Bitcoin Forum

Anyone else feel like one of the bitcoin losers? We hear a lot about all the winners, now including some 15 year old child, but very little on the currency's losers. I got swept up in the mania last November and dared to invest my life saving into purchasing 1 bitcoin, just as it was near peak. That turned out to be a terrible purchase for me as the value dropped since, so bitcoin has only ever lost me money. Anyone else in my boots? I'd still like more bitcoins but going on my past 6 months my confidence and trust in this new currency has been shattered.   :'(

Seriously, people like you shouldn't invest. EVER. IN ANYTHING.
You put money you really need in an asset that is highly speculative.
Now, you cry, because you are not a millionaire after 6 months.

6 months are nothing for an investment.

Bitcoin isn't a magical money making scheme. It's always a risky business investing in anything, but the first rule of investing is always only risk what you can afford to lose. Your faith in Bitcoin as a technology shouldn't have been shattered but maybe you're just in it for the wrong reasons. All you can do now is to hold onto the coin and hope it regains the cash value you paid for it which I'm sure it will eventually do.

No, I'm pretty much winning BTC  The system is the biggest innovation of the decade, I think the price will go up 10x in the next 2 years.

Bitcoin is not a terrible purchase, just wait a couple more months and the peak you bought in it won't be an ATH anymore.

I bought some bitcoins at the very peak (high price on the high day) of a bubble.  Then the next day MtGox was hacked and the price fell to about half that.  Then the price fell month after month, losing 93% of its value.  So there I was feeling sorry for myself, with my coins only being worth 7% of what I bought them for.  Now they're up 2031%.

In short, get some perspective.  If you bought coins above $1200 you still got them very cheap.  The price is going to be in the tens of thousands of dollars sooner than you think.

Where did I ask to be a millionaire? There was a lot of hype at the end of last year and I invested for my families future not to be some sort of spiv.

I bought several at $1.000, many others at $550, but at the end, I am a looser in term of financial results.
But absolutely Hodling. Never sold any Bitcoin, only bought and HODL

bitcoin is not about getting rich quick, or quick profit (it took a long time for early adopters to get 'rich')
you are still an early adopter - it will take many years to mine... most people only heard about it in the news.
and they don't really understand how it works and how unique it is
and how it can change the world...

this is for long term, and only if you believe in this decentralized system (its probably not decentralized enough just yet)
it will take many years until the entire world uses it and everyone want to own and use even fractions

you are in a good situation. too many stories of early adopters who sold too soon (they needed cash!), or lost coins..

just keep your 1 BTC safe :)
comparing to the entire world's population, and limited supply. you are BTC rich.
just look at the mining difficulty increasing last few months...

i'm also not optimistic about the price getting recovered in the very near future. or maybe even ever.

The "I have a family to feed"-"argument" doesn't change anything. You obviously just wanted quick money without working for it.
You gambled on a horse race. Your horse had a bad start. Now, you cry about the money you lost, even though the race is far from over.

Buying one bitcoin and holding it is a bad strategy to begin with. You should look into "dollar cost averaging", a way of spreading the purchase of something like bitcoin which can be broken down into smaller chunks so as to get the most for your money. Basically, instead of paying 1000 usd for one bitcoin, you would be better off if you spent 100 usd each week for ten weeks. Obviously, there are times this would not work, like if you compare buying one chunk just before a huge rally, but since it is impossible to predict what the price of bitcoins will do it is a better investment to spread out your purchases.

This also works in the other direction. Instead of selling one bitcoin, you should sell 0.1 bitcoin each week for ten weeks to get the most USD.

But moreover, rather than just sitting on a single bitcoin and watching from the sidelines, you should try to find ways to use bitcoins. And whenever you spend some, just buy more at the market rate to replenish your supply. Bitcoins are a wonderful invention, and if you look you will find places where it is beneficial to have them. Take advantage of those opportunities.

I'm sorry you made the terrible life decision of breeding without being rich, OP.

We beings of superior intelligence had the foresight to nip our reproductive capabilities in the bud (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fertility_and_intelligence), before they could spawn a new human and cost us untold vast quantities of wealth.

Better luck in your next life, if there is one.

Kind regards,

Beliathon

Again, nowhere have I said that I wanted quick money for anything nor pleaded that I have a family to feed as those expenses are covered with my day job. I repeat I invested for my families FUTURE not be some sort of spiv and I'm interested in hearing from people in a similar situation to myself. Not people like you who are trying to put words in my mouth.

Yes, life savings. Business went bankrupt during recession. Not everyone is born with a silverspoon stuck up their backside.

Well honestly I have also lost in bitcoin exchange but It gonna be at the moon soon.

If you were wealthy enough to EVER own a business (be a slave-owner) you were doing far better than most Americans. Your story doesn't add up. I suspect you are a liar.

I bought at 1100................

and 900..

600/500 :).  Dropped a lot in the 600 range.. actually got my 4 S1 miners around than, soo.. I feel like a mini loser LOL.

Although I also feel quite proud to have the balls to HODL and be apart of what I see as a force of freedom from the banking cartel.

I'm not American.

That's your prerogative.

I feel sucky about bitcoin too. Heard for it first time in 2012. Told myself ill buy some, forgot about it, got back in 2013....december...fuck me and my memory. Tho i didint buy anything in december...i waited and got in on 400 and earning ever since.

