Missing the updates Fakhoury, where did you run off to?!

I'm getting worried...

He'll ya, welcome back Fakhoury!

Was starting to think someone kidnapped you for your BTC!

I think the halving in July is bullish.   I think at least a majority will agree with that statement.  And it is only two months away.

I think it is worth the risk in investing short term, as well as long term, in Bitcoin.

So how much risk is anyone else willing to take on?   Stop 401k or IRA contributions to use that money?  Sell assets to fund more bitcoin (which is what I am doing)?  Or the brave souls who would "charge a credit card" to bet on the increase to pay it off in short order??  Heaven forbid, someone I read is betting their house (if they were serious) on Bitcoin in the halving.   Or has the upward move largely happened?

This is all in the face of some doubts with Bitcoin, like the hard fork risks and block size resolutions being advocated.

I am not a gambler, but I am going to buy more over time but am weighing what my risk level is.

Good idea. Once bitcoin is a "safe" investment, the opportunity for huge gains will be severely diminished. I was just using extra money to buy bitcoins over the last few years. Instead of putting it in the stock market like I was before, I bought bitcoins. I would never back down my 401k to buy bitcoins though.

Well said, Fakhoury. In fact, when there is hatred toward something and FUD and BS being spread, that means things are going well. Otherwise, no one would even care to bash it.

I think there is a lot of fear and fud from people trying to depress the price prior to the halving in July(?).   

We will see what the general consensus is after that roller coaster starts, but let's just say I am not selling either before or after the halving.

As long as bitcoin continues to be developed and adoption continues to increase, I'm holding. We are still maintaining very nice gains since summer 2015.

The head is titled bullish media thread!

Maybe thats your cue to start a 'The Bullshit Media Centre' thread!

its coming... just walked around.

it's not only possible, it's inevitable.  

If bitcoin catches on, since there's only 21 million coins, not everyone will be able to afford a full bitcoin. 1 bitcoin has to be an outrageous amount of money, too much for most persons to even afford. Otherwise we would have a paradox.  

You can't have 7 billion people each holding 1 bitcoin or even more than 1 bitcoin and at the same time having only 21 million bitcoin. Since we know 21 million is a hard limit, if bitcoin becomes popular it will be insanely expensive. So expensive that most people can only afford a few mills (1/1000th of a bitcoin) and some people might not even be able to afford that.

There are only two options:

1) Bitcoin catches on and becomes widely used around the world (it seems like this is in fact happening, although it will take a few more years to really catch on). And therefore bitcoin will become insanely expensive.  

2) Bitcoin will remain a nerd-club only permanently and the mainstream will only use fiat (or perhaps a different crypto, but for some reason not bitcoin). In this case the price will stabilize at best, and decrease at worst. I find this a very unlikely outcome, but it's possible.   

Remember that 20 years ago nobody even knew they wanted a mobile phone, common arguments were: I already have a phone at home or I don't want people to constantly bother me if i am going out/at work.

And the same thing with computers and the internet and the washing machine. You see the pattern?

People don't know they want it, but they want it, and once the realization kicks in, they will race to buy them.

For the past 3 months, if not more, Bitcoin has increased at a steady pace of 5% a month without huge swings one way or another.   

That's almost doubling in value each year. Most banks don't even give 5% interest in a year anymore. (They might have, at some put in the 90s or so, but not today).

A lot of people seem disappointed Bitcoin is so slow and stagnant right now, but seriously, how many assets can claim a consistent 5% per month increase?

Of course at some point the pattern will break, but you know, it's not a slow growth at all.

Although considering the amount of people that use Bitcoin right now compared to how many people might use it in the near future, the price will likely get some explosive growth just to keep up with demand, but that's not really the point.

April 2016 updated graphs:

Cycle chart:




With highlights:




Just cycle3 so far (linear scale):




And for reference, the first two full cycles (linear - different scales):





As cycles go, we should be reaching the end of section D very soon.  If previous cycle trends hold, the next thing would be another rise.  This corresponds nicely to the halving which is upcoming (~3 months from now).

next 24h are critical!

Really, it's not that bad. 

Bitcoin seems to be in a decent place.  If we can endure about a year of a down trend, in 2014, and then about 8 months of flat in 2015 (in the $230 price territory), It feels pretty good to be floating in this lower $400s territory, even if it has been a few months.

Keep accumulating seems a good plan curing these fairly slow moving times.