Bitcoin Forum

It's at times like this that my principles of Buy And Hold get seriously tested.  Thanks goodness for cold storage. It makes it too much hassle to sell....

If only i did that back when BTC was at $30 a couple of years ago... id be a millionaire now at these prices! hindsight eh...

Good thing bitcoin always gives people a second chance, don't screw it up again this time... ;)

I sold about 60% of my BTC last week when it started to dip as I wanted to recover my initial investment so what remained was pure profit.

Now the price is a lot higher and I really wished I'd held longer, but still I am sat on roughly 25BTC and that is all profit so I am relatively happy still :) I do kinda wish I hadn't sold so many last year though, but thats life eh?

I have the opposite feeling. I feel very good when I see the price rising every time but when it starts dropping I just laugh it off and think: ah next time then. I never have the inclination to sell all my coins. I feel like Sméagol.

Sell my precious? NO! NEVER! Gollem! ;)

But in cold storage you cannot take a margin position.

I've tried margin trading in the past. The nausea it induces when the market moves against you makes the worst hangover seem like nothing.  Never again.

Yeah. 95% of my Bitcoins are "dead" to me. It's the only mindset I can have if I don't want to go mad and broke in the process.

hahaha very nice way to describe it :) Its indeed how it is.

But sometimes you are 100% confident in an up move. For example 140 after silk road, and 205 now, I was 90% confident in a massive breakout. I went all in both times but chickened out of margin. Now I know that I'm only making X per tick when I could be making 3X per tick, and I'm pissing away 2x for no reason. I feel like Im cheating myself out of getting rich and I'm this lonely bear that didn't even buy in the first place.

Maybe, but you still made the right decision, unless you have b*lls of steel and pockets a mile deep. And if you have those, then why bother with margin in the first place?

If you have an edge, you will get wealthy quickly enough. I don't like margin.

We all know Warren Buffen and Charlie Munger. Do you know their third partner? Me neither, he traded on margin and git liquidated in the 80s having to sell BRK-A shares for about $20.

Buffet said his mistake wasn't wanting to become rich but wanting to become rich fast.

I wish I had done the same and thought that the bitcoins I bought at $86 in the SR 'brief crash' were dead to me. But I didn't, I guess this is how you get experience.

yeah I bought at 200 then held while it crashed to 170, then sold at 205 right before it skyrocketed up to 250 now

FML HINDSIGHT WHYYYYY DID I TRY TO BUY LOW SELL HIGH WHYYYY

Buy low, don't sell :)

Always gets me too.

CAPTAIN HINDSIGHT TO THE RESCUE

Actually I *do* remember reading about the third guy. Forgot his name though :D Buffet also acknowledged that the guy was a brilliant trader and made huge profits at times, just not consistent enough. I should look up the article I read about this...

Guess my point is, margin trading can work in a few special situations (like the aforementioned recovery after the SR flash crash), but it's probably not a good idea to let it become a habit.

Greed will do you many bad things.

One of the best traders was Jesse Lauriston Livermore. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_Lauriston_Livermore) He made and lost millions in the 1930's. He committed suicide in 1940.
edit:
I am not an experienced trader, but I very much enjoyed the book about his life. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reminiscences_of_a_Stock_Operator) It taught me much of the fundamentals.

A good quote: "A stock operator has to fight a lot expensive enemies within himself."

thats a part of the reason why I bought casascius coins ;)

I considered selling a big chunk of mine last night with the thought that it would go down.

I had to bring my client up to date which took most of the night.

Then I realized I am not ready to deal with the tax consequences of turning bitcoins into government money.

I will just continue to hold and spend.

This is why I just buy and hold.

You have over a millionth of the total possible bitcoins there will ever be.
Rich man you are.

Got my margin position at $233.

I feel nervous for you. Like watching somebody else walk to the edge of a precipice. Good luck. Do you have a parachute (Stop) in place?

My strategy is simple. I calculated how much money I need for the lifestyle I want , then just calculated the price level needed for it, then just hold until then.

In my case the price is then 5000 USD per bitcoin.

Ya. At this point where I've placed it results in a profit.  ;D

Well I don't like the charts right now so I've closed the margin positions for a 50% profit and consolidated the profits (and principal) all into organic BTC. I will take new margin positions during a correction.