Before public ICO During public ICO After public ICO

Buying tokens before ICO

Most ICOs have 3 parts to their tokensale: private sale, presale and crowdsale (public ICO). ICO private sale is also called Institutional round and is intended for early investors. Private sales are usually not announced and not open to public. If private sale is announced, ICOs usually have stricter requirements for participation and are very picky with who they let into private sale. Bonuses or discounts may be offered based on how big the contribution is.

ICO Presale is also known as Pre-ICO. It is the token sale event that ICO projects run before the official crowdsale or public ICO. The fundraising caps for Pre-ICOs are often lower as compared to that of the main ICO and tokens are usually sold cheaper. Presales are announced and promoted on the website, social media and possibly through advertising. An ICO presale is good for investors who wants a higher discount or bonus compared to crowdsale without the drawbacks or the high risks associated in participating in private sale.

Buying tokens during ICO

Why would you buy tokens during ICO? Most of the ICOs offer their tokens for a significantly lower price, especially during the early period of token sale. If you are interested in their product or service, it would be much cheaper and convenient for you to buy them during ICO.

Before you decide to buy tokens during ICO, do your research, and never invest more than you are willing to lose! When you are ready to participate in ICO, the procedure is quite simple. You need to open an Exchange account, open your own wallet and follow ICO instructions on the website of the chosen ICO project. For the detailed guide on how to participate in ICO, read this article — HOW TO PARTICIPATE IN ICO.

Buying tokens after ICO

Once the ICO period is over, and if it was successful enough, the token will eventually be listed on an exchange. Which particular exchange depends on a project. To find out which exchange will list the token, you can either follow the announcements from the project itself, or check the Bitcoin Forum’s Altcoin section, and find a topic about the particular token. Alternatively, Coin Market Cap lists most cryptocurrencies in existence as well as exchanges where they can be traded.

When a token gets listed on an exchange, most of the time it will be trading against Bitcoin and Ether, and you can buy tokens you like directly from the exchange.

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You can also trade assets (Bitcoin, Ether, Ripple) directly for tokens using a service like Shapeshift or any other online trading platform. Select a coin that you want to trade and send it to the provided address. In return, you will receive the tokens you requested. In order to get your tokens, you will need to provide an address of a wallet capable of receiving them.

Dear readers and future investors, hope you are now more familiar on how to actually buy tokens and start participating in ICOs? Next week you will learn what you can do with your tokens once you acquire them. Stay tuned :)