Bitcoin Forum

It seems that there a good number of people have bought Bitcoin as an investment. I'm not going to judge whether it is a good idea or not. But perhaps I can speak of one of my experiences with investments that you may want to consider.
In the year 2000, Yahoo stock was worth about $118.00. But the tech bubble burst, and in 2001, Yahoo stock fell to $8.11.  (I bought some at $8.90).
The good news is that Yahoo stock is now worth about $40.00-41.00. Yes, Yahoo stock has grown the past 13 years, but the growth has been gradual. The important word is "gradual". Most investments are like that. They usually grow over a period of time.
That is why I think it is unrealistic to think that Bitcoin will be worth $10,000 any time soon, or ever. There is nothing magical about Bitcoin that will make it like any other investment that has ever existed. Bitcoin will rise and fall, gradually. It just doesn't make sense to me that it will suddenly "shoot up" and stay there.
In other words, if you are invested in Bitcoin, you have to think long term. No one knows how any investment will turn out. I have been invested in the stock market for some time. The market has been good to me, but I have had some bad years too. All of my investments have grown, but grown gradually.

Yes, you're right, this could very well be a path Bitcoin may take. Then again, it could be more prudent and profitable to short Bitcoin now and wait for it to go even lower. Thing is: No one knows what's the right thing to do :/

I agree, anything like this is really hard to predict so you either take the chance and go for it or you don't and may live to regret it if things go differently. It's all about taking chances which is why it is always best to invest what you know you can afford to lose.

Just like anything before dont know the mechanics behind bitcoin itself.

That alone makes me want to buy more of it, and know the education of it as well. Like how very # of bitcoin can be produced or knowing that alone with other important vital info.

In the 7th grade, I saw starbucks stock at $12 - and used it as example for math stuff. Of course I couldnt do much besides sell pokemon cards, but those cards rounded to $100 which could lead me owning some shares.

It a good point to mention that yahoo has invested in to Bitcoin.   8)
Bitcoin is not just some stock it is a revolutionary technology that I personally like to compare to the internet when it first got big to the technical crowd.  There are other big players who are going to need to compete with Bitcoin which will only make Bitcoin more credible in the future(in my opinion) so I expect real growth to come soon.  People that have very high expectations don't speak for the rest of us that are bullish.  Its just an estimation they believe is possible whether it is or not going to happen remains to be seen.  Either way I can assure the average person that believes in Bitcoin is not expecting those kinds of prices over night.  I think most people believe that it has potential to hit high prices and is a investment well worth looking into.  Everybody that has taken the time to learn about Bitcoin should have a clue and not be investing more than they can afford to lose.

Take away any expectation from getting rich just by holding a few BTC.

Instead short your time frame about BTC price if you want to trade(I don't dare to make prediction for more than days) while you concentrate in the bitcoin tech and economy.

That way if things goes wrong you will gain some money, or at least don't lose, and if we reach moon, you'll be not worse than by just holding.

Good advice in this thread. Only "invest" what you can afford to lose. And the first thing I learned when I got into the stock market (because it was pounded into my head) was, "past performance does not guarantee future results".

I agree never invest more then your willing to lose.  But comparing bitcoin to yahoo is horrible really.  Bitcoin is currency, you could make a argument its a industry but not a single buisness.  And Yahoo had competition.  Bitcoin does not really have competition as main crypto.

You are quite right but the general rule of investment is never invest more than you can afford to loose; never invest money that is meant for your up keep in the likely for an higher returns.

Nothing like bitcoin has existed before. Bitcoin is not a company like Yahoo or Google.
There are hundreds of predictions, but no one has a crystal bowl. Nobody expected bitcoin to go from $1 to $1000 five years ago.
We might be surprised once again in the future.

Buying bitcoin is not investing, it's gambling. I really hope price will skyrocket and yes I do hold nice amount of btc but still I wouldn't call it investing.

exponential

google it

Stocks & bonds are for long term inits sense. If you wanna get in and get out to liquidate any moment go trade. This will give you time to earn and learn at the same time where the market is going instead of waiting for 13 years.

In a sense this does not make sense.  It is a form of investing just obviously riskier one then say stocks and top grade bonds. 

On normal investments you invest with a certain expectation lets say bonds..... the more risky the more reward.   Same goes with most stocks but there is no real rating for stock just history.

