The list of alternative investments are mostly good for short term and some are for long term but are having quite a more stable market value compared to bitcoin. Indeed the alternatives has lower risk of losing money but if you are really an investor you would more likely seek to an investment wherein risk is present but profit has a tendency to move faster because it will just be a waste of time waiting for not-so-big profit for a long period of time. It would be alike with saving your money in the bank. Risk should be taken as something usual in any investment. In bitcoin, such thing is obvious but people are still doing so for the reason that profit is enough to motivate them to invest, and wait because it was proven to be worthy.
This is why Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are more likely being used as an investment and not to its actual purpose. But still, people do benefit from doing so, which I think is not a bad thing afterall.

I'd say both short term and long term investment would seem to be a gamble since there's no assurance of the profit. Long term trading would require patience and deep analysis of the coins to be the best to trade with if ever there will be an increase upon trading in a particular moment. The thing that links trading and gambling is risk, no matter how you look at the situation.

This is the 'mindgame' present to both gambling and trading. One could win in a single trade likewise a spin, perhaps, in a roulette to give an example. In both ways, there are chances of losing your money, and the same thing of earning money from doing so. The best thing is to know that profit is not assured to avoid drawbacks when it comes to one's mental condition because that would be worse than losing money.
The profit to both gambling and trading or even investment, depends on one's analysis, luck and will. If one would use huge amount of money, huge profit will be earned if he made good analysis and if he is has 'that' fate, but same thing would be the weight if he won't be. But an individual has a choice, to 'play' the market wise and be safe from both winning and losing, or to push that much.

Good thing is that there are many online gambling games  that he would enjoy playing if he is a slot player. But surely, he would observe the difference between playing online and playing on actual casino. I know because I experienced both casino and online gambling. At first there is indeed something missing and that might have something to do with the environment. Sometimes it would be linked to your mood when you are playing. But af times like this, gamblers do have no other choice but to just follow the guidelines of their government in particularly with not going outside of their houses and avoid social gatherings. For the meantime, if you are really that much into gambling, playing online would somewhat ease your urge to go outside and play. It is also for your own safety so just follow the implemented procedures.

This thing quite invalidate the relationship of the occurence of pandemics and the market behavior during those times. There are more pandemics occured on the previous years before and after Bitcoin was introduced to the world, Zika and Mers to name a few, which are not listed.
But the bottomline is that, it is not the kind of virus which affects the price of Bitcoin but to how wide the effect is. And it is not cryptoindustry which is mainly or directly being affected but the global market. This makes sense to think that the problem just affects the global market which is being reflected to digital currencies for some reasons.Maybe that is because Bitcoin before is not having that much of a value. If something is not that high, we won't see it fall down. This might be the reason why it is obvious at this moment in Covid-19 because bitcoin on the previous years because 'something' in the eyes of the world perhaps.

The market price indeed fell lower than what is expected proving how unpredictable the market is. Another problem aside from not knowing how low will it fall and also when will the uprise occur. It would be a matter of waiting game and also, speculation. Investing would include having a dead profit but what would be more important is the moment profit will take place and that is also the actual moment that the market will recover.

With regards to OP's decision to stop buying during the 'low' periods, well, that is not a bad thing to do. It would be worse if one would push things to go with his own likings because in the first place, that would be impossible. Frustration is more likely to be the outcome. But there are still people who believe that much. It seems like they are making their own opportunity from investing on coins in which will have a comeback, and doing so for them, is worthy. We just do all have our own methodsin this market.

I do track my losses and winnings in order to make adjustments. If I would observe that I am being too far from my 'limits' every week, I will assure changes that would benefit me on not having bigger losses. I do want to track in which games I do lose more and to where I am earning but there are only few games in which I will engage myself with so I just focus the tracking with the profit or losses in accordance with the limits that I mentioned. The limits I am referring to are the amount of money I am using in gambling both in daily and weekly basis. This enhance my self-control and also, helps me to avoid gambling addiction in such way.
Maybe he earned huge money from gambling for him to say that gambling is his source of income which is not applicable to all gambler. Not all gamblers are lucky enough to win continuously or more often to most of the gamblers. It is only determined by one's fate and this thing is not advisable. Gambling should just be a source of enjoyment or leisure and not a source of income.

I would suggest strategical gambling games and sportsbetting. According to Help guide, electronic games or machines are where most of the gamblers engage themselves with such as slot machines. The reason is maybe, this is an easier kind of game. An individual could get frustrated if ever the outcome would show that he is unlucky, the tendency is that, one could push his luck and lead to bigger losses. While on the other hand, on strategical games, they would consume more time because every game would be time consuming and they could also be more engaged into the 'strategy' that they would use in order to win, the amount of bet will depend on the person but if he is not that much of a hard bet kind of person, things would go well. Same thing with sportsbetting, the player will just enjoy the game itself and the team or player he believed of winning. If ever he would lose his bet, he could somehow enjoy watching the game.

