I’m still a little green here so if this post is in any way in the wrong place, please have a Mod move it. I’m usually a pretty conservative Invester, but with interest rates so low and all the buzz around Bitcoin lately , I invested a few dollars in it recently. It has already gone up nicely since I have it, but I’m not even really sure what it is. Anyone have any thoughts on what they think the future holds for it? TIA.
It's extremely volatile. Back around April it tanked from over $10k down to under $4k in less than a week. Also, past performance not being an indicator of future results and all that, but with it well over $20k right now it's probably headed for a crash soon. These crypto currencies get pumped and dumped all the time, and bitcoin is not immune to that. Last thing to note is that the crypto sites sometimes have "glitches" during crashes that can delay selling your stuff. It happened with coins coinbase during that crash I mentioned in April. So make sure you research a good site. I use binance.us and have never had a problem. I only use crypto for withdrawing poker winnings, though, so I don't do a ton of transfers.
I bought $5K of bitcoin when it was around $6K per... so I didn't even get one full unit. It doubled and I sold off my original investment and have sat on the rest since then. It went crazy again and I am playing with house money.
It's been crazy in the bitcoin world I've bought coin mining stock MARA, it's been chaotic lately, in a good way. I tried to understand the whole digital money thing and I just didn't get it so I never really considered buying direct. Makes my head spin.
You're likely to make more money with bitcoin than with gold, assuming we don't print our way out of Cvirus restrictions by printing our way into hyperinflation. If we do that, gold will skyrocket, relatively speaking.
I think Bitcoin is just a bunch of hype. This topic has already been extensively discussed numerous times on this forum. Go look for those discussions. I don't know why anyone here should bother to waste their time writing out a long well thought out response. This discussion is just going to soon disappear into the oblivion of all those other discussions, and most people are too lazy to look for and find past discussions about a specific topic.
Thanks for the responses! I don’t actually own any of it that I can actually use. I have it in the form of a stock. When you use it does it also fluctuate in value? For example if you were to withdraw poker winning could one minute your winnings be worth $50, and the next minute be worth a lot more or less?
You shouldn't use it for purchases if you acquire any directly if you are an American. That is the glitch with crypto. It isn't a functional currency. Say you bought 1 coin for $1000 and now want to buy something for $10K with that 1 coin. In addition to paying whatever sales/use taxes that may be part of the purchase, you are also on the hook for cap gains tax on $9K of that purchase.
Unless you want to use play money, I'd stay away. Bitcoin is a little like gold, in a sense that it is getting harder and harder to mine, the more of it has been mined in the past. This is to supposedly protect against inflation. Just like gold, it therefore is a store of value, but is not an investment in anything productive, like a stock. Like gold, it also fluctuates due to speculation. However, in the absence of inflation, it technically should not appreciate in value. If you want to hedge against inflation, gold would be the safer bet. Bitcoin is for gamblers.
The price does continue to fluctuate during a transfer, but at that point you're talking about a fraction of a bitcoin going from one wallet to another and it usually takes 10 to 30 minutes, so it isn't a huge deal. The bigger issue I run into is that the poker sites can take up to 48 hours to process a withdrawal. So I might withdraw $500, but by the time I actually see the bitcoin in my wallet its dollar value has changed. And then I have to sell it immediately to avoid losing even more if it happens to be in a downswing. Also, there are the trading fees. A lot of sites have $3 or $4 standard trade fees, plus they might take part of the bitcoin. Binance takes 0.1% on top of that, or 0.5% if I need an instant trade. All told, my $500 on a poker site could be between $460 and $480 by the time it gets to my bank account. But that's just the price of doing business until my state legalizes online poker. You won't necessarily run into any of those problems, unless you're trying to send it to someone. I would hope a crypto-based stock would have some hedging going on to deal with the volatility.
That is pretty much how I view it. I own a little gold in my portfolio as a partial hedge and for some diversity. I recently bought an even smaller amount of Bitcoin just for a little action. I’ve seen it being talked about a lot recently on all the business shows and even noticed that PayPal now accepts it. I figured what the hell, for a small amount, I get a lot of action.
http://www.politicalforum.com/index...ll-devour-gold-says-microstrategy-ceo.581105/ I also noticed someone else also started another crypto thread...haven't looked at it yet http://www.politicalforum.com/index...y-crazy-big-government-bailout-coming.582873/ Bitcoin is software, a cryptographic ledger that is controlled by no one, have limited supply and cannot be changed (it cannot be changed/updated without the consent of all the miners - there are also things to know like the difference between hard forks and soft forks - bitcoin cash is the result of a hard fork). The reasons why Bitcoin is now predicted to explode are; 1. it is undervalued after being talked down by bankers, central bankers and hedge funds for years who see it as a threat...while all other assets are in a bubble 2. Bail in laws that determine banks can keep your money if they go bust 3. inflation hedge - fiat currency supply is increasing at extraordinary levels 4. safe store of value - where gold is mined at an additional 2-3% per year bitcoin issued will remain at 21 million... currently I believe approx 18.5 million have been issued. 5. As opposed to gold Bitcoin also positions one perfectly for the coming digital currency revolution 6. It is easily converted if needed - as opposed to gold. 7. It is decentralised and in a world where we are moving towards conflict it means the best way for countries to settle payments as it does not need to be physically moved like gold. Don't trade it, especially not using technical analysis... hold it, the only thing that matters for Bitcoin are fundamentals and the current macro economic environment.
Do this, I'm leaning that way, but in the event of a global meltdown a dozen eggs will be worth more then dumptruck of gold.. You can't eat gold
Ones and zeros in a digital fantasy land....I imagine Bilkcoin players are gonna find out just what a "hard fork" really is. I'll gladly pass.
Don't listen to the pundits on the business shows on TV. If they knew which investment will go up or down, they'd be busy making money instead of being a talking head on TV. If you REALLY want to learn about prudent investing go to: https://www.bogleheads.org/ The Bogleheads will give you an earful on bitcoin and gambling.
Yeah, for the most part I find the talking heads are best at telling you why what they predicted would happen, didn’t happen. I mostly figured I would play a little, not based on what any of them were saying, it was more that they all seem to be saying something about it. All the buzz drew me in.
The biggest concern I seem to hear about it is that the Government will step in and basically regulate it to death. If the government does go after it, will people still want to use it?
