What's going on with Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies?
 

Around a year or so ago, my wife and I were meeting with my sister-in-law...

She had a boyfriend at the time who was interested in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. She knew I had worked in the finance field, so she asked my opinion on it...

My advice was to not invest any money that you weren't okay with losing, because crypto (historically) has been very volatile...

Steady as a rock... it's not.

I don't know if her boyfriend took my advice, because next time we met her... she and her boyfriend had split.

However, I still think my advice was pretty good... The latest Bitcoin and other crypto prices bears it out!

Bitcoin has lost around 66% of its value since its most recent peak in November!

In other words... it's only worth about one-third now compared to what it was worth about 7 months ago...

I'd consider it a "speculative" investment... It doesn't mean you can't invest in it. But - in my opinion - I'd just put money in it that I'd be alright with losing!

Best wishes,

Dien

P.S. This is not investment advice...

Once copywriters made it a biz, op...the course was set.
 

Gambling is an ancient desire.
Maybe it is hard wired into some of us.

The caveman staying by the fire, while the other gambled with his life to go hunting.

Crypto, Forex, Day Trading and Lottery, plus all forms of gambling; the relatively low risk to high reward idea...

The concept of starting with little and multiplying a hundred fold.

Well, that is the stuff legends, stories and fables are made of.

And once the copywriters got their hands on crypto, and saw how easy it was to sell shovels (information, techniques, strategies) to the miners, well GAME ON.

And...of course the rare but made common story of Freddie investing 1000 in Bitcoin when it was the stuff of easter eggs in games and today little Fredster is a multiBazillionaire...BAZINGA...

If Fred can do it, so can you.

Or so the copy goes.

But, it is a part of a bigger game, the stock market, and isn't that a rigged game at that????

Well. Here is just one take on all speculative ventures. I'd bet the majority have a hobby.

And if they enjoy it, and can afford it, like any hobby, golf or fishing, whatever...then have fun and enjoy it.

If the masses really think they can make significant money in these things, they get the rude awakening they deserve.

But, if other than a hobby, say a business or a part of money making strategies or plans, there are a lot better ways to spend your time on things which could, over time, return far more than a spiked uptick on PAPER value...

It is hot, again, thanks to the many copywriters/marketers who saw the flock of fresh sheep needing to be sheared.

Gordon

I think you hit the nail on the head...
 

Hi Gordon,

Great post!

That's the way the marketers are making moolah with all of these... which is selling shovels to gold miners!

Will crypto be "hot" again? I don't know...

But you're right... There's a lot of moolah to be made selling "shovels" to "gold miners"...

...which includes crypto (when it's hot), stock market speculation, real estate property of all kinds, speculative antique collecting, collectible toys, and the list goes on and on...

By the way, while there are a lot of "scams" - I don't think it's all "scams"... I've worked in this field myself (I was once hired as a consultant to develop algorithms to analyze the stock market)... We came up with some very interesting stuff...!

One of the ways (which works to a degree) is to look at trends. I developed software that (among other things) could analyze all the stocks in the S&P 500, and look for trends... The idea is, when you see a trend, you invest in the trend... As soon as the trend breaks, you get out...

(We also had a lot of other algorithms we tried as well, some more successful than others...)

Thanks Gordon!

Best wishes,

Dien

P.S. If anyone wants me to help develop stock market algorithms for them, shoot me an email... :)