Beginner Tips on Investing in Bitcoin?

[ilzot]

After a little realization, my dream of getting a mining rig, at my current buget, I don't think that is going to happen right now. I feel like if I invest in BTC, then I'll have a better chance of makeing a profit than a beginner >50ghash/ second over the course of 6 months or so. What a really need is some advice from senior investors into some tips about BTC investing. I feel like investing in BTC is harder that say regular stock because once it tops out on the market, you sell and have to wait for it to bottom out, while in common stock you can just buy another and wait for that to rise up. I've seen people making 10k+ a month investing, so there has to be some sort of stratagy in investing. I'm willing to invest in about 1.5-2 BTC to start so keep that in mind.

Any beginner invester tips please let me know! Thanks!

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[blatchcorn]

Buy low, sell high. And don't mine.

[jonald_fyookball]

Bitcoin is the perfect "buy and hold"
investment, IMO.

Bitcoin's fundamentals have the potential
for explosive growth because it is an emerging technology.

If Bitcoin becomes a trillion dollar
market in 5,10,20 years, you will
see a 10,000% return on your money.

[bitkanu]

Bitcoin is the perfect "buy and hold"
investment, IMO.

Bitcoin's fundamentals have the potential
for explosive growth because it is an emerging technology.

If Bitcoin becomes a trillion dollar
market in 5,10,20 years, you will
see a 10,000% return on your money.

if bitcoin goes from market like other online payment processor or if any other alt coin beat bitcoin what will happen

[Wolf Rainer]

Invest in alt coins, you can multiply 20x or 30x your money in one month.

[keithers]

Try and buy on the dips obviously, and your goal should be to make your dollar cost average as low as possible.   If you work a job with a salary, maybe set aside a small amount of money that you can invest each month, and just hold onto it like a savings account.

I would also suggest in putting a small amount in some other coin like LTC, so that you  don't have all your money in one spot.

[r34tr783tr78]

Don't buy now, wait for lower prices. We are on a bear market, wait for signs of inversion of trend. Avoid alt coins until bitcoin jump in price, then the alt coins will jump too with some delay.

[keithers]

Don't buy now, wait for lower prices. We are on a bear market, wait for signs of inversion of trend. Avoid alt coins until bitcoin jump in price, then the alt coins will jump too with some delay.

If you follow what you are suggesting, then by waiting to purchase Alt-coins until BTC jumps up in price, you will be paying a significantly higher price for Alt-coins than if you were to purchase during a lull like now...

[r34tr783tr78]

Assuming that it's risky to keep bitcoin now, because of the bear trend, it's also risky to have alt coins, because they are all valued in bitcoins. A crash in bitcoin takes alt coins down also on fiat terms.
Then, if bitcoin goes down, you will be able to buy litecoin for 4 usd or even lower. Assuming this scenario, buying now isn't a good idea. They will also go high if bitcoin jumps, but in the past it took some time for the alt coins to jump. In the first weeks of the jump of bitcoin to 1200, litecoin was losing value. It only started going up fast a few weeks later. You can enjoy the major jump in bitcoin and then go after the alt coins. Of course, this is just a scenario. Now, alt coins seem much more linked to bitcoin than in the past, so a jump in bitcoin might push alt coins much higher immediately. Anyway, buying now doesn't seem good idea.

[keithers]

Assuming that it's risky to keep bitcoin now, because of the bear trend, it's also risky to have alt coins, because they are all valued in bitcoins. A crash in bitcoin takes alt coins down also on fiat terms.
Then, if bitcoin goes down, you will be able to buy litecoin for 4 usd or even lower. Assuming this scenario, buying now isn't a good idea. They will also go high if bitcoin jumps, but in the past it took some time for the alt coins to jump. In the first weeks of the jump of bitcoin to 1200, litecoin was losing value. It only started going up fast a few weeks later. You can enjoy the major jump in bitcoin and then go after the alt coins. Of course, this is just a scenario. Now, alt coins seem much more linked to bitcoin than in the past, so a jump in bitcoin might push alt coins much higher immediately. Anyway, buying now doesn't seem good idea.

