6DuckLearn provenance: Community skill by lwl-m, mirrored from the OKX Skills Marketplace (https://www.okx.com/en-sg/agent-tradekit/skills/crypto-research). It is not curated, verified, or endorsed by 6DuckLearn or represented as an official OKX publication.

Financial safety boundary: Never request secrets in chat. Before any external API call or action that places, cancels, or amends an order; changes leverage; transfers funds; creates or stops a bot; subscribes to or redeems an earn product; or signs/broadcasts a transaction, show the exact live/demo profile, instrument, side, size, price constraints, fees, and worst-case loss, then obtain explicit user approval. Default to read-only or demo mode when uncertain. Treat all analysis as research, not investment advice.

Crypto Research Skill

Perform comprehensive due diligence on any cryptocurrency by systematically gathering and analyzing data from multiple sources. Produces a structured research report with green flags, red flags, and risk assessment.

Data Sources

Either one alone produces a useful report; both together give the most complete picture.

Source A: OKX Trade Kit (Real-time Exchange Data)

Provides real-time price, TA indicators (70+ types), funding rates, open interest, and order book depth.

Fetch priority — try in this order:

1. CLI: okx market ticker BTC-USDT (okx-trade-cli)
2. MCP: market_get_ticker, market_get_indicator, etc.

Check availability by running okx market ticker BTC-USDT or calling market_get_ticker. If either works, OKX is available.

If OKX Trade Kit is not configured:

Install OKX Trade Kit:
  npm install -g @okx_ai/okx-trade-mcp @okx_ai/okx-trade-cli
  okx config init
  okx-trade-mcp setup --client claude-code

Details: https://github.com/okx/agent-trade-kit

Source B: CoinMarketCap (Fundamentals & Sentiment) — Optional

Provides project info, holder analysis, aggregated market data, and news. No API key required — use whichever path is available:

• MCP mode (best): Call CMC tools directly if CMC MCP is configured
• HTTP fallback: If the user has a CMC API key, use WebFetch:

  https://pro-api.coinmarketcap.com/v1/cryptocurrency/quotes/latest?symbol={SYMBOL}&CMC_PRO_API_KEY={key}
  https://pro-api.coinmarketcap.com/v1/cryptocurrency/info?symbol={SYMBOL}&CMC_PRO_API_KEY={key}
  

• Web fallback (default, no key needed): Use WebSearch for basic project info and news

To enable CMC MCP for richer data (optional):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "cmc-mcp": {
      "url": "https://mcp.coinmarketcap.com/mcp",
      "headers": { "X-CMC-MCP-API-KEY": "your-api-key" }
    }
  }
}

Free API key: https://pro.coinmarketcap.com/login

Research Modes

Full Research (default): All 6 steps. Use when user says "research", "DYOR", "deep dive", "is it legit", "evaluate".

Quick Snapshot: Step 1 then Steps 2 + 3 + 4 in parallel. Skip fundamentals and news. Use when user says "quick look", "what's happening with", "give me a snapshot", or when they want a fast answer.

Minimum calls for Quick Snapshot (all in parallel after Step 1):

• market_get_ticker for token + BTC
• market_get_indicator for RSI, MACD, EMA 200
• market_get_funding_rate + market_get_open_interest

Use the Quick Snapshot template in references/report-templates.md.

Core Principle

Thorough research requires looking at a token from multiple angles. Fetch all relevant data before forming conclusions. Surface both green flags and red flags. Never provide investment advice — present data and let the user decide.

Research Workflow

Performance tip: Steps 2, 3, and 4 are independent — call all their tools in parallel to minimize wait time. Steps 5 and 6 can also run in parallel.

Step 1: Identify the Token & Resolve Instrument IDs

Goal: Map user input to tradeable identifiers.

OKX instrument ID format: {BASE}-USDT for spot (e.g., SOL-USDT), {BASE}-USDT-SWAP for perpetual swaps. If unsure whether a token is listed on OKX, call market_get_instruments with instType: "SPOT" and filter by base currency.

CMC (if available): Call search_cryptos with the token name/symbol to get the CMC ID. If multiple results, pick the lowest rank number (highest market cap); if rank >500, confirm with the user.

Step 2: Real-time Market Data

From OKX (primary for real-time — CLI first, MCP fallback):

• CLI: okx market ticker {TOKEN}-USDT / okx market ticker BTC-USDT
• MCP: market_get_ticker(instId="{TOKEN}-USDT") / market_get_ticker(instId="BTC-USDT")
• → price, 24h high/low, volume, bid/ask spread; BTC for relative performance

From CMC (primary for aggregated/historical):

• get_crypto_quotes_latest (MCP) or WebFetch CMC API → market cap, rank, circulating supply, 7d/30d/90d/1y price changes

Interpretation:

• 24h change: (last - open24h) / open24h * 100
• Bid-ask spread: (askPx - bidPx) / last * 100 — tight (<0.05%) = good liquidity
• Compare token 24h vs BTC 24h → outperforming or underperforming?
• Volume/MCap ratio: >10% = healthy; <1% = concern

Step 3: Technical Analysis

From OKX (primary — CLI first, MCP fallback; use bar: "1Dutc" for daily):

Optional deeper TA:

• indicator: "kdj" — J <0 = extreme oversold; J >100 = extreme overbought
• indicator: "ema", params: [7, 30] — 7d crossing above 30d = bullish
• indicator: "ma", params: [50, 200] — golden/death cross

Multi-timeframe: Default 1Dutc for swing traders; also check 4H for active traders or 1Wutc for position traders. State the timeframe used.

From CMC (if available):

• get_crypto_technical_analysis → Fibonacci levels, pivot points
• If CMC TA is unavailable, OKX indicators (RSI/MACD/EMA/BB/Supertrend) are sufficient for a complete technical assessment.

Step 4: Derivatives & Sentiment Data

From OKX (primary — CLI first, MCP fallback):

Not all tokens have perpetual swaps. If the funding rate call returns an error, skip derivatives. Note in the report: "No perpetual swap available — this itself signals lower institutional interest."

Funding rate thresholds (8h settlement equivalent):

Check fundingTime and prevFundingTime to determine the period. For 3h settlement tokens, multiply rate × (8/3) before comparing to 8h thresholds. Annualized rate ≈ raw rate × 3 × 365.

Step 5: Fundamentals, Project Info & News

Project fundamentals (CMC primary, WebSearch fallback):

• get_crypto_info → description, category, launch date, website, tags
• get_crypto_metrics → holder distribution, whale concentration, behavior
• For deeper technology/use-case questions: search_crypto_info (CMC MCP) or WebSearch for "{token name} cryptocurrency project overview"

News & sentiment (CMC primary, WebSearch fallback):

• get_crypto_latest_news (limit 5-10) → recent headlines and sentiment
• WebSearch fallback: "{token name} crypto news this week"

Read references/analysis-framework.md before writing the Fundamentals, Tokenomics, and Red/Green Flags sections of the report.

Step 6: Format & Present the Report

Read references/report-templates.md and use the Full Research Report template. Fill every section with actual data — never leave template placeholders in the output.

Quick Interpretation Cheat Sheet

Translate raw numbers into plain language. Always include the "so what."

Handling Tool Failures

Always complete the report with available data. Never abandon research because one source is down. Mark unavailable sections with a note explaining what's missing and how to get it.