Bitcoin Forum

Hey everybody,
I just wanted to get some other opinions on this. I have a good amount of silver (just over 100oz). I bought it recently so the most I ever paid per ounce was probably like $27. I keep waiting and waiting for it [silver] to go up. Today I had kind of an epiphany. Silvers going nowhere (yet demand still exists for it), bitcoin is going up.
SO, this is my question: Should I Trade My Silver For Bitcoins?

Thanks a lot for sharing your opinions.

I have silver as well, and it is best to keep it for long time unless you need money. And no, I dont exchange silver for Bitcoin beause Bitcoin is too much risky

yes

Yes! Do it! Seriously though, what good is some clunky tangible junk when you can get some coins?

Putting all your eggs in one basket is foolish investment advice.

Hold some silver, hold some gold, hold some cyrptos.

Buy when they are in their dips (not all-time highs like Bitcoin is now).

It's OK to trade 50% of your silver for coins, but NOT NOW!

Damn it! I think I've been doing it wrong :(

I have sold all my gold and silver, bought bitcoins, tripled my money already.

I am close to sixty now, but I can see the writing on the wall. PM is dead, especially silver & gold. If you want to hedge with PM, I would choose something with heavy industrial use.

+1, and do it while it's not too late.

Depends how many Bitcoins you already have. If none, then sell part of your Silver for BTC. But if you have at least half value in Bitcoin compared to Silver, do not sell for BTC..

Both bitcoins and silver have been volatile over the past few years, but only bitcoin could drop 90% within months (June to December 2011).  Silver won't do that, but then again it's hard to imagine silver returning 10x your investment from here.  Bitcoin may.  I would have some money in bitcoins and keep the rest in silver.  If bitcoin goes up from here you can sell some to buy more silver.  Win.

I would keep your silver and invest some money on the side.
You can be sure your fiat money will inflate/devaluate.
Your silver is way safer than your fiat money if stored properly against theft.

His question wasn't silver or fiat.  His question was silver or bitcoin.

I know I was just opting a third possibility.
Bitcoin vs Silver depends on the risk you are willing to take.
I would never put in more than 10% of my total savings.

The trend is your friend.  While it is true that past results do not GUARANTEE future performance, most good traders know that past results are the best PREDICTOR of future performance.  Good traders buy assets that are rising in value and sell those that are falling.  They follow the trends.

Of course, you never want to put all of your eggs in one basket.

...Until they reach a black swan event that wipes them out.

Traders die broke.

Investors get rich... (generalizing).

On of the greatest investors, John Templeton, always bought at the point of maximum pessimism.  That point for bitcoin was after the last crash.

When you're seeing all these posts raving about bitcoin, well, likely it's time to set your stops tight, and be ready to exit the market on a turnaround, waiting for another point of maximum pessimism.

Having said all that, yes, bitcoin is going to be on a multi-year long-term trend up.  But, along the way it's going to go through several bubble cycles.

Don't buy in a bubble folks.  Buy in consolidation points only.

Look at the charts... these consolidations are easy to spot.

I don't think it needs to be one or the other. Right now I'm buying silver as I think it's cheap in historical terms and if we are going to see any increase in economic fortunes across the globe driven by improving conditions in the US and Europe, then I think that the price of silver will be under more pressure and will probably go lower in the short term as money continues moving to income producing assets like equities, before increasing industrial demand drags the price of silver up - buy in gloom.

On the other hand, BTC is racing up in price and people are going crazy for it so I'm selling it as fast as I mine it. Asset prices aren't one way, they go up and they go down but right now BTC is heading up, will probably go higher and the price velocity will attract more buyers in - sell in boom.

It's completely up to you what you do, but if you can hold silver and perhaps even buy more at these low prices, you'll be rewarded later, it might even be much later depending on your take of what drives the silver price.

With BTC, if you are going to buy in, then buy in and look to make a profit on some of the coins as this 'irrational exuberance' isn't going to last forever but maybe keep some coins just in case the market overshoots on the upside and if it drops, you'll be happy you sold some for a profit to offset what is likely to be a sudden plunge in the price. Most bubbles burst, only economists think they can be deflated.

Silver is tangible and in some senses reliable. BTC is intangible, more volatile and somewhat experimental. Therefore it's very difficult to make an 'either or' conclusion about these two asset classes as, in most ways, they are uncorrelated and should, in theory, both be held to reduce the overall risk of a well-diversified portfolio... if indeed, that is your aim. If it's not, put on your speculative hat, lick your finger, hold it in the air and see which way you think the wind is blowing and take a profit were you can.

There was a guy on another thread who linked this article below. I'd like to quote them here but can't remember who it was or where I saw it, but anyway, thanks whoever you are, appreciate you posting this as it's quite an interesting read and should probably provide more food for thought:

http://thegenesisblock.com/want-to-know-where-btc-prices-are-going-watch-usd/

Good luck with it all.

:)

Interesting article, but I suspect China is about to decouple Bitcoin from the USD.

It depends if you can afford to lose. Silver is never going to go to 0, and chances are in the next 10 years, it will go wayyyyy up. The question is, will Bitcoin go way up, or will it go extinct? Bitcoin is higher risk, higher return. Silver is lower risk, lower return. Invest appropriately my friend.

IMO, if you don't have any Bitcoins, get some, but don't spend silver if you can help it, spend dollars.

Silver is poised to explode, maybe not so much as Bitcoin.

Silver is a hedge against inflation, bitcoin is an all or nothing gamble, which could make you very rich, or lose all of its value. I wouldn't swap silver for gold, but stop acquiring silver and start acquiring btc.

bitcoin will be useless for trading in the post apocalyptic world so make sure you are stocked for all eventualities :)

"Concentrate your energies, your thoughts and your capital. The wise man puts all his eggs in one basket and watches the basket."