The timing is all relative.  If you are trying to flip a quick profit, and get in and out, then now may not be the time to buy.   If you plan on holding for medium or long term, then now could be one of the best times to buy.

[OROBTC]

...

keithers has a good point.  Buying BTC now, some, you do not have to stay at the "All Inn" and holding on to them for the medium term or longer (and buying periodically is small increments) is a sound strategy.

I agree with comments above that mining is not worth it, unless you are very skilled and connected enough to get the fastest machines...

In any case, diversification (my middle name) would suggest that you not have too much of your net wealth in BTC.  I have some, but it is well under 1% of what I own.

***

Even when I was young, I started buying small gold coins, think about that as well.

[aigareth]

Buy low, sell high. And don't mine.

and hold it enough long

[thExit]

From my perspective, altcoins behave more like stocks than currencies, if we look at their past performance, and how people value them/ trade them. Think of altcoins as of shares in a company, do a thorough research about the “company’s” background (the team behing the altcoin); how much effort is devoted by the team after the launch and at any time of the altcoin’s existence; try to see what is unique in that single altcoin and how is it different from other coins; always think from the perspective of the end user- would I, as an ordinary person, be interested in owning such an altcoin in the future, would I pay money to get my hands on it (perhaps yes due to some unique features, think of mintcoin perhaps ); see if there is a community that adopted/will adopt the altcoin (like it was with dogecoin). Those are my guesses.
 
I am a Forex trader, am not experienced in evaluating companies, but I think some of the stock valuation rules may be applicable to altcoins. The hard point is that you need to do your own research, the plus is that there are tools available to do that, the methodology of stock valuation.  Just remember that sometimes the results of a thorough evaluation will give the same kind of financial results as picking stocks by throwing darts at a list of companies.

One thing pointed out in this thread was whether you are a short/medium/long-term investor. If short/medium-term, then trade for a daily profit. If long-term, then go for newish altcoins and hold them for a lengthy period of time, see which one wins over others (for example owing to a technical advantage, like merged minable scripts etc.). There is a lot of factors to take under consideration, that’s why you have to read, read, learn, learn, think, think, then again read, learn, think… this is what I've learned while reading this forum:)

[Lethn]

Buy low, sell high. And don't mine.

+1

If you were to get a mining rig, you could possibly mine scrypt coins but there's always a lot of risk involved if you go into anything like this, Bitcoin is an experimental technology, don't forget that, I'd always encourage people to give it a try, but always make sure you have a backup plan or something to fall back on that you can rely on. I've seen way too many people in the earliest stages of Bitcoin get burned by it and then they come complaining to these forums like we're supposed to do something about it despite how we go out of way to warn people, well done on actually doing your researching and questioning things before jumping right in.

[b!z]

Protip: don't buy altcoins

[tuneman1980]

Tips:
  Don't invest more than you can afford to lose.
  Don't take investing advice from most people on the internet.
  Don't store your coins for long in a place where you don't control the keys.

Also, be sure to analyze market data for any coin that you're interested in investing in.  http://www.cryptocoinstats.com/ is a good place to start since it has lots of price analysis and graphs to help identify trends.

[thExit]

I'd always encourage people to give it a try, but always make sure you have a backup plan or something to fall back on that you can rely on.

I would strongly agree with that, don't throw your whole money/life into one enterprise, always diversify.

[serejandmyself]

Best advice - dont invest in bitcoin! 

[keithers]

Also don't get in the habit of religiously checking the charts for prices (if you do not plan on day trading).  It will quickly turn from a hobby into an unhealthy obsession...lol

[CryptoBaron]

After a little realization, my dream of getting a mining rig, at my current buget, I don't think that is going to happen right now. I feel like if I invest in BTC, then I'll have a better chance of makeing a profit than a beginner >50ghash/ second over the course of 6 months or so. What a really need is some advice from senior investors into some tips about BTC investing. I feel like investing in BTC is harder that say regular stock because once it tops out on the market, you sell and have to wait for it to bottom out, while in common stock you can just buy another and wait for that to rise up. I've seen people making 10k+ a month investing, so there has to be some sort of stratagy in investing. I'm willing to invest in about 1.5-2 BTC to start so keep that in mind.

