If anyone who understands Bitcoin, that at this time and age, that one can get 30,000 bitcoins one go, at the price he paid, that they wouldn't give anything to be in his shoes much less ridicule him and thought it's funny, no.

Why it goes up and down it's because of the market and the human factor. The price goes up, everyone is holding. The price goes down, they sell or short. Some people may suddenly have misfortunes befallen on them and and needed money thus they sell. Some people panicked and sell at the slightest drop and it goes up again and they regret and buy only to see the price drop again. Some people have bad timing, others know when to get in and get out. The safest and most stress-free way about Bitcoin is just get it and forget about it for about a year or two. You will then wished you could turn back time and buy as much as you were able to back when. And if, the price of Bitcoin go down zero, and no one uses them anymore, I'll do  the world a kind favour to help get rid of the stupid, useless, ponzi scheme fad that was Bitcoin, and send to my address below.

You can't run out of buyers in Bitcoin. You may eventually run out of sellers though

Bitcoin reminds me of an episode in the TV series Amazing Stories, I can't recall the entire episode but the gist of the story that left me a lasting impression is this: basically this boy was a slacker and not doing anything in his life but read comics and play with his toys all day. Suddenly some creepy elf appear (don't ask) and the boy asked him about advice of how to be rich or make his mother proud of him or something like that. The elf said to never sell his stuff, or something like that, basically to just hold on to his stuff. The boy who was about probably 9-10 years old then believed him. So as the show goes on he's getting older, we see him as a teenager still slacking and not doing anything. Then his 20s, his 30s, 40s. Still slacking, no job no wife no family, but still having all his stuff since he was a little boy, comics, toys, baseball cards etc. Then we see him at his 70s or 80s. Poor, homeless, with only a car with all his stuff in it. He realized he has wasted his whole life. He decided to end his life by driving off a cliff. Getting desperate, while he was trying to get some gas for his car and realizing he has no more money, a lady suddenly noticed him and his car full of stuff and asked would he be willing to sell one of his old mugs for 10. That boy(old man) shrugged well at least he could have some gas and maybe a sandwich with that money. The lady then replied please wait for her she'll need to come back with that $10 000 to buy his mug. Well, you know how the story went after that. The old man then became a millionaire and at the end, he became rich, had a beautiful young wife, became a very respected figure in the antique-collecting circles.

Moral of the story: Never, ever sell your bitcoins.

why is it when price dips there's all this doomsday concern? It didn't continue falling and it never really held at a low price for long, it always went back straight up to the $500-$600 levels. Next it will go up to the $600-$700 levels with occasional dips into the $500s. As how it was on the $200s then went down to $100s, as how it was in the $300s and went down to $200s, as how it was when it was in the $400s and went down to $300s so forth and so forth. You can't expect it to always constantly rising, there needs to be some push and pull.  

If you're planning to hold for more than a year, then you need not worry, buy as much as you can.

Bitcoin will be as valuable as land in time, cos when the final bitcoin is mined, "they don't make 'em anymore". By that time there would be million dollars bitcoins easily

Only if you are stupid

I wished I did too when the price was around $120 

Not sure about a rally or not but going in September onwards, it would be very unlikely that the price will fall below the 500 mark

The boom will happen before the year ends. As there are a lot of Chinese bitcoiners too, expect to peak right before Chinese New Year as well that is around Feb next year. Last year's rally was largely attributed to the Chinese.

If Bitcoin is stabilizing, expect no rally. Which can be a good thing. Prices will just gradually but slowly increase. The days of sudden spikes to $1000 level are over unless market intervention/demand. But rest assured, price will rise over time albeit slowly. Just as certain as fiat money losing its value over time.

Litecoin is, from a technical point of view, better than Bitcoin. Faster transaction confirmation for example. But how cryptocurrencies work is the one with the first mover advantage will always be most valuable, because that's just how cryptocurrencies work. When you mine any coin for that matter, it's always easier and more to mine early than it is late

Litecoin will have its place alongside all the other altcoins. It's just the matter of shifting your perceptions. Some people tweak their Ferraris. Some tweak their BMWs. Some tweak their Hyundais. You play with what you can afford and it's all good, really.

In which case, should another altcoin have such better features as to render Bitcoin useless, people would still be able to convert their Bitcoins to the equivalent of the newer better altcoin because, as I understand, in the world of cryptos, the one with the first mover advantage has to be the one with the highest value very simply because cryptocurrencies are conceived to be deflationary in nature, to battle the inflationary nature of fiat money. The only way some other altcoin can overtake Bitcoin in value is that if that coin in inflationary meaning it has no limit as to its production (in which case, why bother with cryptocurrency anyway when there's already fiat) and every single person switched to that coin instead.

Of course there are and always will be external elements. Market manipulation, hysteria and mania, technical glitches, trading bots etc. But the law of mathematics backing Bitcoin is that, when something has a value and is deflationary, that value cannot but go up. So as long as Bitcoin is used, it will have a value and that value, fundamentally speaking, can only increase in time. As like the value of fiat money that is inflationary, fundamentally speaking, can only decrease in time

Actually, come to think of it, developers aren't really relevant at all. What made Bitcoin the only one there is is because of its first mover advantage. That's just how deflationary products work, the earlier you are, the more valuable you become.

Right now, unless you are the manufacturer, miners are mining at negative profit in other words at a loss. But miners will still mine away anyway, for they are already invested in. They hope that price will rise but they don't realize the market don't really work that way. If miners are smart, they would stop mining and buy instead. Sure you're invested but far better to take advantage of the low price now and buy than to keep your miners running at a loss. But that is also why there are so many more poor people that rich ones.

If you can take my word for it, I can assure you that Bitcoin can never have $0 value. It's built into the fundamentals of Bitcoin that once it attains a value, that value can only go up. Unless every single person is forced at gunpoint not to use Bitcoin thus Bitcoin has non-usage, then perhaps yes.

There is nothing that other coins can have that can't be implemented unto Bitcoin if the developers see it fit enough to do so.