Is having USDT the most efficient way to buy altcoins during dips?

[jerry0]

So everyone says but low and sell high.  So after all these coins including btc went down, lot of people would be buying btc and altcoins.  My question is mainly for buying altcoins.  First off, when you buy these altcoins during dips, are you buying it with another altcoin?  Such as another altcoin, sell it for btc and then buy the altcoin you want?


Or do you just buy btc and then immediately buy the altcoin?  The big issue with this is if btc goes up and that altcoin goes up, well you are getting around same amount of the altcoin assuming they both increase the same.  The same can be said if its decreasing.


Im assuming the best option would be get btc first... immediately sell it for usdt.  Then wait for prices to drop.  Once prices drop and you are ready to buy the altcoin, then you immediately buy btc with the usdt... then immediately buy the altcoin with usdt right?  I ask this because when i notice altcoins drop and i want to buy, the first thing i would do is withdraw btc from a site.  The issue with this though it would take either an hour or even a day or more depending on the site because they take a while pay you out in btc.  Then by the time i get the btc, well the altcoin might have increased too high of a price to buy already.  So is this the proper strategy to not only buy altcoin during dips but also btc?  Thus make sure you have usdt?  The other thing is if you are using coinbase or gdax, well make sure you had a usd balance on hand to get ready to buy btc, eth or litecoin during dips right?

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[minersday]

But you must be a dumb to do not realize that, in the long term, ALL THE ALTCOINS are going to decrease indirectly because of bitcoin.

if you kept holding litecoin a few months ago when the price was 0.05 per LTC, now you could have more than $1000 (with the rates of $20k aprox per btc)

But if you sold those ltc right now, you were just going to have less than $300.

Maybe you bought those litecoins at $50 each, but the price in BTC was 0.05, there is the big difference. In fact you are going to buy at the same price, because usdt - btc have the same correlation at the time that you are going to buy.

Or do you just buy btc and then immediately buy the altcoin?  The big issue with this is if btc goes up and that altcoin goes up, well you are getting around same amount of the altcoin assuming they both increase the same.  The same can be said if its decreasing.

[jerry0]

Im asking about the best way to have money on hand to buy altcoins at dips.  Yes i know btc is the best bet.  But other coins can multiply much more than btc because btc is already high.


So i want to know those people who buy dips on altcoins, is what i described the best way to do this?

[TryNinja]

Im asking about the best way to have money on hand to buy altcoins at dips.  Yes i know btc is the best bet.  But other coins can multiply much more than btc because btc is already high.


So i want to know those people who buy dips on altcoins, is what i described the best way to do this?

Most of the exchanges don't have USDT pairs to every coin (E.g: Poloniex).

What most people do is buy bitcoin, send them to the exchange and buy the coins. Simple as that.

[jerry0]

Yes i know most coins are exchanges like bittrex are not paired with USDT.  There are not that many coins paired with it.  Thus all the altcoins are paired with USDT.  So if you want to have money ready to buy a certain altcoin or altcoins and want to make sure you have money on hand at the moment, thus make sure you get btc and sell it for usdt on bittrex immediately right?  Thus once you do that, you have USDT in your bittrex account and when you want to buy an altcoin, immediately sell the usdt for btc... then sell the btc for altcoin correct? 


The thing is if you have btc in your bittrex account, well even if the altcoin drops in price and its the price you want to buy... btc could drop the same rate and thus you would get the same amount of altcoin if both drops at the same rate right?  Thus if you want to not have any btc fluctuations and only look at the altcoin prices, make sure you sell btc for usdt immediately and just keep usdt on bittrex so anything you are ready to buy altcoins, you do it?

[GPU5970]

It is the same because you are always going to buy the same amount.
150 USD are the same as 0.01 BTC, and with that amount of money equally in btc or usdt, it is always going to be the same, you can buy the exact amount of altcoins that you want to.

[musaides]

i dont believe it makes a difference, just longer process using USDT

[jerry0]

How is the same if you are going to buy the same amount?  Example say you want to buy 1000 shares of a coin at 1 dollar.  The price of btc is say 10000 usd.  Say the price of the altcoin is 2 dollar.  You want to wait for the coin to hit 1 dollar.  Now let say you have 0.10 btc at the moment which is 1000 usd.  If you buy the altcoin now, you could only buy 500 of them since its 2 dollars.


Now say you wait... btc goes up to 13k.  But now altcoin goes to 5 dollars.  Well that 0.10 btc you have... is worth 1300 usd.  But now you could only buy 1300/5 = 260 shares of the altcoin only.


Or let say btc stays at around 10k.  Now if altcoin goes to 3 dollars, you could only buy 333 shares of that altcoin.  Or say btc goes to 8k and btc stays at 2 dollars... you could only get 400 shares of the altcoin.  But say you were to sell the btc for usd when btc is 10000... you have 1000 usdt.  Now if the altcoin goes to 3 dollars... you would have to sell the usdt to btc and then buy the altcoin and you get around 330 or so.  But the thing is if you don't want to face any btc fluctuations, thus isn't converting it to usdt the best thing to do? 