Any beginner invester tips please let me know! Thanks!

It really depends on what your trying to get out of it. From what you were asking I'd guess your not looking for just buying and sitting on your BTC until they are worth 100k each or I'd say invest in it like anything else and take 10% of your monthly/weekly income (if you can afford it) and grow your btc over time. If your looking to day trade BTC I'd say pull some books on day trading stocks and adapt it to the BTC market. One thing I've noticed is that there are not that many exchanges for you to be able to short crypto so that you can capitalize on the dips and the spikes without having to use your own BTC per say.

[Bit_Happy]

Buy low, sell high. And don't mine.

and hold it enough long

Don't hold too long.
If you must "Buy and Hold" sell at least 25% on massive rallies, so you can buy back cheaper and make extra BTC.

[NXTplayer]

the only tip is buy bitcoin wen it's cheap and hold it.

[makebitcoin]

Start a business that accepts Bitcoin. Best way to make coins. I personally also love to invest in sites like Just-Dice.

[bumblebeee]

Thanks this thread gave me some insight on investing with bitcoin. 

[lyth0s]

Assuming that it's risky to keep bitcoin now, because of the bear trend, it's also risky to have alt coins, because they are all valued in bitcoins. A crash in bitcoin takes alt coins down also on fiat terms.
Then, if bitcoin goes down, you will be able to buy litecoin for 4 usd or even lower. Assuming this scenario, buying now isn't a good idea. They will also go high if bitcoin jumps, but in the past it took some time for the alt coins to jump. In the first weeks of the jump of bitcoin to 1200, litecoin was losing value. It only started going up fast a few weeks later. You can enjoy the major jump in bitcoin and then go after the alt coins. Of course, this is just a scenario. Now, alt coins seem much more linked to bitcoin than in the past, so a jump in bitcoin might push alt coins much higher immediately. Anyway, buying now doesn't seem good idea.

The timing is all relative.  If you are trying to flip a quick profit, and get in and out, then now may not be the time to buy.   If you plan on holding for medium or long term, then now could be one of the best times to buy.

I completely agree. If you're looking for a quick profit the question becomes much more difficult and this may indeed not be a good time to buy. However, if you plan on holding for a few years, I think $450 is a GREAT price. IF you plan on buying and holding, buy in before it's too late. If you're looking for a quick buck, you should go check out the TA threads in speculation....Short term I feel that no one can accurately predict the price due to its volatility with the daily news.

In regards to Bit_happy's advice about not "holding for too long" ideology. You could use this reference https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=345065.0 and apply it to your investing. Buy and hold now, at every doubling point sell 10% and then rebuy it during the next dip. Just food for thought.

[bumblebeee]

Thanks this was eye opening for me.

[i dig bitcoins]

Also don't get in the habit of religiously checking the charts for prices (if you do not plan on day trading).  It will quickly turn from a hobby into an unhealthy obsession...lol

True that !!! Been into bitcoins since 2010 but never posted much here. Been away for a long time becuase I did exactly that - checked prices like crazy. Back then I remembered the price going from $2 to $30 then CRASH. Stopped looking at prices every hour since then. I now only look at prices every week or so. Back then I just kept mining without regards to price. Man, it sure was fun back then.

Good times baby, good times

[pattimarkow]

 

I'm a beginner, too.  Found a lot of HYIPs out there looking to grab my bitcoins.  Dumbly and innocently, I believed in one
and as soon as I increased my investment, they stopped paying out (that was Satoshihype).  Around the same time I
found a bitcoin investment company that was more in line with what I was searching for:  I couldn't invest much and
it paid out 1% daily.  The company has 27 years experience in forex and opened this site so that their forex investors
could take opportunity by investing in the bitcoin market.

