Welcome to the Fundamental Analysis section of the Academy, designed to build on the knowledge you gained from the Smart Start TA series. Those 50 lessons gave you a solid grounding in the technical aspects of trading, such as reading charts, identifying patterns, and understanding price movements. Now, we shift focus to fundamental analysis (FA)—the deeper dive into understanding the long-term value behind crypto projects. While TA equips you to navigate short-term trends, FA gives you the tools to evaluate a project's sustainability and growth potential in this dynamic space.

Why Are These Lessons Here?

These lessons aim to give you a theoretical overview of fundamental analysis, helping you build a solid foundation before moving on to deeper and more independent study. In a space as fast-moving as crypto, it's easy to get caught up in market sentiment and hype. However, true success comes from understanding the underlying value of the projects you're investing in. Through these lessons, you'll learn to evaluate key aspects of projects like their team, tokenomics, partnerships, and on-chain activity, giving you the skills to discern which projects have genuine utility versus those built solely on speculation.

Crypto is often misunderstood as only being about price movements, but FA helps investors peel back the layers and see what’s really driving a project. In this dynamic market, trends and narratives shift frequently, and learning to analyse a project’s fundamentals is essential for long-term decision-making. By the end of this course, you’ll be better equipped to distinguish between fleeting hype and solid projects with real-world utility.

Crypto is a Dynamic Space

The crypto landscape is constantly shifting. Projects that were front and centre during the bull cycles of 2011-2013, 2015-2017, 2019-2021, and the current cycle are vastly different. Back in 2011, Bitcoin and privacy-focused coins like Monero were in the spotlight. By 2015, we saw the rise of Ethereum and smart contracts, which fundamentally changed the potential of blockchain technology. Fast forward to 2019-2021, and the focus shifted to Web3, NFTs, and the metaverse, with tokens like Axie Infinity and Chainlink dominating the conversation.

Now, in 2024, we’re in a new cycle, and the focus has shifted once again to trends like Layer 2 solutions, AI integration, and Real World Assets (RWAs). Projects like $RENDER are at the forefront of decentralised computing, while tokens like $INJ represent the growing popularity of decentralised finance (DeFi). At the same time, meme tokens like $PEPE continue to thrive on speculation, and $PAAL is part of the growing intersection between AI and blockchain. These shifting narratives are a reminder that the crypto space moves quickly, and understanding the fundamentals helps you adapt to the next trend, no matter how quickly it arises.

One thing I’ve learned in this space is that trends can change quickly. During one cycle, you might see hype around privacy coins like Monero or ZCash, only for the conversation to shift entirely to smart contracts or NFTs in the next cycle. A project that’s hugely popular today can be forgotten tomorrow. You might even find the same founder launching three or four different projects within one bull cycle, each one building hype, only for it to become clear later that none of them had any real utility or basis for long-term success. Many projects are built solely to ride the wave of hype, with no solid foundation to support them once the trend fades.

My personal experience mirrors this. My portfolio in 2019, 2020, and 2021 looked vastly different from what it does today. Back then, my focus was on DeFi and NFTs, but today my investments lean towards AI, Layer 2 scaling solutions, and tokens that tie into real-world use cases like $RENDER and $INJ. The crypto space is highly dynamic, and you need to stay flexible—what’s relevant in one cycle might be irrelevant in the next. This is why learning how to conduct thorough FA is so crucial; it helps you identify which projects can potentially survive multiple cycles and which are simply flashes in the pan.

A red and black car parked in a parking lot
Photo by Zoshua Colah / Unsplash

What You’ll Gain From These Lessons

By the end of this course, you’ll have the tools to critically assess crypto projects and their long-term viability. You’ll learn how to:

  • Evaluate projects not just by their current hype, but by their underlying fundamentals, such as team strength, tokenomics, and real-world utility.
  • Recognise which projects might have lasting power and which are likely to fade as the cycle turns.
  • Adapt to new narratives as the space shifts, ensuring that your investment strategies evolve alongside emerging trends.

The crypto market is fast-moving, but with a solid understanding of fundamental analysis, you’ll be able to cut through the noise and focus on projects that truly matter. Whether it’s the latest trend in AI tokens like $PAAL, or a long-standing project with strong partnerships like $RENDER, this course will give you the framework you need to make informed, confident decisions.