So basically those of you who are waiting to buy altcoins... how do you make sure you have the money to buy the altcoin immediately when it dips to a price that you want to buy?  Always keep btc on hand in your exchange account?  However is this btc the one you are holding or basically using it to buy altcoins regardless if the btc price drops?


I assume those that want to buy altcoins almost never keep the amount of btc in their bitcoin wallets right if they are going to buy altcoins soon?  The reason mainly because it takes so long for btc transfer to take so better have the amount of btc you want to trade on the exchange?  Thus imagine you want to buy an altcoin but then when you send it to bittrex.. it takes a while and then the coin goes up too much.   I ask this because i have had btc in my wallet and tried to send it to bittrex to buy a coin when the price is low but it took way too long and then the coin went up to a price that was so high... where i dont want to buy it anymore because i could not buy much of that coin anymore.

[exstasie]

So everyone says but low and sell high.  So after all these coins including btc went down, lot of people would be buying btc and altcoins.  My question is mainly for buying altcoins.  First off, when you buy these altcoins during dips, are you buying it with another altcoin?  Such as another altcoin, sell it for btc and then buy the altcoin you want?

Most altcoins are priced in BTC. There are some very liquid markets like ETH where the fiat charts are important, but generally "buying the dip" on altcoins entails waiting in BTC, much like "buying the dip" on BTC means waiting in USD.

Or do you just buy btc and then immediately buy the altcoin?

It depends. With the recent dip, altcoins were looking so strong that I only hedged my BTC with a short and otherwise just held everything in my portfolio. I'm surprised everything didn't crash together.

In this case, I bought back BTC, but none of my altcoin bids got filled. No panic. So, waiting on some new entries.

Im assuming the best option would be get btc first... immediately sell it for usdt.  Then wait for prices to drop.  Once prices drop and you are ready to buy the altcoin, then you immediately buy btc with the usdt... then immediately buy the altcoin with usdt right?  

No, most altcoins don't have liquid USDT markets. I definitely prefer to trade alt/BTC markets, and it's obviously simpler and cheaper not to introduce another market in the middle (USDT).

[jerry0]

I don't know why people keep mentioning altcoins don't have liquid USDT markets.  Im well aware of this!


I mean say you want to buy an altcoin that is traded against btc and its around 2 dollars at the moment.  BTC is around 10000 dollars.  You want to buy 1000 shares of the altcoin at 1 dollar.  Thus spend 1000 usd.  You have 0.10 btc now so thats 1000 dollars.  If you buy altcoin now, you only get 500 at the moment.  So now you are waiting for altcoin to drop to 1 dollar.  Lets also say you dont think btc will go up that much from now on until you buy that altcoin.  You think it will either stay same price or even drop in price.  If thats the case, then wouldn't it make sense to immediately sell the btc for usdt right now so you get around 1000 usd at the moment?  That way when btc drops and the altcoin drops... lets say it drops to 1.50... you decide to just buy the altcoin now.  You then buy btc with the usdt and then immediately sell the btc for the altcoin.  Now you might get around 700 or so of it.  Does that make sense or not?

[ufoliver]

Didn't seem like you got the relevant responses here. I have the same question. You ever get to the bottom of this? What'd you conclude? USDT a good way to park funds amidst dramatic drops?

[jerry0]

Well i haven't gotten a response on this that really answers the question.  Thats the issue here.

[exstasie]

Well i haven't gotten a response on this that really answers the question.  Thats the issue here.

I'll give this one more try, but I get the impression you're waiting for someone to confirm your bias (which I think is incorrect).

So now you are waiting for altcoin to drop to 1 dollar.  Lets also say you dont think btc will go up that much from now on until you buy that altcoin.  You think it will either stay same price or even drop in price.  If thats the case, then wouldn't it make sense to immediately sell the btc for usdt right now so you get around 1000 usd at the moment?

You then buy btc with the usdt and then immediately sell the btc for the altcoin.  Now you might get around 700 or so of it.  Does that make sense or not?

Honestly, it doesn't. You should stop looking at altcoins in dollar value. It's not how the markets trade. In a bull market, the only thing that matters is whether an altcoin is outperforming BTC. If you sit around in USDT waiting for the low on an altcoin, it probably means you just missed a massive BTC move. You could then buy BTC and buy the altcoin, but it would have made a lot more sense to hold BTC and then trade for altcoins once the market turns.

Worrying about the dollar value of altcoins is a great way to get shaken out of the market too. Panic selling is much more intense in altcoin markets than BTC (because liquidity is so bad), and you need to have bids on the BTC pair in order to exploit it. Pull up a midcap altcoin/USD chart on Tradingview (they calculate the USD value based on the BTC chart). It looks like shit compared to the alcoin/BTC chart, doesn't it? Wicks and whipsaws every which way. That's because they are all correlated to BTC. You should be trading them as such. Otherwise you're probably just losing bitcoins left and right (and quite possibly USD as well).

