Bitcoin - too late to the party now?

[Urbex]

Hey everyone,

Interested in hearing your opinions on investing in bitcoin in 2017. Is it too late? Or is there still room for it to grow?
For the record, I'm referring to purchasing, not mining (which I've heard is minimally profitable).

I personally bought a little bit not too long ago and have made a tiny profit, but I wouldn't consider it anything terribly exciting.

[I_royalty_I]

I feel you buy, buy in the morning. It's always cheaper in the mornings. I have a few different wallets right now. I've got about 5 coins sitting on my laptop, another .75 that I've slowly been busting through a site called Coinbase. I recently started trading with this thing called Ethereum and have had very good gains with it. Spent about $400 for what I have and it's currently valued at about $775. Not bad and plenty of time to get into that. Research it a bit and decide what's best for you.

As for bitcoin, you need money to make money. If you invest minimally, you'll make very little. There's been all sorts of speculation as to how high the price will go. Certain events have played a role on the price. Things like Trumps election, china trying to regulate and impose fees for trading, Brexit, etc all cause speculation. Nobody really know what will happen. I read reports that predicted that it could get as high as $4-5k per coin but that's a lofty goal I feel.

[Urbex]

I feel you buy, buy in the morning. It's always cheaper in the mornings. I have a few different wallets right now. I've got about 5 coins sitting on my laptop, another .75 that I've slowly been busting through a site called Coinbase. I recently started trading with this thing called Ethereum and have had very good gains with it. Spent about $400 for what I have and it's currently valued at about $775. Not bad and plenty of time to get into that. Research it a bit and decide what's best for you.

As for bitcoin, you need money to make money. If you invest minimally, you'll make very little. There's been all sorts of speculation as to how high the price will go. Certain events have played a role on the price. Things like Trumps election, china trying to regulate and impose fees for trading, Brexit, etc all cause speculation. Nobody really know what will happen. I read reports that predicted that it could get as high as $4-5k per coin but that's a lofty goal I feel.

I personally use Coinbase so I'm familiar with that setup as well as Ethereum, but I haven't invested anything in ETH yet.

I'll definitely be doing some more research to see if it's worth investing a substantive amount. Thanks for your input!

[Ehentalix]

I personally think that it's too late to get in if you haven't already got a hefty chunk of money to invest. Back when it was $50 a coin was probably the ceiling for that; but if you have the money to buy multiple full coins, you should do so, because with everything going on in the world, I can see it going up easily, even if it's just a few hundred dollars.

If you really want to maximize your potential with minimal risk, invest smaller amounts into startup currencies. Stuff that's in the hundreds or thousands of coins to the dollar. If it flops, you're out pocket change. If it takes off, even to just a dollar a coin, you've made a massive return.

[|2eap]

I use coinbase as well. and very excited to see ETH rising! if you invested last month you'd have half of your investment gained by now. Really nice since it was falling. Right now, depending on trend it could be its high point in this month and fall again.

Same with bitcoin, they seem to be relevant to each other. But BTC easy doubled money if you were in a couple months ago.

[Curious]

I use Coinbase and Breadwallet. There are a lot of different ways to make money with bitcoin (regardless of the price). It's not only the value that makes the currency attractive. On a lot of international "trading" platforms bitcoin is the way to go because it's irreversible and has a low fraud rate. In general, people will pay a small markup for transactions. I bought a few coins at $300, sold them at $800, then bought a few more a few months ago at $700. I expect the graph to keep climbing year to year but don't plan on holding out for a huge return.

To answer your question, definitely not too late. It's popularity has open the doors of many online businesses who want to integrate payments.

If you're looking for an edge, there's really only one way to short bitcoin. Another good plan may be to purchase small amounts weekly while the price is below a fixed dollar amount, and keep purchasing. Once that fixed dollar amount is reached, stop buying and wait for it to climb some more.

It's not going to die, so even if you purchased 10 coins for 12k right now, most you'd probably ever lose is 2k.

[tcas4200]

Just be wary on the note of Coinbase that they've been subpoena'd by the IRS. They're US based (unlike other exchanges) so its possible to go through though they're trying to fight it. I mention this as many people that profit on bitcoin probably don't pay income tax on it which is what the subpoena is looking for.

[|2eap]

Just be wary on the note of Coinbase that they've been subpoena'd by the IRS. They're US based (unlike other exchanges) so its possible to go through though they're trying to fight it. I mention this as many people that profit on bitcoin probably don't pay income tax on it which is what the subpoena is looking for.

good to know. I'll sell out my wallets there while everything's up up up up

[Infiniti]

Glad I read this thread I came to chime in on what I know, and learned something myself. I've been using coinbase for a year or two now, but if they're getting subpoena'd I'm getting out.

Definitely not too late to get into trading. I was in that first group when bitcoin just got started and I bought 5 coins at like $12 each. Unfortunately, when BTC went up to about $100 a coin I sold those coins. Still a decent profit, but later that year it hit the (previous)All-time high around $1100. It's kind of high at the moment, I wouldn't recommend putting much into it. Just wait to see if coinbase does get hit by the IRS, or some political/economical event happens. It will drop some, if not a lot, which would be the time to buy. Personally, I just buy about $30 worth every two weeks. I have a coin left that I will never get rid of, in complete speculation that in 40 years from now BTC will be the worlds currency valued at 1mil a coin, so I can retire happy. The extra I put in goes into a separate wallet for uhh, things.

I wouldn't bother with other crytocurrencies personally. If you do a lot of research you might be able to follow some trends and make out with a decent profit. Doing research will yield thousands of different crytocurrencies all made from various strings. BTC is still a newer thing, the fact that is has caught on some is great for all of us tech-savvy users, but there will be a vast majority of people who will never touch it/never heard of it. If you really want to look into other crytocurrencies, I would get at least $1000 to spend (okay 500+, but the more you gamble the bigger your wins) and find one that doesn't have much of a following. Buy lots, and watch it, don't sell it even if it drops low. Maybe even advertise for it on various forums and such. It's your investment, it might be in a global economy, but all it takes is one share/retweet for things to catch on nowdays.

If you get into day trading, just be aware of fees when you sell/buy. They can really cut into your profits if you're constantly buying and selling.

[I_royalty_I]

Keep an eye out for the SEC on the ETF.. expected to be out by this Friday. If they approve it (very slim chance), the bitcoin price could shoot up a few hundred dollars. If they deny it, it will probably drop a bit. Nothing too dramatic, but it would be the best time to buy.

I hadn't heard of the shit that the IRS is doing with coinbase though. They can't do anything right though. Why don't they just worry on fixing their already screwed up organization before they take on more haha.

Realistically, there are a TON of factors that play into the bitcoin price. Speculation is really the driving force. You have to understand why the bull runs happened and anticipate when the next one will be. The world is a crazy place right now and there are a lot of mixed opinions on the direction the financial sectors are going to take. If you are paying attention to anything going on, you will have noticed a few of the signs. It's my opinion that the price will be through the roof by the end of the year, if all goes well with the US economy.

I've been buying $100 of bitcoins and $100 of ethereum every two weeks, just because. I originally bought $200 worth of ETH when it was around $7/coin. Now it's worth between $18-20. Nothing crazy but I'm pretty happy with that. I'd still recommend that coin as a possible investment.

I feel like I'm kind of rambling at this point but..

tl;dr - Do your research before you buy. Don't spend what you aren't prepared to lose.