- Andrew Carnegie
Wealth: $300billion - measured in 2007 US Dollar (Source: Forbes)

Go get a loan vs your silver and buy bitcoins.

Pawnup.com

that is actually a good idea.

I bought 25oz a few weeks ago. I could have bought almost 5 BTC with that fiat.
I regret it now... But silver was really cheap at the moment I placed my order.

(I already had a lot of silver, and some BTC... Decided to buy silver)

oh well, with the current rise in price, I already have more BTC than my silver stash ;)

Thanks for the advice, everybody. I do think (although I could be wrong and therefore I would have made the wrong decision) that we are on the edge of another bubble here. The only reason I thought to get rid of my silver is because I'm mad at it...if that makes sense. I remember plenty of people forecasting that it would hit $50 by the end of this year. Instead of that it doesn't want to budge + or - $1 or $2. So in the short term it has cost me money. And no one knows when it will do the opposite.
I already have some bitcoins. God knows I would love to have some more but I really don't want to pay $500+ :o for one. In the past when they've gone up so high so quickly like this, they've gone down (why I believe the bubble will burst) almost just as fast. I liked the line about buying at the point of maximum pessimism.
Its funny how we can speculate all day, all have our own good, thought-out ideas based on facts and still have completely no idea which way its going to go.
All I can say is good luck to everybody.

I feel things are on thin ice for the next few months. I might be a lousy trader but I have good instincts even though I don't often put them into action.

I feel the opposite.  I think the Gox disaster has been adequately priced in.  What's your reasoning?

400-550 is the time to get in. we may fluctuate in and out of these levels over the next month, but once we pass 800 again, you'll never have the chance to buy <600 in the future, period.

What the government may do about all those people who will be screaming for justice, we'll see. I personally think Karpeles and his cronies should be hanged by their testicles in the public square.

I sold some silver in the recent weeks. I think this is the right time to acquire more bitcoins. New breakout will push us above 1000 USD/BTC and we will stay there.

I did the same.

Bought most of my silver around 28 USD...
But I sold my silver directly for BTC on this forum, so I did not touch fiat, so in my mind, I bought BTC for silver ;)

Depends.

If you can learn to trade, much more volatility in Bitcoin than silver (most of the time) and therefore much greater earning potential.......but with much much more risk.

If I were you, and I had alternative capital, then I would hold onto my silver. Strong chances are that the bottom was in for Silver at $18. If you have it in physical form, then as you will know, there are high premiums to be paid (and Tax if depending on where u live) and really, holding physical precious metals is the ultimate insurance policy.

If however all your capital is in the silver, then you may want to consider liquidising some of it to play in Bitcoinland.


A very salient point. You made the mistake of listening to Silver Stacker. In Bitcoinland, you run the exact same dangers of listening to Bitcoin Nutter. Make the mistake of listening to these mother fuckers, and their 'opinions' will see you in the fkn poor house. And if anything, Bitcoin Nutter is far more zealous than Silver Stacker.

If Silver Stacker is a local community action group, then Bitcoin Nutter is the Mujahideen.

Always be aware to take necessary precautions to protect yourself against the Bitcoin Nutters!

If you can't stomach high volitilty (50% declines are a regular feature of bitcoin) then bitcoin is not for you.  With that said I think BTC will out perform silver over the next few years but nothing goes up in a straight line so don't use money you need now or within 5 years.

jw, i think you and I had this conversation almost exactly a year ago. I was advocating selling all of your silver then (I dumped 35+ pounds @ $34/ozt - which was 2 BTC/ozt ~). I was trying to tell everyone that the PM market is the most heavily manipulated in the world with their bullshit HFT. Nothing has changed, dump now and move into BTC. 

What is your appetite for risk?

Bitcoin could go to zero, could do nothing for years, could fall/rise slowly for years, could go to the moon tomorrow.

Silver looks pretty oversold, is unlikely to go lower but has a historical floor of about $5 so would probably never go to zero. Might bob along doing nothing for years, might go significantly higher but probably not to the same extent bitcoin could.

The boring answer is diversify.

take all your wealth to a wealth manager and he will rid you of worrying about it one way or the other

Heres my 2 satoshis.  Don't sell silver to buy bitcoins. Do it the other way around. Accumulate bitcoins, then on peaks trade some in for precious metals. I think PMs are long term more reliable, stack them for the future. Bitcoins is untested at mass adoption, how well will the blockchain scale? will it remain decentralised? But yes keep some bitcoins for long term too in case.

Indeed, that is why I am selling some precious metals at the moment (only some, not all!). I will buy them back once I feel that BTC is at a more stable price and the growth is slowing down (probably above 5000 to 10000 USD/BTC)

I think gold will move less than silver, so I advice to sell gold in stead of silver.
(But I have little gold and much more silver, so I am selling both)

Coming from a goldbug..... i would, but dont risk anything that'll hurt you overall b/c BTC could go to zero next week. You cant say the same for gold/silver, they've been around forever, and will be around long after btc is gone. If you're lookin' to flip, i'd sell your gold coin before the silver, i think silver is way oversold and will solidly outperform gold on the next rebound.

BTW, MatttheCat is spot on. Be extremely careful of BTC bulltards, they will hurt you BIGTIME. They are bigger snake-oil salesmen then the gold freaks screaming 10K when gold peaked at 1900.

Gold first then Silver. Technically Silver has more uses than Gold in an industrial capacity, but both are losing ground to cheaper, more plentiful synthetic metals. Beyond their intrinsic values, Gold and Silver are worthless nowadays.