Smart contracts
  • Roadmaps
  • Tokenomics
  • Volume
  • Network activity (on-chain metrics.)

FA is conducted by DYOR (Do Your Own Research), which involves spending hours analyzing projects and their data. As previously mentioned, you can track prices, circulating supply, development updates, investment rounds, news, and so on. How do you do that? By monitoring cryptocurrency activity of your chosen projects on a select number of useful online platforms.

The Best Cryptocurrency Resources

In the following sections, we will showcase the best cryptocurrency resources individually for each FA aspect.

On-Chain Metrics

On-chain metrics refer to the activity of a blockchain network. We often use on-chain metrics to monitor the behavior of users and their transactions, miners, and nodes. As with any piece of data, on-chain metrics are useful because their historical data makes it possible to identify trends and invest or trade accordingly.

For example, a network like Bitcoin may experience a significant fall in hash rate. This signifies future possibilities of network congestion and expensive transactions. If the datapoint trends bearishly and underperforms other networks, we can view this as an opportunity to deleverage or even sell.

The most popular data points worth observing include:

  • Hashrate
  • Staked assets
  • Transaction value
  • Transaction throughput
  • Active addresses
  • The activity of top 10% wallet holders

You can find these resources by either visiting blockchain explorers or dedicated analytics platforms such as Chainalysis, Dune Analytics, and CoinMetrics.

We recommend using the following blockchain explorers for their respective networks:

For dedicated node and mining platforms, the Shrimpy Academy recommends:

Teams

While on-chain metrics embrace quantitative data, one can look to a project’s team for qualitative data. Reviewing a project, its team, marketing strategy, roadmap, and milestones, is an essential part of FA - if not the most important one.

The best way to access this sort of data is by visiting the project’s official website. In the possibility that a project does not have a website, we recommend finding their social media accounts and groups (Twitter account, Telegram group, Discord servers, etc.)

Since this is an extensive topic that cannot be explained thoroughly without drastically impacting the length of this lesson, we will expand upon the necessity of researching teams in a separate lesson.  

For now, understand that a project’s resources are mainly limited to its website and that you cannot find a source of higher quality. For anything not related to the project itself (e.g., whitepaper and tokenomics), refer to a team’s background information by visiting their LinkedIn pages.

Development and Smart Contracts

Being overwhelmingly important, we believe that development and smart contracts deserve a section of their own. Actively tracking development updates is a critical part of fundamental analysis as it allows you to confirm whether a project is on track, as well as its capabilities of upholding promises and roadmaps.

Development updates are standardly shared on a project’s Twitter timeline, Medium blog, or within their social channels. However, the concrete details of the update itself are always found (if open-source) on the relevant GitHub page.

GitHub is an online platform where developers share updates, upload documents, and update code. Here, you can see how active the development process is and how many contributors it has. Additionally, GitHub allows you to read smart contracts and confirm if their code matches the description and functionality marketed by its creators.

Reading smart contracts on GitHub is also important as it allows you to determine if a project is malicious. Since the code is open-source, users can find out how a project’s smart contracts work and what they can do. If any function prevents investors from withdrawing or allows developers to pull out dev funds and sell (un)vested tokens, it is possible to notice it on time.

Market Data

Market activity is certainly the most entertaining part of fundamental analysis. By observing data through various websites, it is possible to track various aspects of cryptocurrencies, including:

  • Prices
  • Trading volume
  • Valuation in sats (BTC)
  • Circulating supply
  • Market capitalization

Investors can also observe liquidity and bid/ask spread, but that is commonly done directly on exchanges.

For market data, we recommend the following websites:

For charting software and charting platforms, visit Tradingview or Bitcoincharts.

About The Author:  
Marko is a crypto enthusiast who has been involved in the blockchain industry since 2018. When not charting, tweeting on CT, or researching Solana NFTs, he likes to read about psychology, InfoSec, and geopolitics.

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Crypto Investing Guide: Fundamental Analysis