Exactly.  Life savings? Holy shit, man! Unless you're a teenager living at home, no one should invest their freaking life savings in anything!  Well, the eggs are all in one basket now, you really don't have any other option but to hold.  I would suggest selling as soon as you break-even, if you're lucky.

Did you forget to log out of your "Minecache" account before posting this?

If you bought another one when it was at $350, you would be a winner!  Buy another now and it only has to go to $800.  As other people mentioned, just buying once is more risky than buying once a month.  

Dont worry,
Keep your coins and have patience. You didnt lost so much for now. You can learn from your mistakes, but if you ell your coins now you will end up loosing double.
Hope you will be happy at the end of 2014 ( BTC at 2000$) ..only my opinion..
BR

The only thing you can do is hold on to the coins and hopefully you'll become a bitcoin winner.

It wont be much longer before the folks that bought at the top of the last bubble are making a decent gain.  Probably within a few months, 6 months max.

You haven't lost anything unless you sell.

Just hold that 1 BTC and be patient.

You just speculate it and hope to earn quick money. When the price is down, you fear you are losing money. I suggest when the price is up to the level you bought at the price, you sell all of your bitcoin and keep fiat. It is risky investment for short term.

You lost enough to buy an Xbox One and a few games.  Hardly life changing.  And if you had picked a safer investment, say the S&P 500, you'd have a 3-4% return by now.  Another $50-60 bucks.  Hardly life changing either.  Total amount isn't enough to hold you over long if you lose your job or have a medical emergency in either case.

First you need to decide how risk-adverse you are.  Bitcoin is the most highly volatile investment in the universe.  If you can't handle the swings you should invest in something safer with lower potential returns.

Second you need to decide how much you think bitcoin is fundamentally worth.  Not by looking at the charts, but by analyzing the value.  Saying "well it went up 10,000% in a year!" is a speculative attitude.  Saying (for example) "well if it takes 5% of the market of gold, which I think it can, it's worth X" and "if it takes 10% of paypal's business it's worth Y" is trying to put a price on the value.

Third you need to define your time horizon.  Do you plan to cash out in a year to put a down payment on a house? Then you don't want to invest in something so volatile.  Are you thinking well maybe it will pay for the kid's college in 10 years, but I'm still not going to hold my breath and save? Then maybe you want to buy some bitcoin.

After determining all that, it's a simple matter to determine if you think the current price is cheap, you're willing to take the risk, and you should buy more and are willing wait it out.

Saying is easier than doing. If every one is like Warren Buffett, every one is millionaire even billionaire.

You got swept up in the "mania" and put your entire life savings into 1 BTC; that's the problem. [The fact that you have a "family to feed" and your entire life savings is at $1,000 is another issue for some other time.] Clearly you did this out of a pure profit motive (i.e. easy money) and got burned. It should have occurred to you that mixing a "mania" with "all my savings" wasn't a good idea. Just let this be a lesson about how to divest your money in the future.

I'll be honest though, I've made some stupid mistakes with Bitcoin in the past. But I've learned from them and that's why I'm still here.

He said that he lost his life savings...

I doubt he would have bought a new xbox one considering all his savings were around 1000 or 1200 $.

In some parts of the world 1000$ is like 4-5 monthly wages if not more while for western European or american with a good job is almost play money.

I doubt you could find a more speculative and volatile market than crypto... down 50% is nothing in this game. Buy on dips, lower your average and hodl for a few years

One key to investing/trading is not let your emotions
cloud your judgement.

If your confidence is shattered, don't do anything stupid.

Just hold your coin.  In the future, it can be worth a lot.

HODL

As there are a few posters on here who seem to think that they know my life and motives, for clarity, I bought 1 bitcoin with my life savings at the end of last year. Obviously I've rebuilt some of these savings and have a relatively stable present employment situation which feeds the family. As the price of the bitcoin plummeted its shattered my faith in buying more. Not all my eggs are in one basket, or bitcoin if you wish. Running my own business and providing jobs for some faithful employees I lost everything in the recession. That said I've always put food on the table one way or another. The motivation behind buying the bitcoin was not to make a quick buck as I an in this for the long term. I invested in it for my families future, well to hopefully buy a house again and put the kids through collage. I expected bitcoin to have continued its upwards trajectory and am interested in hearing from others who feel that *so far* they are bitcoin losers. Although my original business failed I've no regrets about its years of success and providing jobs to others.

Wise words.

http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/5165a9a0ecad045b0d000000-600-249/djlasir.jpg

Well, I'm glad to hear that. I personally didn't mean to jump to any brash conclusions. From what I gathered, it seemed more profit motive rather than faith in the protocol.

Just take this wrenching loss as is and hopefully in the mean time, you've just sat on that one bitcoin and maybe you've been buying smaller amounts on some sort of basis. If you do that, you can set more stable prices to enter and exit some of your money.

Bitcoin is a long term investment. You can't expect Bitcoin to give you a million bucks in the course of a few months. It would take years. We've seen explosive Growth, now it's stabilizing. Doesn't mean it won't do it again.

Well, I was talking about this in UNI back in 2010, I said full of shit, but mates mined and lernt... I was wrong.. nasty lesson.. I now mine my ass off what a cunt hey

We are still one of the few early adopters, we can still be winners as long as we learn to hold properly for another couple of years. Don't make the mistake to risk your btc.

