"If you can't beat them, join them."

[Jr65]

Good morning. I am relatively new to Bitcoin. (obviously, so is "spell check.") In early Feb., I finalized the sale of a company that I owned and operated for nine years. This was a very joyous occasion for me but the joy, at least in part, has turned to boredom. As Huey Lewis said, "I need a new drug" and I found it in Bitcoin. I read every article, every post, watch every clip and have my Bitcoin price window up at all times. I'll be honest, I doubted...I doubted a whole lot. I come from a traditional finance background. I have an MBA and I worked on Wall St. for four years straight out of college. Everything I learned (or, in this case, didn't learn) told me that Bitcoin was a hyped up scam. I can't say for absolute sure but I think the joke is on me! Once I started to believe, I planned to put a sizable chunk in Bitcoin. I tried to catch the bottom over the last few days and I totally missed it. Got greedy! Now I'm looking at $500-550 per unit and I am gun-shy and pissed at myself for not pulling the trigger earlier! If Bitcoin is boom or bust, and I think it's "BOOM," $500 should not matter. Once I make my investment, I'm going to try like hell to just forget about it for 3-5 years. Congrats to all of you that picked up on Bitcoin early, (that's all of you!) especially those that got in 2011- early. I can only imagine what it would be like to have gotten in at $2. With my luck, I would have gotten in early with Mt. Gox. Best Regards. 

[frienemy]

I doubted bitcoin in 2011 and only got in last year. If bitcoin succeeds, there is no need for exact bottom fishing. If it doesn't, you might lose a huge chunk, regardless of what price you bought in. So just hop in, but don't forget about it for 3-5 years (hardly possible anyway). Just take a look at the charts once a whle during summer and autumn and see whether the next rallye is on and take out some profit so that you don't have to worry. But never sell all of them!

[Bitcopia]

First, welcome to the wonderful world of Bitcoin! It's truly the most exciting thing I've ever been a part of.

Second, the majority of users in the Speculation forum are bitter trolls, uneducated kids, or just plain slow. There are few quality posters in this sub-forum, but there are some.

Third, I'm not sure what you did on Wall St. but I would have hope you at least learned some risk mitigation strategies. You should have also learned that calling the absolute bottom is almost always impossible. Combine these two elements and a great strategy becomes to not invest all of that capital you have set aside at the same time. Buy 20% at a time. Or 10% at a time or 50% at a time etc. Spread your average buy price. But in my opinion, $500 will be cheap in the next few months regardless of whether or not $500 will be considered cheap in the next few days/ weeks. Can't really go wrong putting in a bid for Bitcoin. I've never heard anyone say I wish I hadn't bought bitcoin after more than 6 months of holding. Because it's always been profitable, even if bought at an all time high. Good luck!

[Dalmar]

Good morning. I am relatively new to Bitcoin. (obviously, so is "spell check.") In early Feb., I finalized the sale of a company that I owned and operated for nine years. This was a very joyous occasion for me but the joy, at least in part, has turned to boredom. As Huey Lewis said, "I need a new drug" and I found it in Bitcoin. I read every article, every post, watch every clip and have my Bitcoin price window up at all times. I'll be honest, I doubted...I doubted a whole lot. I come from a traditional finance background. I have an MBA and I worked on Wall St. for four years straight out of college. Everything I learned (or, in this case, didn't learn) told me that Bitcoin was a hyped up scam. I can't say for absolute sure but I think the joke is on me! Once I started to believe, I planned to put a sizable chunk in Bitcoin. I tried to catch the bottom over the last few days and I totally missed it. Got greedy! Now I'm looking at $500-550 per unit and I am gun-shy and pissed at myself for not pulling the trigger earlier! If Bitcoin is boom or bust, and I think it's "BOOM," $500 should not matter. Once I make my investment, I'm going to try like hell to just forget about it for 3-5 years. Congrats to all of you that picked up on Bitcoin early, (that's all of you!) especially those that got in 2011- early. I can only imagine what it would be like to have gotten in at $2. With my luck, I would have gotten in early with Mt. Gox. Best Regards.  

