Is mining still worth it for the average person?

[Castlereagh]

Hi there,

Now I know this is a bit of a stupid broad question - and I just want to stress, I'm not expecting you to do all my research for me or anything. I just know there is a whole wealth of experience on this board, and thought it might give me a good starting point to my research if I got a few opinions first.

Basically, I'm relatively new to crypto - got in at the end of last year, and my aim to date has been to create a decent portfolio and then to hold long term. So far, it has worked out OK - I got pretty decent entries that held up through the bloodbaths. However, my original plan... to buy and forget, hasn't quite gone to plan because, damn it, I've got pretty addicted to this stuff... and I'm no longer happy to just hold the coins I have. I want more... MORE!  

I can't get into day trading because (a) I don't think I have the know-how or nerve for it and (b) my wife and kids will kill me if I start spending even more time at my computer doing this stuff. Therefore, it occurred to me that mining might have some potential as something of a 'set and forget' method... I mean set-up, maintenance and running costs aside. I may be completely wrong though.

However, I know the golden age of people being able to mine bitcoin on their laptops is well and truly over - and the more I look into it, it seems that with many of the large cap coins you need whole banks of mining rigs to make it worthwhile... which is something I simply don't have the space or money for. I looked into cloud mining etc., but it got some dodgy reviews... and I hear a lot of them are a bit scammy.

So, I'll stop rambling and get to the point: are there any coins or scenarios where it's possible for an average person with a budget of around $1000 to make a reasonable profit from a single mining machine kept in the home?

Is it possible to kind of 'dabble' in this way in 2018 - without needing a quasi-industrial set up, or wasting money and just racking up huge energy bills?

All opinions and guidance would be much appreciated!

[Crypto4good]

Great question , i was thinking the same thing  i run a charity who feed the homeless in the UK , our charity raises funds from crypto donations  we were thinking mining might bring some funds in? what do you think

[Golempl]

There is no such coin. If one coin is more profitable than other, then it attract more miners, difficulty raise and you end up with lower yelds which make profit same like other coins.
1000$  is not worth to start any mining for having worth income, it may be more like having fun from mining, but not money.

[dhouse]

So, I'll stop rambling and get to the point: are there any coins or scenarios where it's possible for an average person with a budget of around $1000 to make a reasonable profit from a single mining machine kept in the home?

Is it possible to kind of 'dabble' in this way in 2018 - without needing a quasi-industrial set up, or wasting money and just racking up huge energy bills?

All opinions and guidance would be much appreciated!

Yeah man build yourself a little GPU rig and have fun. I spent about $1600 on my first rig and have been happily minig eth for a while. Planning on trying some other coins soon. I'd say go for it if you have the money, you'll learn a lot and have fun. And yeah there are still profits to be had. Just keep in mind that the crypto market is super volatile so any ROI calculators and things like that are highly imprecise and are a rough guess at best.

[Troy1307]

It really depends on your definition of reasonable profits. $1000 is not very much to start with, but you can still have fun and make a little extra every month.

[dhouse]

It really depends on your definition of reasonable profits. $1000 is not very much to start with, but you can still have fun and make a little extra every month.

Yeah - but a person who is getting into it has to understand that mining is generally not a "get rich quick" type of thing, anyway; it's really a long term play. There are risks associated with it as well as possible HUGE rewards. Just go look at the discussion people were having several years ago debating whether mining was even worth it, and then think about how the people that were mining then are doing now.

[moldovacoin]

Hello
Any person can spend 2000 usd and buy ASIC for home mining.

L3 bitmain X2 = $22.76 per day
D3 bitmain X3  = $22.76 per day

https://whattomine.com/asic

[Miningtry]

With that amount of money you can't really make some decent profit, but that doesn't mean you will not make some pocket change.
Look on mining like hobby,start small you can always buy more gpus or sell it all.

[yhhy]

The ROI is not that good at the moment, you might get more if you just invest in cryptos. But if you want to start learning mining i'd say go for it .

[moldovacoin]

With that amount of money you can't really make some decent profit, but that doesn't mean you will not make some pocket change.
Look on mining like hobby,start small you can always buy more gpus or sell it all.

It is OK
 X11 ASIC miner for hobby miners that are not there just for the profit like most other miners are.

[sedou]

You can buy ASIC miner or few GPUs to start as a hobby and then after learning few things about mining you will be able to make a decision if you want to expand or not.

[leowonderful]

ROI time on most GPUs isn't actually as bad as most people are making it out to be right now. Assuming you get a 6GB 1060 for around ~$330, you'll make your money back in about 6.5-7 months (at ten cents electrical cost and assuming you're mining ZEC or ETH) as things stand. Any ROI time under a year is pretty good for mining, considering many other investments make you much less money in the same time period (and possibly have more risk), and mining used to be significantly less profitable than it is now even with high GPU prices and coin prices falling a bit recently.