At satoshihype I only lost .005 bitcoins (about $20), so I invested the rest of my bitcoin fortune in My Daily Coin (I invested
.115 bitcoins).  Received 1% daily, as promised.  I reinvested my profit and it started to add up.  Then I needed some cash
so I tested out the withdrawal process.  All instant.  You can withdraw your principal after the first 24 hours and your profit
immediately if you don't reinvest it.

The site checks out.  I want to gradually increase the amount of bitcoins I'm holding, so this site is perfect.  If you want
your idle bitcoin to dance and make a profit for you instead of holding it in a stagnant wallet, try here.  If you get nervous,
just withdraw!  I had the withdrawn bitcoins in my wallet again in a matter of seconds!

https://www.mydailycoin.com/index.php?ref=pattimarkow

[Erdogan]

Understand what bitcoin really is, start with the whitepaper. Then, get in.

[clout]

listen to warren buffett and don't fall victim to irrational exuberance

[Erdogan]

listen to warren buffett and don't fall victim to irrational exuberance

I forgot - when you inform yourself, don't listen to the uninformed clowns.

[clout]

listen to warren buffett and don't fall victim to irrational exuberance

I forgot - when you inform yourself, don't listen to the uninformed clowns.

I've never met a clown with a $60 bill net worth, have you?

[clout]

Understand what bitcoin really is, start with the whitepaper. Then, get in.

Understand what money is, before you invest in a new conception of money.

[Erdogan]

listen to warren buffett and don't fall victim to irrational exuberance

I forgot - when you inform yourself, don't listen to the uninformed clowns.

I've never met a clown with a $60 bill net worth, have you?

I haven't met him either.

[RyanMilligan1]

Buy low, sell high. And don't mine.

Yes, I agree with this. But, be careful.

Ignore 90% of the things you here. Make your own informed decisions. If you are the type to see a $50 drop and read 3/4 bad articles this isn't for you.


Bitcoin will be very very bumpy. Strong hands will profit largely in the long run, but it can be hard to be strong. Buy bitcoin, and try and forget about 75% of them. Stick them in cold storage. You SHOULD trade with 25% of them.


Bitcoin adoption is directly linked through us using Bitcoin. So with a % of your coins buy and sell. Use them in retailers that accept BTC.

Mass adoption is needed to 'reach da moon'.



HODL but not every single BTC you have. If everyone HODLS, the price would stand still I believe.

[cbeast]

Resist the temptation to spend more than 10% of your discretionary income at one time or 1-5% of any significant amount you are willing to risk in any given week. Buy in slowly. Sell off slowly. For every person that get's lucky taking big risks, there are many that lose doing the same. Stay in for the long haul and you won't be disappointed.

[CurbsideProphet]

Tips:
  Don't invest more than you can afford to lose.
  Don't take investing advice from most people on the internet.
  Don't store your coins for long in a place where you don't control the keys.

Also, be sure to analyze market data for any coin that you're interested in investing in.  http://www.cryptocoinstats.com/ is a good place to start since it has lots of price analysis and graphs to help identify trends.

All good tips.  I doubt the OP will listen though, most people are here to get rich quick and he thinks everyone is making $10k a month and the train is passing him by. 

[blackhull]

Learn so much that you can convince yourself not to invest at all. Then maybe you're close to being ready to invest.

[MyDestiny]

Learn so much that you can convince yourself not to invest at all. Then maybe you're close to being ready to invest.

it doesnt make sense

[jonald_fyookball]

Learn so much that you can convince yourself not to invest at all. Then maybe you're close to being ready to invest.

it doesnt make sense

I think he means play devil's advocate with oneself.  Learn about all of the potential things that could go wrong.... Government intervention, wallet theft, inflation, competing currencies, and so on.

