Alt coin mining profitability - What am I missing?

[PenAndPaper]

I don't think that you are missing something it's just that prices of alt coins are through the roof.
For all i know people will start buying gpu's again 

[An amorous cow-herder]

You could have bulk purchased a while ago for less than that. Also if you use that logic (which is beyond any common sense), buying bitcoin is always better than buying mining equipment.

Sure at certain points in time it would have made sense or makes sense.
But whats wrong with my logic there? I look at the price of mining equipment in BTC (or whatever altcoin i want to mine), then i try to estimate how many coins i will get from mining. If i would get fewer coins back then i spent on the mining equipment its a bad idea. Simple as that. Otherwise you spent coins to "enjoy the luxury of mining".

[PenAndPaper]

Assuming a fairly low difficulty increase of 80%/month a block eruptor would make like $17 if it started mining today. Best prices on ebay are around $50. Well, assuming BTC hits like 3.5k it will break even. In which case it would have been better just buying bitcoins ...

You could have bulk purchased a while ago for less than that. Also if you use that logic (which is beyond any common sense), buying bitcoin is always better than buying mining equipment.

Obviously almost in all cases it's better to buy bitcoins directly than mining equipment. People buy miners because they can't do basic maths. Are you among them?

[miner2002]

Assuming a fairly low difficulty increase of 80%/month a block eruptor would make like $17 if it started mining today. Best prices on ebay are around $50. Well, assuming BTC hits like 3.5k it will break even. In which case it would have been better just buying bitcoins ...

You could have bulk purchased a while ago for less than that. Also if you use that logic (which is beyond any common sense), buying bitcoin is always better than buying mining equipment.

Obviously almost in all cases it's better to buy bitcoins directly than mining equipment. People buy miners because they can't do basic maths. Are you among them?

With bitcoins, I agree with you. However, if Alt coin prices stays high, there's a good chance you can make an ROI or break even and then mine speculatively from there.  With the jump in alt coin pricing over the last 30 days, I think we're in a different environment than before and the rules have changed.

I'll bump this thread up in 30 days and let you guys know how my investment did.

[x0rcist]

Assuming a fairly low difficulty increase of 80%/month a block eruptor would make like $17 if it started mining today. Best prices on ebay are around $50. Well, assuming BTC hits like 3.5k it will break even. In which case it would have been better just buying bitcoins ...

You could have bulk purchased a while ago for less than that. Also if you use that logic (which is beyond any common sense), buying bitcoin is always better than buying mining equipment.

Obviously almost in all cases it's better to buy bitcoins directly than mining equipment. People buy miners because they can't do basic maths. Are you among them?

With bitcoins, I agree with you. However, if Alt coin prices stays high, there's a good chance you can make an ROI or break even and then mine speculatively from there.  With the jump in alt coin pricing over the last 30 days, I think we're in a different environment than before and the rules have changed.

I'll bump this thread up in 30 days and let you guys know how my investment did.

profitability is over 1000% more then a week ago, its crazy (on a hd7950 you can earn 30$ p/day atm).......... it looks almost like manipulated market 

[An amorous cow-herder]

profitability is over 1000% more then a week ago, its crazy (on a hd7950 you can earn 30$ p/day atm).......... it looks almost like manipulated market 

Yeah, the prices on some of the alts are more than weird currently. My best guess is that in the wake of the bitcoin rise quite a few investors are buying alt coins "just in case". Might as well get going while the going is good
No idea how long this will last, but i aint complaining.

[PenAndPaper]

With the jump in alt coin pricing over the last 30 days, I think we're in a different environment than before and the rules have changed.

I agree that the rules have changes and i think they changed 've in many levels not only on mining.
For all i know people are looking for the next coin that is going to get pumped. Seems it's ppc turn now.

profitability is over 1000% more then a week ago, its crazy (on a hd7950 you can earn 30$ p/day atm).......... it looks almost like manipulated market  

What coin do you mine and you get a return of 30$/day with your 7950?

[Lauda]

Obviously almost in all cases it's better to buy bitcoins directly than mining equipment. People buy miners because they can't do basic maths. Are you among them?

Really? Basically you're saying that miners made a bad choice for investing in mining.
Your logic is beyond me. I've been mining for 2 months with rig C, kept all the coins it has generated. I've done the math and buying bitcoin back then (with the amount of money that I spend for the rig), would have earned me much less. While bitcoin is on the road for a tenfold increase, some coins have had much more than that.
*points at MEC, initial blocks of 500*  
Can't do basic math, pf.

[wheatrich]

nice apples to oranges math

OP--you're missing the fact that difficulty is about to spike like hell.  Welcome to the arms race again.

Yes, it's better to buy but in some places *cough US cough* it's MUCH easier to buy mining equip than it is the coins.

In the case of GPU's you also have a hedge against a massive price drop.

[miner2002]

nice apples to oranges math

OP--you're missing the fact that difficulty is about to spike like hell.  Welcome to the arms race again.

Yes, it's better to buy but in some places *cough US cough* it's MUCH easier to buy mining equip than it is the coins.

In the case of GPU's you also have a hedge against a massive price drop.

I'm with you.  I just got into this so I'm sure I don't know how bad the spike will be, but I would expect it to be much more difficult quickly as people see the potential.  Worth the gamble in my opinion