Yes, agreed. we are the still at the beginning of a new world with crypto-currency, will be a great and profitable journey for us all.

You have a fundamentally flawed way of thought that stems from a low financial intelligence.

I bet you think that early adopters were rewarded dis-proportionally or didn't deserve their coins as well right? The ability to detect promising technologies is VERY hard work, try your luck in the altcoin announcment section and be an early adopter for another coin. Most people will bitch and moan about the unfairness of early adopters but will never invest a cent into any of the promising altcoins.

I can't believe this - are you for real? This is the real world. I've owned a business and lost 300K and that money is gone. Someone with a narrow frame of reference like yours would either consider this to be bullshit or me to be a failure, but you've probably never had 10 staff on your books, high rent and high outgoings, and had to weather a downturn. All your money goes bye bye and you don't get a handout to save you. And you get the indignity of sitting there afterwards doing all the accounting and dealing with audits even though you're broke.

For someone who has been through that, climbing back into having money is a big thing, and losing it again is tough. Have some respect for others.

I had ~150 BTC stolen just prior to the bubble before last.

I've had some very good luck since so it doesn't bother me and will be a good story to tell when BTC is @ $100,000  ;)

didnt you get the memo... creating values that others would voluntarily exchange their money for is BAD....  expecting profits as a reward for hard work is also BAD...
and creating so much value that you can actually offer jobs to people and provide them with a livelihood is the worst sin of all.

 :P

If we just hold, with the exponential growth of bitcoins year after year, we will be winners in the long term.

Yes, IF bitcoin succeeds even those with small amount will be more or less rich. That's why i'm kinda sceptical...will current power allow that to happen? Will they switch to BTC so it wont matter, or will they do something more sinister.

The people in power won't mind people getting rich from Bitcoin, as long as they pay their taxes.

LOL .... at your short-sighted-ness.  Smh.

That would be true, if those same ppl were "in power" and "rich" from tax money. They are rich because they are stealing our assets and value with endless printing of money. And BTC is on it's way to stop that....i'm pretty much sure they wont like it.

Of course there will be lots of Bitcoin losers out there, somebody has to balance things out. Shorting is always a good idea when it starts to tank, but of course that in itself is a risky game.

You just need to hold and wait for brighter days - they will come.

the very top of the power pyramid (elite banksters) control everyone else because they control the money.
so they wont like it...

but the politicians that make the laws will want to get out of the grip of banksters too....
so i think crypto is the inevitable future.

People should be looking at it over a 3-5 year time scale. Being underwater comes with the territory. If it was that much of a dead cert each coin would be worth $1 trillion right now.

When you say "loser" that can mean different things. I technically am a "loser" in bitcoin. Do you know how many coin I purchased and sold when it was between 2 and 8 dollars? If I had held on to all of them, i would be a millionaire many times over. I still did very well for myself, but not as well as it should have been.. But, luckily I stopped selling a little over a year ago and am thankful that I did.. I will only sell coins if I absolutely have to. Like, right before I go homeless.

Okay, assuming he lives in one of those places, now he has 2-2.5 months of wages instead of 4.1-5.1 he would have gotten with a safer investment.  I still don't think the outcome either way is life changing enough to stress out.  Other four paragraphs of advice still apply.

there are plenty of loser stories.. dafar says he spent $16k on bitcoins and now he has 12 of them to show for it.

on reddit, one kid inherited 700k and lost more than half of that from buying high and selling low.

tons of people are getting scammed of their coins as well.

I was going to write something lengthy addressing the many things I find offensive about this post. But I'm going to keep this short as you have already expressed a complete lack of interest in hearing from anyone who might offer information from the perspective of success.

You started your own business, for which I commend you. You give no information but it sounds like you were under capitalized and when a downturn occurred you could not ride it out. Did you study what had occurred or did you just blame the downturn?

You stated that you bought bitcoin near the peak. Had you done any research on what bitcoin was and how market forces work or were you just being led by the hype?

And now you state that you don't want to hear from any of the successful people. You are demanding to converse only with the losers.

Are you seeing a pattern yet? Most successful people start off making a lot of mistakes. The key is they analyze what went wrong and learn from them.

BTW, you haven't lost any money. Losing money occurs when you buy high and sell low. Until you sell you have only lost potential and it makes no difference where value is at a given instance as long as you don't sell. I'd advise buying more when it is lower (now) but you've already said that you invested your 'life savings.' You might also want to analyze that decision.

from most of the stories i hear about people losing a lot of money with bitcoin, it can usually be singled out to buying after a large run-up, and it never makes sense for me. you're late to the party, so you try to overcompensate by buying bitcoin at an ATH.. only to find out that it's heading down. i sure as hell wouldn't have bought bitcoin when it was $1100.. after jumping from $110 within a 6 week window.

I was in the same position, I didn't ask to be a millionare but in 2011 when they were $14 I should have bought at least one or two. I didn't have the resources then and I don't now. The only way to get them now is through sig campaigns and getting lucky. I do feel like a loser.

That's true of buying into any investment. If you don't put the work into making estimates or at least guesstimates of an investments true value and potential then you deserve whatever happens to your money.

At the time of Gox my best guess was that the floor was around $125. I was prepared to buy more at each $100 mark and really press under $200. I missed a few marks as the price fell fast. And it never reached even close to my floor. I tend to be conservative as I like my money and I'm not greedy. I never cry about opportunity missed and try obsessively to understand what I missed when I make a misstep.