[blackhull]

Learn so much that you can convince yourself not to invest at all. Then maybe you're close to being ready to invest.

it doesnt make sense

I think he means play devil's advocate with oneself.  Learn about all of the potential things that could go wrong.... Government intervention, wallet theft, inflation, competing currencies, and so on.

Exactly. You make money in markets by not losing it. You don't lose it by controlling risk. To control risk, you need to be aware of the knowable risks involved.

[r34tr783tr78]

Why use abstract and vague rules of trading, they are so easy.

1) Identify the main trend, if it's a bearish or bullish one.

2) Trade accordingly, avoiding to trade against it. The trend is your friend.

3) Don't think the price is already very low and that it's time to buy. Prices can always go even lower.

4) Be careful guessing tops and bottoms. If you were wrong, jump out and assume the loss, instead of converting your move on a long-term one. If you insist in keeping them, avoid buying more to lower the median price, that is a recipe for disaster.

5) I know it goes against all the rules you learned on life (it's a violation of the rule of demand, that says that demand lowers when the price goes up), but don't think the price is too high to buy, unless it's clearly temporarily overbought or it was a fake breach of  a resistance. If it's on a bullish trend, the probability that it will keep going up is higher than the opposite. So, many times, buying higher has more sense than buying lower. Ex. I have little doubt that if bitcoin breaches clearly the 1156 top on bitstamp it will keep going up.

6) The rule is not to buy low and sell high. Buying an active on a bearish trend, going lower and lower, is a disaster. If the active is in a bulish trend, the rule can even be buy high and sell higher.

The hard thing isn't to identify the rules, but to follow them!

[keithers]

Depending on how much you plan on investing (as well as the country you live in), you now also have to keep tax ramifications in mind. I believe you can still only claim up to a $3,000 loss against your income, but the taxes on the gains are uncapped. Therefore, you want to plan on holding the BTC for at least a year, so that you can have long term capital gains, instead of short term capital gains. Short term gains are taxed at a higher rate.

If you are only buying a few BTC here and there, you will probably just slide under the radar. But if you have several deposits in your bank that exceed $5,000, you have got to be keeping track of everything so that you don't expose yourself to an audit.

[blackhull]

Why use abstract and vague rules of trading, they are so easy.

1) Identify the main trend, if it's a bearish or bullish one.

2) Trade accordingly, avoiding to trade against it. The trend is your friend.

3) Don't think the price is already very low and that it's time to buy. Prices can always go even lower.

4) Be careful guessing tops and bottoms. If you were wrong, jump out and assume the loss, instead of converting your move on a long-term one. If you insist in keeping them, avoid buying more to lower the median price, that is a recipe for disaster.

5) I know it goes against all the rules you learned on life (it's a violation of the rule of demand, that says that demand lowers when the price goes up), but don't think the price is too high to buy, unless it's clearly temporarily overbought or it was a fake breach of  a resistance. If it's on a bullish trend, the probability that it will keep going up is higher than the opposite. So, many times, buying higher has more sense than buying lower. Ex. I have little doubt that if bitcoin breaches clearly the 1156 top on bitstamp it will keep going up.

6) The rule is not to buy low and sell high. Buying an active on a bearish trend, going lower and lower, is a disaster. If the active is in a bulish trend, the rule can even be buy high and sell higher.

The hard thing isn't to identify the rules, but to follow them!

Though these are generally good trading rules, he asked about investing, not really day trading... with investments things like liquidity concerns make some of those rules somewhat irrelevant.

[r34tr783tr78]

Those rules are not for day trading, the trend you have to identify is a median-term one, of at least some months. Some actives have trends of 1 or 2 years.

[pattimarkow]

I am new to this, but my idea was to just watch the prices on BTC-e or coinbase and buy low (I found usually in the morning and usually on
BTC-e) then sell later in the day (usually higher on coinbase).

Or you can just reap profits by going to experienced traders and just getting the profits:

https://www.mydailycoin.com/index.php?ref=pattimarkow

I'm trying my daily coin because I found it just requires too much patience and time to try to trade or invest
myself.  I was convinced that these guys are experienced traders and know what they are doing.  1% daily isn't
a lot, and you can probably earn more by learning yourself, but this certainly is easier.