I think it would be best to start with a goal in gambling: to not let your emotions affect the amount you bet. Having a mindset of just only playing and not aiming for 'jackpot' should be the start to any gambler who is interested to engage himself into such activity.

Yes, a good point. Bitcointalk is the one of the right place to talk where you can learn something about different discussions and topics especially trading. Also you will able to get some opinions or perspective from different people and traders. If you are looking for traders you can visit trading discussion, you will learn a lot there from scrolling and entering topics. Also, one of the best place to talk is through personal or private discussion. You can ask free frequent and additional questions if you have and can get detailed answers. Detailed discussion is more effective because you will learn and understand where this is going to, about the strategies, analyzations and good decision making about trading. You can also share experiences from your previous tradings about what techniques, analysis and financial discussions. For additional, try to research also about a good trading it might help you.

True, the government is trying to save us, they give what they can give but I feel sad for those people who are not able to get foods or supplies until now. I know it is hard to know or to think what will be the future is after a couple of months being quarantined or lockdown in the house without job and income. But all I know that the government has already made up a plan for that, we have to trust them. We have funds, let's just listen to government's advisories about the virus so that we are updated. Also, there is a lot of people who do fundraising to help the poor people to give them enough food to survive. In times like this, we should stay at home, keep our self healthy and safe. Don't disobey governments' rules because this is for our safety and to reduce the number of cases. Hoping that in a few months this crisis will end soon.

True, if he still planning to do that probably the number of cases on the U.S will increase more thinking that U.S has the highest rate of cases worldwide followed by Italy. It is hard to decide right now, especially for President Trump but I think his plans on re-opening some companies is not a big help to reduce the number of cases in US, maybe it will help their economy to move again but for people it is a big NO. There is a lot of impact that might happen if he continue the plan. At this moment, we all know the COVID-19 is very dangerous and rapidly spreading so for me just stay at home for your family's safety and don't listen to other politicians who wants to manipulate us that everything will be alright in just a snap because that's not gonna happen knowing the virus. Maybe if all the people that are going back to work are already tested as negative, they can work free but it is still risky to roam outside, or simply to go outside because the places are not yet cleaned and disinfected. For now, I think he better keep he's decision straight and think about the people that will be affected before considering this plan.

You are right. It is indeed a positive development for every countries. Also, the fact that they now consider cryptocurrency is a good thing, the countries are now developing and having a positive insight for crypto. The technologies now are improving and advancing considering digital currency as a cash would be more easy for us. The positive side of this, not only government will acknowledge crypto but also the people in that country which they will learn the real use of cryptocurrency in our life, how this will help us to grow money, to trade, to invest and to earn and be part of the crypto world. The negative side of this, the government will be a big competition of old crypto they will advocate that what they created are legalized cryptocurrency which will lead to many questions for the old ones.

Yes, this is a wise choice for the government to create their own cryptocurrency serves as a sign of technology progress and economic development. This will help us when it is generally accepted and acknowledge by everyone.

Yes, these are all true but for now I think it is better if we focus on the good side of this. What we learned and about to learn in this crisis. The pandemic is very dangerous and we can tell that because of the increasing number of deaths worldwide. Most of the people at home are problematic and just think all about the negatives because that is what they heard and watched on news they adopted it to their selves. So for now, better focus on the brighter sides of it, pay attention to recovered patients, good health workers, governments sacrifices, financial support from the government and solution to this virus.

Also, we learned to:

Prepare for emergency states, to have emergency savings, to sacrifice your job for the meantime for your family's safety, good personal hygiene, unity, better lifestyle, follow the leaders and especially our earth is now healing from the trashes and water/air pollution.

Same, I am not a Muslim but I do respect their religion, but for now let's just listen to what government will tell us to do to make our selves safe. This COVID-19 is still wildly spreading in different countries and increases the number of cases which is very alarming. Though I tried to do fasting, intermittent fasting to be specific and it helps me a lot to be physical fit but I don't think it is good for this season because the most important thing to do today is to be safe and being healthy which means to eat nutritious food as many as possible also to take vitamins. If you will do fasting at this moment I don't think it will help you to be strong but no one knows but for me I do prefer to eat normally like in my daily routine.

About economic turmoil, it is now happening. COVID-19 indeed affect our economy in many ways. The economy will collapse if this crisis will not end soon, everyone is quarantined in their homes no jobs and no income which may lead to economic decline in the future. For the meantime, everyone should be careful and stay at home. After 3 months, none of us knows what will happen so better pray for healing for those victims and salvation for everyone.