Patience, hard work and due diligence. And avoid blaming outside forces. The keys to success in anything.

Very nice analysis, I surely hope it makes the OP and others (including me) think for a second.

That said: please read about what you actually bought OP, it likely makes you feel a whole lot better about your investment :)

you couldnt scrape together $14 ???

No, when it comes down to "Food on table" and "paying bills on time so I have electricity/water" bitcoin didn't exactly cross my mind at the time. I don't know why that's so difficult to understand.

I kind of understand what OP is talking about here. And people- get off your high horses knocking the amount of his life savings. That is rude and disrespectful, and there are millions of people on this planet that would feel like a millionaire if they had something valued at ~$650 USD.

I had read about Bitcoin for a few years, and gobbled up every news story I came across about it. Don't know why I didn't think to directly look into buying any/investing in it, I guess I just never went off to the side (a new browser tab or such) and searched for how to buy some. I finally got into it for real at the beginning of this year. And I will admit, that I, like many, did have high hopes and dreams of some wild overnight success with the little bit of money I had put into it. I ended up sitting on my ass just soaking it all in, reading and learning more and more about it as I went. Did all of the faucets/Bitcoin-earning sites/cloud mining and such. Got into trading altcoins on Cryptsy and ended up doing pretty well actually. Especially coming from buying and selling stocks for a few years, I thought Cryptsy and alt-trading was cake compared to that. Hit a few solid gains and started to feel cocky, thinking that surely I had found my new, badass stay-at-home trading career. When Blackcoin was getting pumped Hard, I bought all-in a few times and rode the pump. Each time I sold and got out I watched as it continued to rise, and thought I had better get in one more time. I ended up losing my ass and all of my gains as it went down and down, as I held pipe dreams of it bouncing back up. But alas, no it did not. I was broke, but humbled, and that can be a good thing sometimes.

However, I continued with Bitcoin, further diving into the network and the community of it. Today, I now own my own BTC website with a faucet that I taught myself how to code and write HTML, PHP, CSS and the like along the way. I have also met a lot of amazing people and learned a few things about technology yes- but life also. Though I am definitely closer to poor than rich right now, I am very happy with life and my decision to get into Bitcoin. I love being a part of this community, and am proud to be involved with Bitcoin- something I see as world-changing. We are part of the solution for fixing this somewhat-broken world, not part of the problem. I fully see Bitcoin as the device that will finally give the power back to the people. A financial entity that can unite the world, including those living in politically-oppressive countries and those under sanctions from multi-gove.rnment bullshit, or those living in countries where women would normally have no power. (Have you seen the article about the Afghan girls writing and speaking out and getting paid with BTC for it? Rock on :)) In an increasingly privacy-invasive world, we are helping protect anonymity and freedom of speech and finance. And although I still have to use fiat currency for most day-to-day things, such as paying bills, I feel so much more liberated from the banksters' stranglehold on the world already. I am very confident that Bitcoin at $1200 where OP bought in at is still Very undervalued compared to the future. There is so much news breaking every single day of new companies, states & govs., and the like embracing it that I think there is no way we could fizzle out now. And I don't even really own much Bitcoin right now to benefit from a huge future price surge, I've had to spend what I had along the way due to financial hardships. I would be consistently buying more if this was a possibility at the present time. But like I said, I'm still happy. I'm happy to be a part of something great with you all. Remember that we are all in this together. Don't rob somebody or try to perpetrate some BS Ponzi/HYIP scheme. It may benefit you in the short-term, but it is only hurting our community in the big picture of it. I am proud to say I am a part of this movement.

As far as a little speculative advice for OP- I feel like Darkcoin has a very promising future. That is personally something I would invest in also given the funds. And, hopefully soon I will be able to add some to my holdings. But just remember- all of this- these cryptocurrencies, this is still only the beginning. I feel like if you sold now to recuperate losses, you would end up deeply regretting it in the future. But I could be wrong. It is speculation after all.

So what is the plan? And I don't mean bitcoin related. How are going to increase your disposal income? Or are you content through inaction to perpetually scramble to feed yourself and pay your bills?

Do you have a plan? A plan to make a plan? Or do you have your excuses all lined up?

Yes, I'm in a pissy mood today. Doesn't change the truth at all.

Nope I've never thought any such like. For the record I was too busy supporting my business and providing jobs for my employees while bitcoin was formed. I didn't have time to analyse and invest then. I did in November last year and bought my bitcoin and a couple of alts as they were cheap in comparison.

Pissy or not, I don't think this is the appropriate tone to take with anyone at all. I've never once raised my voice to another person here or in real life, and I don't think anyone else should. Opinions are like you know what.

I have a plan, yes. I finally have pieces coming together, the larger part of the pie is making enough money on the side to get myself back on track. You don't have a single idea where I'm coming from, what I've been through and what I've had to sacrifice to have what little I have today. Saying "I'm pissy today" is just a cop out for being rude.

And no, no excuses. I never once made any excuses where I am today is through no fault of my own. If you have a problem with that, or that's not good enough for you then I really don't care.

And now for the first time in my forum history I've had to actually ignore someone.

