This might be an issue when more and more people decide to HODL and the liquidity dries up. But the market should correct itself, prices will go up quickly until people start to consider selling again. We will just start trading in always smaller quantities, until prices drop when the majority of HODL investors start selling. This is not something that is only happening in the crypto world. The stock market faces the same risk and is doing fine for the last 100 years. I don't this is going to be a big issue in the crypto world. A company can just issue new shares overnight and dilute the existing shareholders putting pressure on the price. Or some of the wealth, or large college, or retirement funds that hold large portions of companies could rebalance their portfolios, sending prices down. There are a lot of stocks that are not actively being traded and the market is still doing fine. As long as everybody knows about the issue and can adjust his expectations there is no problem.

Not sure if I understand the approach correctly, we should try to focus the time and energy of the patient on something new completely with the goal to make money? I don't think it's a good approach to argue with addicts, because they will only use logic of it helps them. In case the logic is against them, they will just disregard it. My first argument is going to be that gambling is not here to make us rich. The majority of gamblers are not going to succeed in getting rich through gambling. Basic mathematics are going to speak against any possible counter argument. It takes a large number of small losses to be able to payout one large win for the casino. Also if the patient committed himself to therapy already he must realise that he has a problem and wants to turn his life around.

This is terrible when a gambling addiction is ruining a family. But I wouldn't say that it's something only linked to gambling, and form of addiction is having severe impacts on the family and can ruin. With gambling addictions the patient will use all the money he gets his hands on to go and play at casinos, with the alcohol addictions he will just go to the supermarket and buy as much alcohol as possible. I think we should be more open to all types of addictions and not to only one. It's hard for the family to see the life of a loved one ruined without being able to change it.

I think there are two parts to the story. The first one is having a successful business that generates profits. It doesn't really matter if these profits are being generated in Fiat or crypto currencies. We can always just trade our profit into the currency or coin that we need. The same goes for paying expenses and taxes, any liquid crypto coin can be converted back to fiat to pay the bills. The second part to the story is what we are doing with our profits. Assuming that our business has enough capital and we are not interested in reinvesting our profits, or planning new projects, we can just trade or hodl cryptos. It's a basic calculation to compare the return we make each year with our crypto portfolio, and how much return our business generates. As long as we don't lose any money in trading that is necessary to run our business, I don't see problem with. Also treating the two separately helps to focus on the profitability and to maximize our profits.

I agree with you that the short term price impact on bitcoins, if the ETFs are not being approved, should be negative and some investors might lose their motivation to stay in the crypto markets for the near future. However, long term I don't think this going to have an serious impact on the bitcoin price. First of all, just because the ETFs won't be approved doesn't mean they don't come at a later stage. It could just take a few more years for all the big ETF companies creating their own crypto departments. Secondly, investors who are looking for exposure to bitcoins are not going away. If the investors can't buy ETFs, they can still buy coins directly. I would expect to see a rise of spot investors to buy the coins the ETF companies would have bought. The long term trend for Bitcoin is going to remain positive and investors will use other forms of investment to get their desired exposure. 

No, I don't think that I have a different Ego when I gamble to the rest of my everyday life Ego. I enjoy gambling whenever possible and have done so at a young age before being able to visit casinos. Competitiveness is what brought me into many different games at a young age and it makes it so much more fun when you can bet money with it. For example, my friends and I have already played cards for money at the age of 14. So, if I wouldn't gamble at a casino at all I would just gamble more with friends directly and not change at all.

Wow that's a crazy return on your investment. I had no idea you could be making such kind of returns by playing slots alone. Hitting a jackpot is rare in slots, but hitting one that pays out 42 million is crazy. Congratulations for the lucky winner if he is here on the forum and I hope he is going to invest that money wisely. With so much money you can retire and just live off the interest. Also nice to see that Sportsbet paid out the win and didn't try to avoid it. All the casino scandals in the past make you cautious a bit when it comes to such large wins. But risking a well known brand name only for a quick profit doesn't make sense. Guess I will have to look out in the future for such extra high jackpots.

