Crypto currencies

[ati]

I definitely want to invest. I'm tired of watching those young guys on youtube raking in huge profits, while I struggle with my <$10K/y salary and miss out on everything.
I was looking at Ripple before Christmas when it was around $0.70, but I was too busy with everything to work out the best way to put the money in. Apparently it's not that simple.
Ripple is now worth $1.85! I could have doubled my investment in two weeks, but I missed out again...

[RouletteGhost]

I have 650 ripples that I bought at 20 cent

2700 verge I bought at .05

If I knew then what I know now I would have put everything into ripple and retired.

[vladir]

I also bougth XRP when it was @ 24 cents   I recommend you old on to them, it will go up more.

[RouletteGhost]

If it hits gdax expect $10.

Can we breach $3 today?

[Steve]

Ripple is definitely going up, but it has probably passed the optimal growth point. So if you weren't in on the ground floor, you mostly missed the boat.  If you managed to buy early, just sit back because even small price changes are often $100k profit. Yes, cryptocurrencies are definitely worth looking into. But don't go nuts because if you make mistakes you can quite easily lose heaps.

Back when I started in stocks I often backed some that increased over 1,000% within weeks. One of them was Rentech, which you may have heard of associated with me before. That sort of gain was nearly unheard of with stocks, but its common with cryptocurrencies.

Fossel, I wanted to write an ebook about it when I had time. But some quick tips:

* Research and understand the technology and why it's important. Mostly the blockchain just means "a bunch of computers around the world that share the same information and agree on something". For example, they all know your account has 10.3 Bitcoins and that you sent some to another person. When enough of the computers know about the transaction, it is considered confirmed.

* Recognize when new use for the blockchain is innovative, or just repeated crap. For example there are thousands of new cryptocurrencies that just copy bitcoin, trying to be the next bitcoin. There are so many crytptocurrencies now. How many do we need?? Many new and inexperienced investors buy into new currencies at like $0.001 expecting they will worth $100 per coin later, when they in fact die and become worthless.

So understand when the new use for the blockchain technology is likely to be USED.

For example, ripple took off because it's like bitcoin except hundreds of times faster. Plus its cheaper for make payments. Unless it changes, Bitcoin will eventually become nearly useless because it is an old and slow system. The only thing keeping it afloat is its name, its acceptance, and the need to use it to buy other crytptocurrencies.

* Look at the company behind the coin. Do proper research. Some are probably one man bands.

The above parts are what usually separates successful investors from the everyday investor. The difference can be millions even with the same starting balance. Most people probably don't have the technical expertise to understand what's good and what's not.

* Use only reputable exchanges. They often do some of the weeding out of scam coins. But at the same time, the more reputable exchanges are often slow to add new coins... and by the time you can buy them, the price is already much higher and you miss out.

* Dont rely on what other people say alone. Many people are full of shit, and just want to hype a coin so they profit. But often there are serious and honest reviews of coins, from people who also own the coins because they believe in them. Just check any facts they present, and don't rely on claims like "this coin is gonna rise".

* Just because a coin shoots up 100% in 24 hrs, it doesnt make it a good coin. Often "whales" (big investors) manipulate the market by buying from themselves or associates. Basically they start buying a dormant coin to make it look like a buying frenzy. Then everyone hops on board buying too, which makes the price go even higher. Then after perhaps another 20% price increase, the whale dumps and sells. Then the price falls suddenly. It happens with the stock market too, but it is much easier for scammers to do with microcap coins (coins with fewer amount of coins in circulation).

* HODL (means "Hold On for Dear Life). The coins are very volatile. They go up 120%, then down 40%, then up 60%, then down 30% etc. If you chose good coins, just hold. Never sell in a dip or you'll lose for sure. Understand while some people are selling in a panic, there are others waiting and wanting to buy the coin cheap. And that's when the price quickly "recovers". It happens all the time. So don't freak and panic when the price dips.