Here's the deal OP, I know this is counter from what I've said or what you wanna hear but you should suck it up. There are still plenty of good opportunities to get some coin, and to invest in BTC even if it means mining altcoin until you earn enough to make a bit of money on the side. What you should do is READ MORE into investing, trading, etc and make sure you know your stuff that way you won't make any mistakes and if you happen at a loss, RIDE IT OUT. There's no telling what'll happen, I mean look how many twists and turns BTC took in the past 2 years and where it's at today.

Keep your head up and stay strong, you can do it man. You can get back your money, it's going to take time yes, but you can do it.

Yah, I think it wasn't too smart of you to drop your life savings on something as speculative as bitcoin, however, you already learned this lesson the hard way it seems.  I just hope that you are still holding the bitcoin because most likely it's going to rise again to what it was at when you bought it so you could sell at that moment and put your money in a savings account :)

Thanks and good luck to you, and to all posters offering real positive advice and hope. Sadly it seems that a few still have to learn some respect and humanity towards other peoples situations. One day they may learn that money can be easy lost.

Thank you.  Yeah the plan is to hold what few coins including alts for as long as possible.

I will apologize to the extent that I had confused you with an poster earlier in the post and so writing from the position of assuming the answers would be that he had no plan, no intention on making one and that 'the world' was responsible for his situation. The pissy comment was to say that I was not in a mood to sugar coat my words but the truth is what it is. I don't see honesty, even if it is harsh honesty to be rude, I see it to be constructive.

I am truly glad that you have a plan and even more so that it appears to be working.

"I never once made any excuses where I am today is through no fault of my own." however seems to be a mutually exclusive statement, unless that is not what you meant to write.

im a bitcoin loser but im okay.
i got a good advice from a legendary trader.. he said, "Dont manage your losers"

Weak hands will always lose money.

Those who understand what Bitcoin is are confident and will never sell their bitcoins before they get a good return.

What's a good return? Or what are you expecting?

Minecache, you are only a 'bitcoin loser' when you lost your bitcoins (or converted them into fiat again). Consider yourself really lucky, you managed to get one of the 21 million EVER in existence. You bought a share into the Bitcoin network Itself (that is huge!). Congrats!

I keep bloody spending mine.
Anytime the price goes up I spend a good 3/4 of my chunk.
Never really regret it, but I'd be much richer now if I'd held.

One thing you have to keep in mind is that whenever 1 person "wins" (let's say in the context of investing into something here) , more people have to lose at the same time. Why? Because we can't ALL benefit from something - wealth is not infinite, it simply changes hands. In the context of Bitcoin, I bet you for every guy that became a millionaire (or made a thousands of dollars) from buying bitcoins, 5 guys (if not more) LOST money by buying in and out at the wrong time.

Second thing is that even if you bought in late into bitcoin, as long as you are patient and don't try to sell it (or daytrade it) , you WILL make profit no matter what. Bitcoin is getting stronger year by year, even though that may not currently be reflected by the price.

It's likely that many of the coins everyone holds now made a nice profit for the previous owners much earlier in the game. Ultimately they did lose out by not hanging on to them, but if you'd paid 1c for it and received $1 that's still pretty sweet. What people should be doing now is holding off being another rung on that ladder.

Yep. I am buying, earning, and holding. In 3 years I will not be one of those people talking about what could have been.

I invested in a Bitcoin Company where I paid a One Time Fee of $40 Dollars to become a Founder Member of Bitbillions. Now the Company continues to Produce Bitcoin Related Earning SOurces and I Earn Bitcoin EVERY MONTH!...And I will continue to EARN bitcoin as long as the company grows...and as i type this post in this forum...the membership is well over 100,000...so I would say i was am one of the Bitcoin winners...I decided not to Buy Bitcoin in bulk until i see the price on the uprise again!

no sad story here, didnt lost and didnt earn yet on bitcoin

Ok, here's what I'm seeing in this thread and in the general community:

1. No don't spend the bitcoin it's revolution, it's the new wave of the future hold on to it!
2. I turned my bitcoin into money and spent most of it.

Seriously, hypocritical much? A lot of the talk on the forum is how bitcoin shouldn't be a get rich quick scheme yet half of the people who let that sentence fall from their lips do the very thing they tell others not to do.

Have you ever been so desperate for food that you had to ask a strange for 20 dollars just so you could buy bread and something to hold you down? Have you ever needed to hold on to that food so desperately, that you make a loaf of bread last a week? Have you ever been in a position where you can't find work and you have mouths to feed and you don't know what else to do so you take a chance on something and fail? I mean a lot of people are talking from experience like they've got money elsewise where as people like myself and I'm sure many others don't and didn't.

To borrow the expression, aside from the money I receive for my sig campaign, I don't have a pot to piss in. I don't have insurance anymore because I'm "out of coverage" for Medicaid (THANKS OBAMA!) and if I paid out of pocket, it would be considered fraud. I don't have food stamps anymore because I'm not where I'm supposed to be, and I was supposed to go renew it but instead I'm helping my 62 year old mother out because she's fighting breast cancer and she needs help around the house. She doesn't shop, or leave the house much because she's having a hard time with the chemo. I don't see her for days at a time until she needs to go see a doctor. I'm disabled and fighting for SSI because the good old government of the USA thinks I'm disabled enough to not work, and don't deserve it. Yet I've been declared disabled by 2 different doctors, which apparently isn't enough. I can't leave the house sometimes for days because my anxiety and panic sets in so bad that all I want to do is sleep. I don't have a doctor because the stigma attached to this stupid disease or disability makes them think all I'm doing is sitting around chewing on the medicines they give me. When in reality I WANT TO WORK, and I WANT TO GET OUT but I can't. And it's not just a matter of, "oh you can do it don't give in to your mind" it's not that simple, it never is.