Why ''try like hell to just forget about it'' and not actually use it from time to time? Freeloaders like you are what make me think bitcoin isn't going anywhere.

[Bitcopia]

Good morning. I am relatively new to Bitcoin. (obviously, so is "spell check.") In early Feb., I finalized the sale of a company that I owned and operated for nine years. This was a very joyous occasion for me but the joy, at least in part, has turned to boredom. As Huey Lewis said, "I need a new drug" and I found it in Bitcoin. I read every article, every post, watch every clip and have my Bitcoin price window up at all times. I'll be honest, I doubted...I doubted a whole lot. I come from a traditional finance background. I have an MBA and I worked on Wall St. for four years straight out of college. Everything I learned (or, in this case, didn't learn) told me that Bitcoin was a hyped up scam. I can't say for absolute sure but I think the joke is on me! Once I started to believe, I planned to put a sizable chunk in Bitcoin. I tried to catch the bottom over the last few days and I totally missed it. Got greedy! Now I'm looking at $500-550 per unit and I am gun-shy and pissed at myself for not pulling the trigger earlier! If Bitcoin is boom or bust, and I think it's "BOOM," $500 should not matter. Once I make my investment, I'm going to try like hell to just forget about it for 3-5 years. Congrats to all of you that picked up on Bitcoin early, (that's all of you!) especially those that got in 2011- early. I can only imagine what it would be like to have gotten in at $2. With my luck, I would have gotten in early with Mt. Gox. Best Regards.  

Why ''try like hell to just forget about it'' and not actually use it from time to time? Freeloaders like you are what make me think bitcoin isn't going anywhere.

I admit, Bitcoin takes a serious advantage from its investors and users being actively engaged in its development. However, this "forget about it" attitude is an attitude that many beginners have, and as they spend more time in this world, their attitude changes. They become excited to help the system evolve and develop in whatever ways their talents allow. And no, not everybody has any talent to offer. But the one's who do have talent, have an incentive to offer it, regardless of what their initial attitude was. Bitcoin is going somewhere.

[lynn_402]

Why ''try like hell to just forget about it'' and not actually use it from time to time? Freeloaders like you are what make me think bitcoin isn't going anywhere.

While the fact that Bitcoin can be used as a currency adds indeed much value to it, there's nothing wrong with simply using it as a store of value; it works great for that too. Individuals who use it only as a store of value are not freeloaders; they are taking big risks investing in Bitcoin, and in this process are also making all of us a little bit richer, and adding legitimacy to cryptocurrencies.

[JimboToronto]

Congrats to all of you us that picked up on Bitcoin early, (that's all of you us!)

FTFY  

We're all still early adopters.

Those people you envy who bought in at $2 were doubtlessly envious of those who paid a penny or less. The day will surely come when noobs will be envious of anyone who paid less than $1000.

What you went through is fairly typical. I think most people figure Bitcoin's a scam when they first hear about it. I first heard about it when a friend told me about the Silk Road.

I wasn't particularly interested in some Tor-net contraband market, but the idea of an open-source secure peer-to-peer network transferring wealth fascinated me. At the time coins were worth about $15  each.

By the time I'd done a month of intensive research and decided it wasn't a scam, the price had already doubled. I immediately ordered ASIC mining equipment and attempted to buy a few coins, only to find it wasn't that easy. By the time I actually bought my first coins the price had doubled again. It was then I first looked upon Bitcoin as a vehicle for speculation.

[Raystonn]

Why ''try like hell to just forget about it'' and not actually use it from time to time? Freeloaders like you are what make me think bitcoin isn't going anywhere.

You do realize any Bitcoin you spend at a retailer goes immediately onto an exchange, where it is sold at market price?  That actually pushes the USD/BTC down, which hurts.

[Ivanhoe]

Why ''try like hell to just forget about it'' and not actually use it from time to time? Freeloaders like you are what make me think bitcoin isn't going anywhere.

You do realize any Bitcoin you spend at a retailer goes immediately onto an exchange, where it is sold at market price?  That actually pushes the USD/BTC down, which hurts.

It helps on the long term. Higher adoption = higher demand, thus higher price.