Bitcoin is a form of currency and with it holds investment opportunity.  If i wanted safe yes i would go buy government bonds and lock in safety deposit box.

We have seen bitcoin price going from worthless to $1 to over $1000 in the past few years.
While I am very confident in the future of bitcoin, I don't expect its price to go further up 10 times a year. Ofc, I don't mind getting a wrong prediction lol.

I disagree. Bitcoin is a currency that many, many people buy as an investment. All you have to do is read this site to find that out.

Whether an "investment" has competition does not mean much. An "investment" has to be shown as trust worthy and a future. It is too early to say that Bitcoin is either trust worthy or that it has a future. I'm not saying that it does not, but what I am saying is that Bitcoin will follow the principles of an investment for success or failure.

Yes, Bitcoin is more of an underlying technology, like the Internet - and not a specific company merely using it or operating in its realms - yet Bitcoin may very well still go wrong and also has competitors - other cryptocurrencies.  Of all Bitcoin related currencies, companies, etc. investing straight into Bitcoin is still the safest thing, though. Calling that 'safe' weels weit, though...

Expanded above:
In a sense this does not make sense.  It is a form of investing just obviously riskier one then say stocks and top grade bonds.

On normal investments you invest with a certain expectation lets say bonds..... the more risky the more reward.   Same goes with most stocks but there is no real rating for stock just history.

Bitcoin is a form of currency and with it holds investment opportunity.  If i wanted safe yes i would go buy government bonds and lock in safety deposit box.

New:
Look into currency trading very risky and changes daily. Saying Bitcoin is like yahoo is a big jump. Bitcoin is much more related to that then yahoo.  I do agree never invest more than you can lose though.

Bitcoin isn't a single company that may fail, but is merely a technology, that is what makes it safer. But still, it is incredibly risky because it is hard to actually gauge its potential and 'real' value. We don't know if theres some bug or design flaw that may render Bitcoin useless, and we don't know if people decide to just ignore Bitcoin at some point. This is what makes it risky, and still potentially highly profitable.

By the way, I never said Bitcoin is "like" Yahoo, I said, "Take a lesson from Yahoo" -- the lesson being that anything you put money into will rise and fall. Yahoo's value of over $100.00 was artificial, and it fell quickly. As I said before, a lesson I learned is that "past results do not guarantee future results".
Do not "expect" that Bitcoin will have great value in the future. It might, but don't "expect" it.

I did not read right I appolgize for that.  Your don't invest more then you can lose is a good philosophy in general.   

Past results do not guarantee future results is also fair.   

I think we are still early on in bitcoin and future will show us who invested right.  I think bitcoin will have a value but I honestly agree no one can say how much.  We can guess and go from past.  I personally think with more adoption of it will rise.   It seems more and more are adopting it so i think future is bright personally.  But again I could be wrong anyone could.

I hope it stays somewhere at 1000, some of us will lose if bitcoin stays at 500, or falls lower, 1000$ is a nice rounded number plus we won't lose money.

Thank you! We agree.

please watch this video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHUPPYzzZrI

How do you short Bitcoin?

You can do margin trading (both in long or short positions) on exchanges like Bitfinex.
You can as well employ options trading if you believe the price will go down.

I agree with the general investment ideas and advice, but the fundamental flaw in the OP's statement is they omit the intrinsic properties of Bitcoin.

Bitcoin is deflationary by nature but not a deflationary spiral like a traditional monetary system:


The 21 million Bitcoins cap and block reward halving come into play as well.

With scarcity and a supply limit as known properties of Bitcoin, the price in theory should go up.

Anytime you make an investment, you believe "in theory" that it will go up. But in reality, prices go up or down because of factors that are unforeseen or unexpected. Bitcoin is no different.

This is true. There is no guarantee that the price of bitcoin will increase over time. I do however think that over long periods of time (10+ years) it likely will be much higher then it is today

We have roughly 160 new blocks everyday (https://btc.blockr.io/charts), which brings us 8000 new bitcoin everyday.
So isn't that exactly an increase in money supply? Shouldn't we call it inflationary?

When the BTC limit is reached, no more btc left printing, which I think should deflate it.

The whole point in knowing to invest in bitcoin is simple. It's the demand and usage. Get either of those up, and the value can go up. The problem is counties with huge populations are having an impact on the expansion.