People have stories, and it seems everyone here's a critic. Don't discount people because they offer up some sob story, stop being so fudging critical. It's really stupid, not everyone has even a small slice of a "pie". If I were to sum up my condition in one word, it's DROWNING, not even below poverty line and yet I have a million other people, and things I have to worry about. I'm 33 years old and I can't make it on my own. That's why I got into bitcoin, because I'd hoped that someday maybe I'd have something to hold on to for the future, but I got into it just when cpu and gpu mining were a thing of the past. And now in 2014 it's entirely too late to do ANYTHING about it but a sig campaign that pays me out about 30 or 40 a week. Not much I can do with that, and until I earn enough I'm stuck.

Patience... In few months you will be multiplied by 5.

Investing is all about dollar cost averaging, so you can regain some of your losses if you can invest more at the lowest point possible. If you buy 1 more at $600, you should hopefully at least break even in the relatively near future.

This pretty much mirrors my situation except the business I spent years of time energy and money on building went bust and my family lost the house and all our savings. So after honouring all creditors we were left with nothing. Hardest day of my life was telling my loyal employees that is there was no longer any work for them.

Sadly there are a few ugly unsavoury arrogant and dismissive characters on here happy to laugh and criticise other peoples choices and savings. But I warn you never judge a man until you've walked a mile in his shoes.

Guys (and gals ofc), Bitcoin was made to be used. If you just hold it, you'r not doing it right. Just holding is pumping up unnatural price which will blow up sooner or later into everyone's face. What Bitcoin needs is flow. Flow from customer, to seller, to producer, back to customer...circle. Just holding wont make it mainstreem. It will pump up the price which will explode sooner or later.

It seems easy in US to use it, but here in France, hard to make any expense in btc. The only think i bought in btc was a domain name.

So I hold, but i will be happy to buy bitcoin for immediate use.

If you can't take criticism than leave the internet. FOREVER.
I am a better person now, because I always took criticism seriously and not whine about how "ugly arrogant and dismissive" critics are.
We judge you according to the information you provide. If you feel misjudged, because we don't have enough information about you, it is you fault.

There are alot of web shops inside EU where you can spend your BTC on stuff you buy one way or another.

To add to my previous rant. If everyone holds, and noone spend anything, sellers will just stop receiving bitcoin, as there will be no profit out of it, and once that happens, it's one way street to the bottom.

Ok could you please underline your statements?

Your lifesaving was 1000$??? how is this possible`?

In some countries, 1000$ is ALOT of money! Dont be THAT guy....

Well the worst bitcoin losers tend to be the people who leave when the price goes down significantly
I read a thread on Veronica although there are also some that invested in bad assets and lost their coins that way
Or bad exchanges like mtgox
Even have some that lost their old wallets with large amounts or threw them in the garbage dump
http://money.cnn.com/2013/11/29/news/bitcoin-haul-landfill/
So yep there are some bitcoin losers

Ok...that guy....we can call him looser w/o any second tought.

No the unsavoury characters are jumping to conclusions and judging others on information that's not been provided. I have no issue taking criticism when it's justified and warranted. On this thread it's not, and most right minded on here can see that. Not my fault if you can't.

And be glad you aren't in my situation. I'm making US$20 an hour at my day job, but I'm behind on ALL my bills such that late fees on bills and overdraft charges at the bank mean I waste $200 a month just trying not to "drown" financially.  Life savings = 0, and has been for at least 7 years now.

All this after several things that I had no control over happened to me and my family.  First was the Kansas state "social services" agency getting it stuck in their head the wife and I were neglecting our kids.  We weren't but they later made it true because we kept having to spend money we could not afford to spare on lawyers and other issues related to them dragging us into court several times for a few years just before 2007.  Then the child support they forced us to pay (both of us, and my wife has not had a job in years and can't get one) pretty much ruined any chance of keeping the home we had bought trying to fix the issues they kept throwing at us.  Then what life savings I had (about $25000) we had to cash out in order to pay the back child support just to keep us out of jail.  Then in 2008, a board of directors change pushed out the President of the company I worked at, and the new guy did a 20% employee cut.  Of course I was one of those.

Ever since then I have not been able to get steady year-round employment in this city, because there just wasn't that many openings during the recession.  Then the seasonal jobs I was getting dried up in 2012 and I was unemployed for a year living off some money a relative had until I could get a job.  When I did get this job, it was just after that money ran out and I got behind on a couple bills.  Due to their policies on utility disconnection, the only option I had was to sacrifice payment of all other bills so we could keep the gas and electric on.  Because of that I have not paid a bill or rent on time since 12 months ago.  Every week when I get my paycheck, I have to go to the ATM machine to get all of it out as cash, overdrafting the account in the process to limit it to just one overdraft fee per week, just to pay what bills we can and try to put food on the table for another week.

