Recently, I’ve been thinking about a question: if altcoins don’t easily go to zero during a bull market, wouldn’t going all-in on 100x tokens be even more appealing? But in reality, this logic has a big pitfall.

I’ve noticed many people fall into this trap: the selected 100x token has a market cap that’s too small, hasn’t been sufficiently recognized by the market yet—so it either rockets straight up, or its gains are painfully lackluster, and sometimes you can even lose money in a bull market. The reason is simple: a lack of attention from capital, no institutional momentum, or major mistakes from the project team. The token price may look like it’s being propped up by bull-market sentiment, but in fact the project has already stalled and is just waiting for the bull market to end so it can be sentenced to death.

So my current strategy is to allocate evenly between 10x and 100x tokens. Usually, 10x tokens are sector leaders or near-leaders. Their fundamentals have already been recognized by the bull-market market. Holding them will most likely make money. Their upside ceiling might not be as high as 100x tokens, but their downside is protected. As for 100x tokens, they’re those that are seriously undervalued—projects with huge potential to explode in the future.

Let’s start with the selection criteria for 10x tokens. Leading projects are indeed the first choice. For example, in the DEX sector, the historical all-time highest total market cap was $110 billion, and now it’s only $14.57 billion—there’s still close to an 8x distance from the peak. Uniswap itself is backed by innovations like V3 and uniswapx, so a 10x upside isn’t a problem. New sector leaders are also worth watching—like OP in the L2 space. Its current market cap is $2 billion, while the old leader Polygon once hit a high of $26 billion. Even so, OP still has a 3.5x runway to catch up.

But 10x tokens don’t necessarily have to be the sector leaders. High-quality projects that aren’t top-ranked can, because their starting base is smaller, potentially run tens of times. How do you choose these kinds of projects?

First, confirm the project is still alive. Go to CoinMarketCap to see whether the trading volume is large enough, whether the price movement looks normal, and which exchanges it’s listed on. For on-chain assets, you need to look at liquidity; for the community, you need real engagement—active follower counts and activity on TG and Discord are especially important.

Second, look at the project’s background. Is there genuine discussion happening on YouTube and Twitter? Does the founder show up in public or in videos? Has the team actually accepted interviews? Go to Chainbroker to check whether the investors are well-known VCs, and whether major figures among the investors are endorsing it. On data websites like the official website and DexTool, check whether trading volume and TVL are trending upward consistently.

Tokenomics also matters a lot. The ratio between circulating supply and max supply—that is, the relationship between MC and FDV. If a lot of tokens are going to be released next and the supply is approaching full circulation, then you should look at FDV. If FDV is too high, it’s not conducive to a surge in price. Conversely, look at MC. Within the sector, the best ranking candidates are often those whose current market cap isn’t near the top, but whose technical and fundamental expectations suggest they’re undervalued.

Single-token price is also a psychological factor. People naturally have a higher desire to buy low-priced tokens. So for 100x candidates, the token price is best below $1—ideally even like SHIB back then, where with just a few hundred yuan/dollars you could hold billions of coins. Retail investors would feel it’s especially good value, making it easier to attract later buyers.

You also need to consider how the token is listed. A fair launch may be fair, but subsequent funding might be insufficient—so the project’s popularity later on becomes crucial. Whether there’s support from major figures (big Vs) is highly decisive. For pre-minted projects, check the VC and team allocation proportions, as well as the lock-up duration. A conscience-driven project won’t dump large amounts in the early stage.

You can check the whales’ proportion on blockchain explorers. In the early stage, whales accumulating large amounts of tokens can actually help the price, because it indicates there’s a market player controlling the position, which is favorable for pumping. Token utility is also critical. Go to the whitepaper to see whether the token can actually be used for utility. Generally, a project that has clear token utility is easier to pull up than a project that doesn’t. For example, recently with inscription minting: as long as a certain chain is about to release inscriptions, the related tokens will rise—not just because of sentiment, but because the tokens are being empowered, which creates a big short-term jump in demand.

If you seriously screen according to these standards, you can probably find the 100x token you’re looking for. But after you find it, you still need to keep monitoring it—pay attention to news and use it to judge the project’s progress. Search for relevant information in leading domestic and international news media, then compare whether the project is advancing normally against its roadmap. Watch for news related to token utility and token deflation—these are all short-term positive catalysts.

If the recent news has been particularly frequent, then either the project’s hype is heating up, or the project has started spending money on marketing. Either situation is worth paying attention to for secondary price movements. If you do these homework steps well, the opportunity for a 100x token is right in front of you.