Back when I was mining, I would always look at the hash rate curve first.

Now I look at whether the project team is seriously working; I instead focus on the treasury expenditures: where the money was spent, whether the spending is stable.
Honestly, I’m not afraid of them spending money, I’m afraid they spend it like pepper—sponsoring conferences today, then launching a bunch of joint ventures tomorrow, with milestones still stuck at “coming soon.”
I prefer those who break down expenses clearly: development, manpower, audits, nodes/infrastructure, and matching delivery milestones, even if progress is slow, it feels more reliable.
Recently, the NFT royalty disputes have been intense, and it’s quite similar to this logic: creators want income, secondary markets want liquidity, but in the end, it still depends on whether the protocol/team is putting real money into better settlement and distribution mechanisms, not just talking about it.
By the way, I set a reminder and limit for myself a couple of days ago (to avoid impulsively adding positions), I was pretty annoyed right after setting it, feeling like I was being controlled… but these past two days, I’ve felt more relaxed. When someone in the group calls out, it’s easier not to get carried away, and I can focus on “what am I actually buying, have the milestones been reached.”
That’s all for now.