I would LOVE to start buying and selling Bitcoins, but the money just isn't there to do it with.  Really kicking myself for not getting in to it back in 2010 when I first heard of it.  :(

I did start getting in to it in early 2013 and had been mining with my video cards, but that wasn't much for about 1.5 months worth of computer time and electricity.  At most I had about 1.2 BTC from mining, but had to cash it out due to a lack of cash again.  No more mining after that as the difficulty started going up a lot faster then due to ASICs for mining.  Now I have about 0.03 BTC left, sitting at CampBX, waiting for me to get some time to write my trading bot (since no one seems to really support CampBX anyway).

Anyway, there are likely a lot of people here who are very interested in Bitcoin and what it means for personal freedom and society in general who can't do much but read about it and hope they can get started on improving their personal situation.

Though I do have a possibility to start participating soon, I hope.  I'm getting closer to being able to get out from under these late fees, and the current job is still going, even through it's contract.  I've got a good chance that it will become full-time year-round and non-contract.  Once that happens I'll be getting higher pay than now, so I know I'll be able to start doing more with Bitcoin.  :)

You're right. It's not a get rich quick scheme.

I think you have a lot bigger things to worry about than Bitcioin.  I mean no disrespect.  But if you are struggling financially, mentally, or physically...please take care of those problems.  There is work besides sig campaigns out there in the world.... Try odesk, fiverr, elance....and do something productive to earn money instead of posting here.  Especially if you think you can't get out of the house.

When you have free cash, buy some coin if you want... But you need some basic cash flow first.

I totaly dont understand you legal system. In my country, if anyone would drag me trough courts and lost i would be payed hefty sum of money and they would have to pay theirs and mine lawyer. What your talking about doesnt seem fair from any perspective possible.

You are right, it's not fair. They have protections built in to the law such that even if the allegations are false, I cannot even try to sue them for it.  :(

Worse yet, it's not a criminal case, but civil.  So the good old "beyond a reasonable doubt" doesn't apply.  All that matters is who has the preponderance of evidence.  :(

And most in the USA are not aware of how bad it is, because this is done in "Family Court" and each case is handled such that only parties involved in the case can be in the courtroom (not necessarily any real public oversight).  Everyone I've ever explained this to is shocked by the reality, because they have not had to go through it.  Only those that go through it know, but they also are typically like me (poor or unable to fight back in the right way due to lack of money).  They rarely drag anyone into this situation that can actually afford to fight it.

Anyway, don't want to drag this off topic, but I think I'd consider myself to be a Bitocoin "loser" right now due to my situation.  Though I am working on changing that.  :)

2-5 years is also pretty quick to be rich. Shorter than that is very very hard. I would not suggest ponzis.

I bought on average $500 and $710 being the highest.

That didn't stop me, I have some miners to show for it and now are now in the pure profit.  I spent at most $3,000 buying bitcoin at an exchange and make about $1,000 a month now from the machines with the coins I bought.  Good deal if you ask me when my electricity is nearly free.

You probably shouldn't have invested in your life savings in a volatile market like Bitcoin and then just sit on the coin.  If you would have bought even USB miner's you'd be ahead of the game.

Like any businessman need a business plan, an investor must have an investment plan.

I hope you invest better in the future and save your coin!  You may be vindicated faster than you think :p

Thank you. I never understood how the person that went "There there. The world's unfair." was kinder than the person that said "You screwed up. Figure out what you did wrong. And start over."

This philosophy of blaming everything but yourself that I see everywhere makes me so sad. There are so many stories of people overcoming having chronic migraines, being paraplegic and the like and still being able to craft successful thriving lives for themselves.

6 months is nothing. Just hold, it's almost certain you will make some money.

You hear all about the winners because that's "exciting" and sells.  It's just like you hear more about lottery winners instead of the millions who gamble and never win a lottery, or who are compulsive gamblers.  You heard about the internet stocks mania in 1999 but not about the millions who bought near the top.  It's the media's thing.

Oh man, that's 100% like bad news on TV...that's what sell and that's what ppl write / talk about.

Return to honest money will help poor people the most.

https://i.imgur.com/Zq0pY4B.png?1

I have a story of losing a shit load of bitcoins if snyone in the medis wants to hear it :/;
not quite as bad as the 10k bitcoin pizza though.. but still pretty bad.. i can laugh now about it (after i shed a  few tears each time)

Except that has absolutely zero relevance to the purpose of this thread.

That was NOT bad AT ALL. It was GREAT in time when it was executed. It should never ever ever be qualified as bad. It's legendary and it's start of what bitcoin should be...money for using, not holding and hoarding.

i have missed all the trains ever, im so unlucky. i think about death daily. im broke but its not like i lost money, i never had any money. this is bullshit

I might indeed need more help than BTC but this is the light at the end of my own tunnel, it may not seem much but the 30 bucks I get out of this sig campaign is something that I can use towards greater things. As far as working out my other problems, right now there is literally nothing I can do. I get little to no internet, aside from when it allows. It's DISH internet, meaning it throttles after a certain amount of gigs. I have school now, at least I have that to look forward to but it's slow going. I'm only a sophmore right now. Anyways, I don't want to talk about my life anymore because it doesn't matter worth a dang and that's fine. Nobody here is trying to win a sympathy contest, I'm here because I want BTC and I'm here because I do want to make friends, but it doesn't feel very friendly when people are telling me I'm a loser because I didn't buy 14 dollars in bitcoin in 2011.