* Follow the news. Keep an eye on :.cryptopanic.com and a few other sites. Keep an eye especially on company news on their websites. I use a bot that messages me whenever particular companies publish news. So if the news is bad, and likely to dip the price, i'll sell - then re-buy when the panic wears off. This is called "shorting". So even when the price dips, you can still profit.

Also consider is the news really bad for long term value, or just likely to cause a short term panic? If there's a long term problem, get out asap.

Some people respond to news almost instantly. But usually it takes the market to respond to news within 12-24hrs.

* Start small. Don't play with more you can afford to lose. You'll hear this often but really if you make rookie mistakes you can lose a lot.

* Expect this buying frenzy to eventually slow, and become more docile like the stock market. At the moment, most coins are going up because of the new money coming into the market (most people are BUYING). So its all shiny and new for now, but sooner or later there will be a reality check. 2017 was the major period of growth. This will probably continue into most of 2018. Many coins/companies will die, the better ones will live and continue to grow, although at a slower rate.

* Be very careful of coins that ignore government regulation. they will eventually likely end in disaster because governments can ban them from exchanges, which makes them much less valuable overnight. Focus mostly on companies that are prepared to work with government regulators, like Cardano and Ripple. Most people dislike regulated coins, but regulation is "mostly" a good thing. We are a while off not having draconian governments, so if you want to accumulate wealth, you cant ignore them, yet.

* Have a good and quick exit strategy. If the market turns to absolute crap for some reason, and its likely to continue, you need to be able to quickly convert to fiat currency like USD so you don't lose heaps. For me, I sell straight to XRP (ripple) then use BTCmarkets to covert to AUD. Then it goes to my account. Lucky for me its a local company even in the same state. If your exit strategy is just sell to BTC (bitcoin), you will lose because the market follows BTC price. So if you have one coin and it tanks bad because of news that affects all coins, then BTC will probably be tanking too. At least if you convert to ripple then AUD/USD it will be quickest. If you tried going to BTC then AUD/USD it would take many hours, and be too late.

* Every now and then, hedge your profits. Take some funds out just in case things turn to crap.

* Understand the types of waves in the chart (known as "technical analysis"). Most technical analysis is bullshit. Where it's not bullshit is humans are pattern-seeking morons who look for patterns and think there are patterns where none exist (same as roulette system players). But because many people look at waves and price charts, this makes everything easier to predict. You need to consider what the sheep are thinking and will do. For example, when a coin starts to take off and you see the uptrend curve, people start buying more. But when it is absolutely goin nuts (like vertical line), people are just waiting for the sudden drop. Then the "bears" manipulate the price and it drops suddenly, and triggers more selling. Then the bulls start buying cheap and it starts going back up.

* Diversify. Don't put all money in too few coins. Having 8-10 coins is ok. 30+ can be difficult to manage. I prefer to have 1-2 leaders per particular industry.

* Be Disciplined. This is harder than it sounds because when prices are in free fall, you will want to panic sell, which will probably end up losing money. And when they are shooting vertical, you will want to buy, which will probably end up losing money too. So carefully think out your plan and stick to it.

* Have a really good chat with your accountant. Capital gains tax is a killer.

* If you have nothing else to do with the profits, buy land. It's by far the best asset you can have. If you profited with investment fund land, then you get taxed much lower (around 15% instead of 49%), and later you can buy the land personally from your superannuation fund. This is leveraging yourself. It's basically buying land without mortgage interest. I do recommend getting mortgages to leverage yourself regardless. This is good debt because you profit from it. Bad debt is something like credit card debt and interest where you get nothing from it.

Anyway there's a lot more to it but this should help avoid common mistakes.

[Steve]

I added more to the above post. It's all very similar to the stock market which I've been in and out for 20+ years. It's mostly about human predictability.