It's going to take a long time for all the bitcoin to be mined. And even today, it's hard to find anybody today who hasn't heard about crypto currencies before. So many different crypto coins have been around for many years and been in the newspapers, I would say most people know a crypto investor today. In 50 years I think it will be impossible to find anybody that hasnt heard about cryptos and probably most people will use it regularly. Among my family and friends are mostly open people who are not against cryptos. Only my mother and grandmother are against it, without understanding it. They never used online banking, so they are against everything new that involves money and isn't cash. There two main arguments against something new is either it's only for rich people, or it's a scam. Both of these arguments are hard to destroy if the person isn't willing to learn more about the subject. But over time everybody is going to change their mind, because cryptos are not going to disappear. Which is why I believe it's impossible for all the bitcoins to be lost. Investors are going to take good care of their keys and will not abandon them.

It's hard to give a general answer here, but futures trading is definitely not gambling. Gambling is a complete game of chance where you play against the house, that has an advantage over you through the house edge. With futures trading you have a contract to buy a particular asset at a later stage in time, where you make a profit if the spot price is higher than your future reference price, or a loss if the price is lower. The higher volatility of futures comes from the leverage involved, you only put down the money for the margin account that is much lower than the spot price of the coin. Assuming that your friend lost so much money in a very short amount of time, he must have gambled way above his means. Without proper risk management, futures trading can lead to large losses. A buy and hold strategy is not really advisable for futures, because prices can change quickly. We should react with the price change and sit through large swings. Getting wiped out with futures and being forced to liquidate is devastating and should be avoided at all cost.

 

In my opinion there is no unity among the BRICS to create their own digital currency. The have a common goal to reduce the international dependency on US Dollar, but no solution on how to achieve it. The problem is that all of the big countries like India, China and Russia want to see their own currency as the new world currency and are not willing to support someone else. Which is why I don't think that any of the digital currencies by BRICS are going to be a competition for Bitcoin. It won't change the demand for Bitcoins as it's still going to be the number one crypto currency that is accept all around the world. Russia is the only country at the moment engaged in a major war and being sanction by most of the western world, what makes the Rubel the least likely currency to reach any international dominance. Also, the west is very cautious with China and their control of the economy and their currency, which leaves India as the only real alternative to create a counterweight to the US Dollar. But India is not in the economic position to create their own stable digital currency that would settle the majority of international trade. The most likely outcome is that the US Dollar will lose more international market share, but at a slow rate and it won't be one currency alone that will take over the market share, rather a rise in bilateral trading between countries directly.

I don't think that the pressure or stress we experience when gambling is anything unique to gambling. Life itself has a lot of pressure, that comes from our work, problems at home, health issues or any other form of activities that involve money and risk. For example, a trader will be very used to dealing under pressure and has mechanism to not be affected by it severely. For me the best approach to gambling is to look at it as a form of entertainment. I try to have fund and a good time, if things get to intense I will just quit for the night and try again another day. That's the good thing about gambling, the games are always the same and will be around 24/7. There is no need to spend all day at the casino, we can just spread our time out over a week or two.

I fully agree with you, it's so much more important to focus on the risk side of gambling than it is to focus on the potential profit we can make. It should be obvious that the more money we use the more profit we could make from gambling. The problem is that if we only focus on the winnings is that we face the risk to get large losses. At least for me the goal is more to avoid large losses than to get the maximum possible return. The worst thing in gambling that could happen would be to go broke. Once we lose all our money there is no coming back. As long as we still keep some of our bankroll, we always have the chance to recover at a later stage.

That is terrible, imagine after all those years you finally manage to win a jackpot only to suffer a medical emergency and not be able to enjoy your winnings anymore. As for my own health I don't think I am old enough yet to suffer such a serious issue. I am overnight and and don't exercise enough, so when I am older I should definitely keep an eye on my health. The excitement from gambling still feels fine and I enjoy it. My father had a stroke and I know it's terrible, you can see completely one half of the body to stop reacting. Luckily it was only a minor stroke and he gets the right medication now. If we know about our conditions then it's better to only gamble in small amounts and keep the excitement to a lower level.

Lottery had been a very common thing in my family for many years. My grand father played the lottery all his life and had a fixed set of numbers he would always play. My mother is playing regularly as well and always pick the birthdays of her kids. The problem is that both of them never won anything for all the money they used to buy the tickets. I am the complete when it comes to the lottery, I don't have a fixed set of numbers and I also don't play every week. It makes the most sense for me to only play when the jackpot is very high and then I play more numbers. So, instead of playing when the jackpot is low I just save my money and play usually 6 fields when the jackpot is near a new ATH. It's all about maximising my winnings if I ever manage to beat the jackpot.