Which if I remember correctly was a call for a great big circle jerk of commiseration.
I could not participate in that but I also felt it would be ethically objectionable for me not to try to help.

I'm out of this thread, I am a bitcoin loser. I couldn't and didn't buy in 2011 when they were $14 a piece, I could afford it. I couldn't make that sacrifice, I'm sorry that's so hard to understand. Maybe people should be on this side of the fence sometime and understand what it's like being so desperate for some kind of light being shed at the end of a long and hard tunnel, with everything against your odds. It's not a get rich quick scheme I realize that, but at least I would have some kind of prosperity in the future and I would be able to go about my life and not have to worry so much.

But I am going to stop replying to this thread, if you don't believe my situation that's fine. I don't really care, I'm not here to win sympathy I'm here to make it known that not everybody was an early adopter, and not everyone had the funds to buy them up.

I'll be your friend... Even if you're broke  :)

Not yet for a sort of lucky.

In the month of january, fortunately I converted all of my litecoin in bitcoin. If I have converted now, I'd lose 50% of my capital  :)

Not so lucky for the rest of peope still holding litecoin. I know 99% of them are gonna cry their asses off when Litecoin drops to $1....

Yes, I think that price of Litecoin will fall in the next future because team of Litecoin development is bad.

I hope that this not realize...

You remember incorrectly or have a limited grasp of English interpretation. At no point was sympathy asked for nor sought.

I just reread your opening post. You say you want to invest more in bitcoin but lost confidence because the price has dropped since your purchase. But you wish to hear stories from other people in the same boat. So you aren't looking for encouragement (or if you are it is in a very odd method) therefore what other opinion are we suppose to come to?
You either want an 'oh me' party or bad advice.
Regardless I'm wasting my time at this point and not adding any help veyond that long past given.  So I give the last word if you need it. I've satisfied my duties.

Bitcoin is money. Money is 1) a medium of exchange 2) a unit of account 3) a store of value. If you want to acquire some, you have to provide a service. If you want to become rich from it, you just have to hold it. There is no way to circumvent that - and this is exactly the beauty of bitcoin. It seems very simple and maybe you think you know it, but at some level you don't.

It has great consequences. Within the bitcoin economy, any form of socialism cannot exist : there is one and only one person you can count on : yourself. The technological prowess and the inherent deflation reward the clever and the brave. Bitcoin is a class system! And an elitist one!

Bitcoin is like gravity. Only the fool blames gravity when he falls. There is nothing you or anyone can do anything about it. Whatever sentiment you have towards Bitcoin is of no importance! Either you embrace its existence and do what's right and eventually your life will thrive; either you refuse to admit its existence and you'll die and you won't even know why. Bitcoin has its own laws. It is a sovereign.

I know these words are harsh. They hurt me the first time I read them, but the sooner you accept the fundamental changes that Bitcoin brings to our existence, the sooner you'll stop being a bitcoin loser.

PS: As mentioned, these words arent mine, they come from http://trilema.com/category/bitcoin/ and #bitcoin-assets and its members.

You've clearly misinterpreted the point and tone of this thread, but thank you nonetheless for your input, no matter how misguided.

Goodbye.

C'mon don't be mad ;)
I believe your story and even if I am wrong, there are story like yours, that are real.
You have my sympathy since you shared it, without directly attacking your critics, without a cry for pity like others in this thread.

Still, I don't think, Bitcoins are really a solution to your problems, but as long as it makes you some money you should hold on to it, but don't forget to look for other options. There might be some, you just haven't thought of yet(and yes I know, that is easily said, but it is still true)
Are you from the USA? Just curious since your government seems pretty fucked.

Yes , I also feeling that Litecoin will drop as the management and responses from the public is not as good as bitcoin.

So far bitcoin is the most stable 'coin' imo

everyone is winner in BT.
Noone goxed,no one lost money..wellcome to internet

To the except of Charles Lee which is the founder of Litecoin, all of the staff was not good. Only thing that they have is a good team of development, but they need a marketing team to promote their coin.

Effects is this.

Bitcoin Losers?

Historically the primary ways to become a BTC loser are:
Poor trading
Lending out BTC
"Investing" in Neo & Bee or similar
Online theft including major sites/exchanges/wallets
Excessive gambling or drugs
Lost password/Crashed hard drive
Wallet stealing viruses
Oops...
This list turned out longer than originally expected. We need a community that nurtures and develops more winners.  :)

Welp, lending out is not too bad as long as you play like a bank and take some collateral to ensure that you don't get screwed if they bail. Anyone storing lots on online wallets is begging to be stolen from and should really have their head checked if they've been warned and still continue to do so. Wallet stealing viruses (like most malware) can simply be avoided if you use your common sense (ie don't download random shady stuff like crap pretending to be keygens for example).

I got goxed. It was my own fault. I never tried to hid that fact
I still don't see myself as a Bitcoin-Loser

1. Poor trading  Day traders,  called speculators as well wager the increase  or decrease price of bitcoin. Or they do  arbitrage trading in different exchange or market. They are doing excessive trading which make them tired and lose money (most of them).
2 "Investing" in Neo & Bee or similar There are quite a number of people who like to trade altcoin. Someone call themself investor. Investing in altcoin is more risker. The price of them fluctuates like roller coaster. If you are unlucky, the creator of altcoin just mades and dumps it.

Most people that invest in miners will not end out with any ROI.