[RouletteGhost]

read and noted

that capital gains tax is a killer...like 30%

i have had ripple since .20 and ADA since .50

litecoin since $90

im up several thousand so i am a happy camper

they are very volatile

sell ripple or hold? i dont know what to do

if it hits $10 im taking half the profit and leaving the rest in

today i bout PAC, its a sub penny coin, i have 700k coins worth. if it hits a penny I sell and make good money.....the trick is to get into a sub penny coin that will "make it"....a few hundred dollar investment in a sub penny coin can easily net you 100k dollars if it hits a penny lol

right now my portfolio (you are right, diversify) is ADA, XRP, LTC, IOTA, XVG, PAC

give me some luck on PAC huh, lol 700k coins worth...it will fork in march and i will go from 700k to 7k coins but the worth will be the same...research the fork on it and get in

LTC has a bright future to i believe

[RouletteGhost]

to add to above, I am on bittrex, coin base, binance, and cryptopia. you may know cryptopia, it is new zealand based

always use two factor authentication, my bittrex got hacked and it saved me

[fossell]

Good read Steve cheers. December has been nuts across the board it seems in crypto. I'd imagine it would level off except most of the big exchanges are all overloaded and cant process registrations and verifications with massive backlogs.
That huge influx of new clients are still to invest, be it bitcoin or ripple etc. Thats a lot more money to come to market still!

Actually getting into the market and buying any coin from a noob perspective is hard work and full of pitfalls!
It seems the one of the very things crypto sets out to solve in this world, in that making transactions quick and cutting out the middlemen is its main huge crux.

Lots of cryptos seem to be trying to instigate FOMO speculation with media hype about upcoming announcements of partnerships etc.
Tron as an example announcing a major new partner in January that could lift its price.

It does seem like the ship set sale for most coins at the start of December. Just be interesting to see what all the new money does to the market.

[ati]

Unfortunately I only tried to get in after the December hype, and I have still not been able to deposit any money. I've spent a lot of time researching the exchanges, signed up for a couple, but I cannot get my accounts verified. Some exchanges don't even accept new members, and some are just thieves, charging 5-10% transaction fees.
It's weird that I have to take webcam photo of myself (which GDAX rejected 15 times so I gave up), upload selfie holding a hand written note, or on one exchange I have to video chat with their staff in order to get verified. I have never seen such requirements on any site before.

[cht]

Forexfactory has a few threads on cryptocoin. You can leverage trade with MT4 fx brokers.

link:s://:.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=724338

link:s://:.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=432733

link:s://:.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=649649

link:s://:.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=725415

The recent surge in bitcoin to $20k is due to the futures launch on CME.

[cht]

Forexfactory has a few threads on cryptocoin. You can leverage trade with MT4 fx brokers.

link:s://:.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=724338

link:s://:.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=432733

link:s://:.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=649649

link:s://:.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=725415

The recent surge in bitcoin to $20k is due to the futures launch on CME that followed by a crash to a low of $11,139 two weeks ago.

[cht]

* Understand the types of waves in the chart (known as "technical analysis"). Most technical analysis is bullshit. Where it's not bullshit is humans are pattern-seeking morons who look for patterns and think there are patterns where none exist (same as roulette system players). But because many people look at waves and price charts, this makes everything easier to predict. You need to consider what the sheep are thinking and will do. For example, when a coin starts to take off and you see the uptrend curve, people start buying more. But when it is absolutely goin nuts (like vertical line), people are just waiting for the sudden drop. Then the "bears" manipulate the price and it drops suddenly, and triggers more selling. Then the bulls start buying cheap and it starts going back up.

Steve, based on the description of your speculation activity you are essentially a fundamentals investor.

You have zero knowledge nor experience as a trader.

Just stating this relevant point to the comment above.

[Steve]

You have zero knowledge nor experience as a trader.

I suppose you've earned millions with stocks too, right?

[cht]

I suppose you've earned millions with stocks too, right?

I wouldn't post that on a forum.