Danke @1miau, ist schon gekommen. Naja das mit den 45,000 Level hat nicht wirklich lange gedauert  gleich im ersten Tag vom neuen Jahr. Schade dass das Gewinnspiel nicht einen Tag länger lief. Wenn es soweiter geht dann ist ein neues Allezeithoch definitiv drin in 2024.

In my country I noticed the exact opposite, a Bachelors degree becomes the norm today and whereas maybe 10% of the young people went to university back in the days, it's probably 35-45% today. There are so many school schemes that offer your high school diploma during evening hours and even people who aborted school at a young age will come back later. Also the whole university landscape changed a lot in the last 20 years. A lot of so-called universities are working together with companies and offer applied degrees, where you will spend half the time working full time and half the time studying. The company will pay for your education and expects you to keep working for them after you finish graduation. Which is why I feel like that the Bachelor’s degree became mandatory for many jobs today. I am not so familiar with the various savings plans from insurance companies, but doesn't a life savings plan usually mean that you only get the money after retirement? In my country the whole concept of a life savings contract is that you get a certain amount of minimum expected return, and everything above that is not guaranteed and based on return of your assets. If you ask me, I would always prefer to invest the money myself and don't pay for all the fees for the insurance company. Saving on our own gives us all the freedom to buy crypto currencies and we can also withdraw money if it's needed.

 

When it comes to trading knowledge is important, it's like the foundation upon a successful trader is building his fortune. Without knowledge we are not going to succeed long term, because everybody can get lucky a few times and make the right trades, but outperforming the market over a longer period of time requires skill and knowledge. That is why there are so many books and course about trading, so that everybody can learn the basic before using larger amounts of money to trade. Passion and consistency are important to stay motivated and keep learning new strategies, we need focus on our long-term goals of building a large portfolio and reaching financial independence. Also, passion is what is going to help us to stick through the though times. There will always be a losing streak where it seems we can’t beat the market. During those times it’s important to believe in ourselves and having a strong interest and passion into trading is what will prevent us from quitting. Short term setbacks should not be a concern, as long as we focus on the big picture and manage to recover during the next bull run again.

 

Vielen Dank nochmal an 1miau an das klasse Gewinnspiel. Ist schon einige Zeit her dass ich hier was gewonnen haben. So fängt das neue Jahr gleich viel besser an.

Meine Bitcoin Adresse: bc1qsrh2pu5l4ctysujwu957xuswy7hhxqj0rcrajy

Hatte noch bis zum Ende gehofft dass die 45,000er Marke doch noch geknackt wird. Herzlichen Glückwunsch natürlich auch an den ersten und zweiten Platz.

Frohes neues Jahr.

 

The best way to get a steady source of income would be to find a job. Working full time 8 hours per day, 5 days per week will lead to a decent payslip each month that should cover all our expenses and cost. If we don't spend too much money each month, we will even be able to save some of that money and can use it for the future. Assuming you already have a job and are looking for ways to make additional money, you could ask your boss for overtime or to work on weekends/holidays to make additional money from your time. At the company where I work, we can actually choose if we want our overtime to be paid or if we want use it as additional vacation days. Most of my colleagues use their time for additional vacation days, whereas I always want it to be paid out. If for some reason there is no chance to make additional money at your company, you could consider selling some of your old stuff that you don't need anymore. It's a quick and easy way to raise some additional money.

 

 

That is a tricky question, because I don't think BlackRock knows more than we do, but we all know that the supply of Bitcoin is limited and if someone controls the majority of the market, he will be able to squeeze prices. As for the story of the house, it all comes down to if you enjoy living in your house and that community, or if you can consider selling it. Assuming I would find a similar house with same sizes for 500k, then I would be selling rather quickly and enjoy the 1.5m cash I get for free. Investing all that money and only using the interest each year is giving a nice boost to my income. With Bitcoin the story would be a bit different, because we don't have to sell all your coins at once. With a house or apartment, we can only sell or keep, there is no in-between. Whenever there is a price jump to 100k or 1m I would only consider to sell maybe 25% of my holdings and never everything, because there is no hard cap on the bitcoin price, it could always rise higher.