Yes, this is a good news. South Korea's decision is indeed a wise choice. South Korea is one of the well known country in Asia which can influence other countries to legalize also the cryptocurrency in their town. This will also helps to spread the usability of crypto to our lives, making things work easier than before like buying and selling, low-cost transaction fees, local and foreign transferring of money, and scientific advancement and etc., which all of us could benefit. But unfortunately, there is still countries who did not consider crypto as a useful currency declining and banning it, a good example of this is India which they lifts ban to cyptocurrency trading, this is the article for reference:
https://techcrunch.com/2020/03/03/india-lifts-ban-on-cryptocurrency-trading/

Hoping that someday cryptocurrency will be legalize and make known on different countries, expecting it to be globally accepted and adopted in the future by governments and people so that we could live a better life.

Gambling is fun yet could be a threat. Indeed, gambling is fun and entertaining but unfortunately, gambling could only be harmless if one knows how to control it and have self-discipline. To be fair let's also look on a positive side of gambling, improves social skills, decision making efficiency, and improves focus and ability which we may think it's fun because all of these are the things we are gaining in casino but we see these positive sides because we are winning, how about when we are losing? That is where negatives and threats approaching. Gambling effects is depending on the people who are doing it, if they will exhibit addictive behavior or have build great self-control. But most of the time, it's a threat that leading to addiction and cause many problems from financial losses and mental to physical health.

Maybe, if we have money and time management, self-control, self-discipline, knows the chances of winning and losing, recognizes gambling as fun and knows how to stop, Gambling will be harmless and will not be labelled as threat.

True, help yourself to fight against this addiction. Gambling addiction is manageable unlike other addictions. If one wants to recover from being addict he or she should follow some steps that will help him or her completely to quit gambling and fight being addict. Here are some tips I have, first is to talk to your family. Tell them that you have a problem with your unhealthy gambling and became addicted to it. Second, limit your money, it is very important that you have money management to start with. This will help you to lessen losses. Also, have self-discipline and self-control also try to minimize going on physical or online casinos. Try to think other activities that will help you to get your mind out of gambling even for a while, trust me a little steps counts as big help. If you still not satisfied for the outcome better seek for a counseling or support session these will help you to build self-destructive patterns and addresses some issues you still have on gambling. Medication might help you for mental health condition or disorders. Lastly, change your lifestyle. A great recovery become successful if you help yourself and focus on your purpose.

Yes true that some countries are still free to play gambling in physical casinos because they are not affected by the virus but for the affected countries they don't have choice but to play online. Some of gamblers prefer physical casino than online because of the interactions, oral communication and the intense feeling when you are in the situation but because of the COVID-19 all physical casinos and other places are now temporary closed because the virus is still spreading and increasing the number of cases which will make gamblers to stay at home and decide if they gonna play online.

So, COVID-19 affect the gambling world in some ways but after the quarantine the casinos for sure will not be open for a day for cleaning and to disinfect the place. For the meantime, the gamblers last resort is to play online to prevent the virus from spreading. Staying at home really helps the country to heal faster.

Very well said, for a new gamblers you should have limited budget don't risk all your money to gambling because there's a possibility that you will lose and you can't bring that money back by playing again unless you are really lucky so managed your money well. Also i suggest you play small games like dice and roulette.  Before playing you should learn the rules of the game and try those free versions of the games you want to play for that you will have understanding about it before risking your money on a real set. As a newbie, you should start with small bets use that as your first guide to your next bets, do some analyzation and create some strategies that will help you grow. After this, if you notice that you are having a problem like possible addiction then quit gambling, because it will just cause you issues which is no good for your health and you should know that there are a lot of disadvantages and bad effects of gambling to us.

Yes, good point. I remembered my Chinese Boss when the quarantine is not yet imposed, he told us that we should not believe what their government or tv news saying because some of it were just covered up to their plans or mistakes. He did mentioned that there are a lot of dirty things happening on their country, so when I heard that I read some articles and found out this suspicious article released by one of the highest rank on their team which was on mission for covid-19, he tell there that the virus was just a made up plan of china. This is hard to believe but anything could be possible either negative or positive. Also China is now the country that has a lot of recovered patients thinking that the virus is originated there, they also provide the number of deaths but I'm thinking that they are manipulating us about this data. Also they are now selling vaccines to different countries which helps them to prevent or fight the virus. Well, i don't know what is the truth about these stuff, whatever it is, time will reveal it.

Yes, this is true. The economy is possible to collapse because of the financial crisis that is happening in every country that are affected of the virus. Economic recession also possible to happen because like what you guys said, the people might pull their stocks or investments in different businesses which may result to sudden drop of it. If everyone has this kind of mindset probably a lot of businesses would stop even after the quarantine because of the panic of people. If this is gonna happen the government should have plan for this, financial crisis is indeed visible in our country especially on the poor people. Unfortunately, people would be skeptical about the situation that is happening now cause no one knows what really gonna happen in the next few months. I am certain that once this economy fail a lot of people would protest and panic more.