If you've got electrical costs around or below 10 cents per kw (15 is okay but not ideal) and have the patience to snipe graphics cards when they come back in stock at decent prices, mining sure is still worth it. Combine that with the knowledge on this forum and you're set for mining.

[binkyj357]

I say go for it. You already know you've got an addiction. I was where you are about a year ago, and I'm glad I jumped in when I did. I had already started scraping together what I could with cheap/used ASICS, but the real jump came when a started collecting GPUs. You can mine what you want to hold, mine for highest profit and trade for what you want to hold, or sell immediately... I just feel like it allows for more flexibility without constantly laying out in fiat

[sq1stne]

1k won't go very far in this inflated market. Just keep investing n wait for prices of gpus to come down.

[gotminer]

1k won't go very far in this inflated market. Just keep investing n wait for prices of gpus to come down.

Or get decent deals on GPU's.  I'm still seeing good deals on NewEgg.  B&H is a little more expensive the past couple of weeks, but whatever you're buying, you have to act fast.  When they announce that they have stock, they're gone in 5-30 minutes.

Look at MSRP of the card.  I wouldn't pay more than 10-15% higher than MSRP for any gpu right now.  Certainly do not overpay.  You'll regret it later.

I'll be building my fifth 6 gpu rig this weekend.  2-2-2 mixed 1070ti, 1080, 1080ti rig, but with the Newegg purchase limits and getting the best prices from them, it was the best I could do.

[BennyT]

Even with the inflated prices you’re still better off buying today to start mining ASAP. If the shortage ends tomorrow, then yes waiting was better. If it ends in 4 weeks, then the money you saved wasn’t worth it. It’s just hard to overpay because we remember the prices from 6 weeks ago but dollar for dollar, the prices aren’t inflated enough to make waiting worth it. I’m sure everyone’s opinion will vary.

[gotminer]

Even with the inflated prices you’re still better off buying today to start mining ASAP. If the shortage ends tomorrow, then yes waiting was better. If it ends in 4 weeks, then the money you saved wasn’t worth it. It’s just hard to overpay because we remember the prices from 6 weeks ago but dollar for dollar, the prices aren’t inflated enough to make waiting worth it. I’m sure everyone’s opinion will vary.

I agree, but at the same time, some people don't look at what prices were back in November/December.  So they end up paying double what gpu's were going for 2-3 months ago.  I don't think that's a wise move, because there are deals to be had, but you have to know how to get them, and you have to be very very quick.  Now is not the time to go on Amazon, eBay, Newegg, ect. and purchase from resellers who are asking double or more what I paid for the same gpu in November/December. 

[p337miner]

A budget of $1000 is about 1 GPU probably a 1070 or 1070ti - with an old mobo/system or 1 GPU 1060 with a mobo, cpu etc. It would take you a while to mine a profit with 1 GPU. You'd want your own rig so that you can swap between algo/coins. You can def make a profit, but with that budget it would be a bit low.

[BennyT]

Even with the inflated prices you’re still better off buying today to start mining ASAP. If the shortage ends tomorrow, then yes waiting was better. If it ends in 4 weeks, then the money you saved wasn’t worth it. It’s just hard to overpay because we remember the prices from 6 weeks ago but dollar for dollar, the prices aren’t inflated enough to make waiting worth it. I’m sure everyone’s opinion will vary.

I agree, but at the same time, some people don't look at what prices were back in November/December.  So they end up paying double what gpu's were going for 2-3 months ago.  I don't think that's a wise move, because there are deals to be had, but you have to know how to get them, and you have to be very very quick.  Now is not the time to go on Amazon, eBay, Newegg, ect. and purchase from resellers who are asking double or more what I paid for the same gpu in November/December. 

Seasoned miner! I know... I do the same but that’s part of the learning process. It takes a few GPU shortage cycles to figure out when is the time to buy and when you can cash in on a year old card for profit. 

[jillscarbrough]

A budget of $1000 is about 1 GPU probably a 1070 or 1070ti - with an old mobo/system or 1 GPU 1060 with a mobo, cpu etc. It would take you a while to mine a profit with 1 GPU. You'd want your own rig so that you can swap between algo/coins. You can def make a profit, but with that budget it would be a bit low.

1 GPU very difficult making a profit because profit mining related how much price electricity per kWh and every country are different. but mining can't get short time profit  (ROI) except have surprise such Hardfork 1:10 or price a coin rise when to convert BTC.