Hope this helps a little.

[r34tr783tr78]

Please, avoid using that kind of strategy to invest or day trading.
There isn't a pattern of buying low in the morning and sell higher on the evening or, at most, that pattern only works out on a bullish trend. On a bearish trend (when prices are declining), you will buy high in the morning and sell lower in the night.
I know it's boring to have to read a lot about trading, but, believe me, learning buy your self will be the most costly lessons of your life.
In the middle time, check tradingview.com and see the charts users post and follow the chat on bitcoin.

[Este Nuno]

Honestly...Just buy and hold. No mining. No daytrading. Just read bitcointalk to see how many people have been burned.

But no one has been burned just buying and holding bitcoin over any reasonable amount of time.

[blackhull]

ITT: everybody talking their own book

[Benjig]

Buy and hold, forget about your coins for a time, you wont wanna regret of shorting them just before a rally

[r34tr783tr78]

Everyone has to decide for himself, however, think about those that applied the policy of buy and hold by buying bitcoin at 1200 or litecoin at 50 usd.

In the long term, it's going "to da moon". Maybe, but we never can be shore.

Besides, holding them to the abysm, like crashing bellow 300, means that when bitcoin finally stop going down you won't have the guts to buy more.

[lyth0s]

In addition to my previous advice. Buy bitcoin and do now before the next price increase. When July/August come around the corner and bitcoin is multiples of what it is now you will be kicking yourself for not getting in earlier. Also if you accidentally buy at a peak and then the price drops, just HOLD. Use this bitcoin price graph (or any similar graph), buy when your below the trendline, sell when your above.

[bitbillion]

When investing use the 3 L rule
laugh laugh laugh

if you see a alt coin where the price makes you smile buy in

only invest as much even if the coin drops so you can still laugh

and sell the coin when you can laugh about your profit

and read the charts, read the charts Numbers dnt lie

everyone else is

[Bit_Happy]

Why use abstract and vague rules of trading, they are so easy.

1) Identify the main trend, if it's a bearish or bullish one.

2) Trade accordingly, avoiding to trade against it. The trend is your friend.

3) Don't think the price is already very low and that it's time to buy. Prices can always go even lower.

4) Be careful guessing tops and bottoms. If you were wrong, jump out and assume the loss, instead of converting your move on a long-term one. If you insist in keeping them, avoid buying more to lower the median price, that is a recipe for disaster.

5) I know it goes against all the rules you learned on life (it's a violation of the rule of demand, that says that demand lowers when the price goes up), but don't think the price is too high to buy, unless it's clearly temporarily overbought or it was a fake breach of  a resistance. If it's on a bullish trend, the probability that it will keep going up is higher than the opposite. So, many times, buying higher has more sense than buying lower. Ex. I have little doubt that if bitcoin breaches clearly the 1156 top on bitstamp it will keep going up.

6) The rule is not to buy low and sell high. Buying an active on a bearish trend, going lower and lower, is a disaster. If the active is in a bulish trend, the rule can even be buy high and sell higher.

The hard thing isn't to identify the rules, but to follow them!

I don't mean to be blunt and rude, but thank you for teaching the newbies how to lose.  
Some of your advice is solid, but part of it helps good traders make a living off of people who actually believe "that stuff".

A) Fact: Most traders lose money long term
B) If you carefully follow all 6 steps quoted above, then you are well on your way to donating money to the winners.

You claim that buying while prices are falling is a "recipe for disaster" and tell people "many times, buying higher has more sense than buying lower"...that is beautiful. Keep up the great work.
ps. I admit having trouble catching huge moves, but I've done really well buying during Bear markets and trading my way into good % gains. (often even before the trend 'officially' reverses)

Edit: If "the rules" work for you, then that's great, hopefully others might benefit also.
There are many different styles of trading and some work well only under ideal market conditions.