If you can wrap your head around it, it makes a lot more sense to hedge short BTC to deal with BTCUSD downside risk, and simply trade the alt/BTC markets as they are. It only makes sense to hold USDT in a crash scenario (in which case, screw USDT, I want real USD on a licensed exchange or in my bank account).

[Pursuer]

when altcoins drop (get dumped hard) they are losing their value. and if you want to buy them in their dips you can use form of currency to buy them. this form of currency can be USD, EUR, ... or BTC. and since most people trade in bitcoin markets to increase their BTC wealth, those markets are mostly popular and have higher volumes. which makes it the most efficient way to buy altcoins with bitcoin.

on the other hand USDT is a centralized altcoin which also happens to shady and risky. it is very hard to trust such a system that has nothing guaranteed and promises absolutely nothing to those who hold it. that brings in a huge risk for you to even use it for a short amount of time. although it may seem convenient at times.

[bamb]

I will not put big money in usdt no matter how badly I want to trade or buy altcoin. Bitcoin is a sure bet that you will have it when you need to buy or trade altcoin. Yes sometimes their might be delay in transfering bitcoin but you have several means of accelerating your transaction or better still having an emmergency bitcoin onyour trusted exchange!

[dmamigo]

I prefer and use  Bitcoin and nowdays Ethereum as well sometimes to buy Altcoins. USDT personally I found it too problematic for me to buy USDT. I found the other two coins BTC and ETH much more hassle free to buy. Also I don't like USDT so kind of try to avoid it.

[ChrisPop]

I try to avoid trading against USDT as well as I don't trust them + they have bad media reviews. It is much better for me to send bitcoin to bitstamp,kraken or other btc/usd exchange when I want to change into fiat. Or sometimes use hedging on bitmex.

[ufoliver]

Let me see if I can paint the picture clearly to clarify for others.

He's not suggesting USDT as an investment, but rather a way to park your funds. Let's look at an example using USD.

I have $15,000 USD and buy 1 BTC @ $15,000 and immediately invest it in ALT1 @ .0001 BTC (10K shares). ALT1 rises to .0002 BTC = 100% increase, great! I take those 10K shares and convert back to BTC, now worth 2 BTC (10K x .0002). I then convert those 2 BTC back into USD and now have $30K USD. Soon after, the coin markets drop considerably and BTC is now valued at $10,000. I can now take my $30,000 USD (unchanged in value) and buy 3 BTC.

So instead of holding 2 BTC and having it drop with the market to ~1.3 BTC, I now have 3 BTC.

The question is can USDT be used the same way as USD in this scenario and roughly with the same result??

If not, why?

[jerry0]

Thats correct.  Im not talking about having usdt as an investment.  Because well its always around 1 dollar or so.  I meant about having usdt on hand to buy altcoins during dips.  Or buying btc during dips but it was more so altcoins than bitcoins but it certainly applies to btc as well.  Thus on coinbase/gemini, even though i never used it, i know when you sell btc, you get usd balance.  Thus when you want to buy, you buy with your usd balance.  But they don't have many of those altcoins.


So if you want to trade altcoins on bittrex, well you need btc.  But some people don't want to hold btc.  Or if they do, sometimes they want to convert it to usdt because that way when they want to buy an altcoin when altcoin dips and btc does not... let say btc stays around same price... then you would get more altcoins for your money because you would buy the btc with the usdt that you already got when you sold your btc... then immediately buy the altcoin.  Of course this works to get more altcoin if btc either stays the same price or goes lower after you sold it for usdt... and the altcoin has to lower in price.


What the person mentioned about the buy 1 btc at 15k and sell it for altcoin and then altcoin doubles and you have 2btc... then you sell it for 30k usd.  Then wait till btc drops to 10k and now you use the 30k usdt to buy 3 btc, that is pretty much what im talking about as well.  And i like to know is usdt used the same was as usd as this applies to btc, eth and also ALTCOINS.  It seems that people who do this with btc, eth seem to only do this on sites that use usd only like coinbase/gdax?  Any reason why not bittrex?  But with those other altcoins, obviously you can only do this on exchanges like bittrex.

[bitcoinmasterlord]

Let me see if I can paint the picture clearly to clarify for others.

He's not suggesting USDT as an investment, but rather a way to park your funds. Let's look at an example using USD.

I have $15,000 USD and buy 1 BTC @ $15,000 and immediately invest it in ALT1 @ .0001 BTC (10K shares). ALT1 rises to .0002 BTC = 100% increase, great! I take those 10K shares and convert back to BTC, now worth 2 BTC (10K x .0002). I then convert those 2 BTC back into USD and now have $30K USD. Soon after, the coin markets drop considerably and BTC is now valued at $10,000. I can now take my $30,000 USD (unchanged in value) and buy 3 BTC.

So instead of holding 2 BTC and having it drop with the market to ~1.3 BTC, I now have 3 BTC.

The question is can USDT be used the same way as USD in this scenario and roughly with the same result??

If not, why?

Yes is the answer to your question. USD and USDT are almost same why because the price of the 1 USDT is equivalent to 1 USD price.

And here if the price is dropped then your strategy will work out, but if it increased to $20k, then you feel why you converted it into USDT.