[lumierre]

Good morning. I am relatively new to Bitcoin. (obviously, so is "spell check.") In early Feb., I finalized the sale of a company that I owned and operated for nine years. This was a very joyous occasion for me but the joy, at least in part, has turned to boredom. As Huey Lewis said, "I need a new drug" and I found it in Bitcoin. I read every article, every post, watch every clip and have my Bitcoin price window up at all times. I'll be honest, I doubted...I doubted a whole lot. I come from a traditional finance background. I have an MBA and I worked on Wall St. for four years straight out of college. Everything I learned (or, in this case, didn't learn) told me that Bitcoin was a hyped up scam. I can't say for absolute sure but I think the joke is on me! Once I started to believe, I planned to put a sizable chunk in Bitcoin. I tried to catch the bottom over the last few days and I totally missed it. Got greedy! Now I'm looking at $500-550 per unit and I am gun-shy and pissed at myself for not pulling the trigger earlier! If Bitcoin is boom or bust, and I think it's "BOOM," $500 should not matter. Once I make my investment, I'm going to try like hell to just forget about it for 3-5 years. Congrats to all of you that picked up on Bitcoin early, (that's all of you!) especially those that got in 2011- early. I can only imagine what it would be like to have gotten in at $2. With my luck, I would have gotten in early with Mt. Gox. Best Regards. 

Don't think that you're late into the party. To give you a perspective, Bitcoin has less than a million users at the moment. There are still 7 billion people out there. BTW, the thread on my sig might help you get to know Bitcoin a little bit better.

[Jr65]

Thanks for all of the good input, minus the uneducated "freeloader" comment.

[piramida]

Why ''try like hell to just forget about it'' and not actually use it from time to time? Freeloaders like you are what make me think bitcoin isn't going anywhere.

You do realize any Bitcoin you spend at a retailer goes immediately onto an exchange, where it is sold at market price?  That actually pushes the USD/BTC down, which hurts.

By spending that coin you : 1. reward miners 2. encourage the merchant of your choice to continue accepting bitcoins 3. take your business from some other merchant who does not accept bitcoins

Whenever somebody accepts bitcoins, I will pay them in bitcoins and rebuy my spent amount immediately back. That supports everything, even though it is still a bit artificial at this point in time, but there's no way around it - until all of supply chain accepts bitcoins, bitcoin is only a method to transfer dollars to merchants. However, actively using that method of transfer encourages better adoption, and will lead to merchants who don't have to sell earned bitcoins but use them to pay their suppliers in the future.

Everybody who holds some percentage of their money in bitcoin understands that and spends them.

[frienemy]

By spending that coin you : 1. reward miners 2. encourage the merchant of your choice to continue accepting bitcoins 3. take your business from some other merchant who does not accept bitcoins

I agree.

Whenever somebody accepts bitcoins, I will pay them in bitcoins and rebuy my spent amount immediately back. That supports everything, even though it is still a bit artificial at this point in time, but there's no way around it - until all of supply chain accepts bitcoins, bitcoin is only a method to transfer dollars to merchants. However, actively using that method of transfer encourages better adoption, and will lead to merchants who don't have to sell earned bitcoins but use them to pay their suppliers in the future.

Everybody who holds some percentage of their money in bitcoin understands that and spends them.

But that's still no reason to call someone who became interested in bitcoin and is not yet deeply rooted in it a freeloader. Holders contribute to the success of bitcoin, just in a different way than spenders. No need to bark.

[piramida]

But that's still no reason to call someone who became interested in bitcoin and is not yet deeply rooted in it a freeloader. Holders contribute to the success of bitcoin, just in a different way than spenders. No need to bark.

I was trying to say that every holder becomes a spender, naturally. Because it is a nice and easy way to buy and because it makes your holdings more valuable. The "freeloader" comment was just stupid and is not worth any discussion, nothing is free.

[frienemy]

Shame on me, I thought it was you saying that freeloader thing. My apologies! This and my eyes beccoming rectangular tells me that I should leave the computer now for a long walk...

I was trying to say that every holder becomes a spender, naturally. Because it is a nice and easy way to buy and because it makes your holdings more valuable. The "freeloader" comment was just stupid and is not worth any discussion, nothing is free.