Musings of a crypto Holder...er....HODLer....whatever that is...

So....I guess the idea of Steemit is to just post whatever you think and whatever comes to mind and let it float out there to see if it attracts any like-minded individuals anywhere. With that in mind, my first real foray into that reality is this post. And, since I've recently entered the world of crypto-currencies, they seem to be garnering the majority of my attention these days. Especially considering the markets today, Nov. 29th.

Anyway, like I'm sure a lot of us are right now, I'm new to the crypto phenomenon. I got suckered by one of those stupid newsletters that seem to continuously pound my Inbox and the next thing I know, I'm a "Bitcoiner" (or whatever they're calling us these days). Now, I've always considered myself a pretty good salesman and nobody falls for a good sales pitch like a good salesman so....hook, line, and sinker (as they say in the fishing world) I'm in.

That said, I do actually have a couple of brain cells rattling around in my head (some even manage to ignore the voices....but that's a story for a different time) and I could somewhat intuitively grasp the massive opportunity that seemed to be rising in front of me. There are a couple of fairly simple yet, in the grand scheme of things, profound truths to the crypto markets.

First, they are an absolute, unequivocally massive pain in the ass to get into. I mean, seriously!?! I had to write a certain phrase on a white sheet of paper, sign it, date it, and then figure out how to hold them with one hand while taking a selfie with the other and then manage to get the entirety of both documents, plus my fat head in the frame. That only took me an hour...

And, second, the crypto market as a whole only has about a $300 billion market cap. For those who don't understand what that means....it means that if you took the price for each crypto and multiplied it by the number of coins/tokens in circulation and then added them all together, you'd come up with the "market capitalization(cap)" of the entire crypto world. Well, let me tell you, I did some research and the entire futures market traded over $5 trillion a DAY back in 2013. I can only guess what that number is now. $300B is just a drop in the bucket.

Both of those things got me to thinking. If I get in now, while its difficult and still this small, I might have a pretty good chance at making some money. Seriously, think about it. If you're young, maybe the selfie thing is no big deal. But if you are 50 or older and you can still remember when your phone had a rotary dial on it, or 70 and older when you still had to call an operator to get them to "connect" you to the person you wanted to talk to, then taking a "selfie" is no simple task. Sure, there are lots of people out there that can do it. But for every one that can, nineteen(90?...900?...9000?) can't or have no interest in learning how. And I think that estimate is low. Personally, I think that probably less than 1 in 10,000 people have even heard about Bitcoin, let alone figured out how to buy some. That's a guess of course, but in talking to the people I come into contact with, very few even have a clue what I'm talking about when I mention Bitcoin.

As to the market cap thing....I personally believe that over the next few years that number is going to grow well into the trillions of dollars. It's already gone from $150 billion a couple months ago to over $300B today as I write this. It's crazy. The overall size of this market is growing on a daily basis not because there are new things coming to the market every day (although that is part of it because there ARE....on a weekly basis if not daily), but because this is a WORLDWIDE market. This is not just Japan or Russia or China or Britain or the US. This is Korea, Australia, Venezuela, Germany, France, South Africa, etc, etc..... The entire world has access to these markets and they are coming in by the droves. It's only going higher. Simple math. More demand/fixed supply=higher prices.

That's why I get a kick out these traders on some of the chat rooms. They do all of this statistical analysis with charts and stochastics and candles and moving averages blah, blah, blah. It's simple supply and demand. For all of the crowing they do when they get one right, sell near a top and maybe even short it and then buy back when it's lower, you'd think they were the smartest people on earth. And yet, you never hear them talking about the ones they missed or sold too early and lost 20% gains sitting on the sidelines. Even this "flash-crash" today, Bitcoin went from like $11,300 down to $8700 in an hour or two but where is it now? Well over $10,000 again. So while there was an opportunity to get out and get back in lower, chances are they timed it wrong and only made minimal gains. At the same time, they risked long term gains of literally hundreds of percentage points for what? A quick 15% profit. That, to me is crazy. And, like I said, they remind me of gamblers. Loud and boisterous and the smartest people on the planet when they get one right. But you never hear about all of the ones they miss on. If they were so smart, why are they even trading at all? They should have already made their fortunes and be out driving their "lambos".

Anyway, I digress. In my humble opinion, I think every single person on the planet should own a little Bitcoin (or Ethereum or Dash or Ethereum Classic (my favorite) or whatever). Gather up a couple hundred dollars, more or less depending on your situation, and get into this market. When you first enter, buy the bigger more established currencies and let them ride. There is a very legitimate chance these currencies will literally change the world as we know it. You owe yourself at least the chance to have a piece of it. If you like how things are going with your initial investment, START DOING SOME RESEARCH. For every great company in the crypto world right now there are ten that are one step above an outright scam. And some that aren't even that much above them. Do a little reading and find one you feel you can get behind. At that point, put a little more money in. A LITTLE more money. With these markets being in their infancy, anything can still happen. No one knows for certain where these things will end up so make sure you can afford to lose what you put in. Small investments could produce life-changing returns. While losing them won't kill you. Once you learn your way around a little bit, then you can start making more informed decisions about what you want to do next.

The other piece of advice I have is to hold what you own. Don't be trading it around based on this or that or the latest gossip in the chatrooms. The best investors in the world buy and hold. They only sell when they either reach their targets or something changes with the investment they've chosen that warrants them moving to another investment. And the change is almost never the price. It's the company. While I'm sure there are some great traders out there, most of them end up with ulcers, drug addictions, and/or heart attacks at young ages. The highs are probably pretty great. But that's no way to live in my mind.

Anyway, those are my rambling thoughts. Take them for what they're worth. I'm no expert but, as I said above, the barrier to entry and the relatively tiny market these represent at this moment seem to point to massive potential. The risk is definitely very real but, for a small investment, the returns could be life-changing. Seems worth the risk to me. If you're already on Steemit reading this, then you probably have a fairly good idea of the potential. This is obviously not meant to be investment advice, but, you really do owe it to yourself to get in the game.

That's it. I just thought I'd put some thoughts on paper while this market goes crazy.....feel free to comment if you'd like.

Thanks for reading......