A newbies cryptocurrency awakening (Part 2)

Hello Steem-mates!

This is part two of my cryptocurrency awakening and have I been on a steep learning curve!

A lot has happened, I have made and lost more money, learn't some more valuable lessons and repeated some stupid mistakes I made a week or so ago. However, I'm on the right track now. (didn't I say that last week?) So, no more running with the bulls or playing the day trader. Not at the moment anyway, its too tiring, too dangerous and without the right tools I'm just spinning the dice. If I can find the right tools, then I might have a decent chance at it. But for the time being day trading is just not viable for me.

The BTC spilt happened and all is well, some people received or will receive a nice bonus. Personally I received a whopping $11 in Bitcoin cash!

I then increased my holdings in BTH, and I now have a whole one BTH. I purchased when it was around $200 and I'm just taking a punt on it rising again, plan is if it rises to $400 I'll let it go and use the profit to counter some recent losses. I'm not that optimistic so I have my handkerchief ready just in case the plan fails.

After a lot of selling/buying and basically fooling around, generally loosing more than winning I'm currently holding the following coins. Each coins has $25 on them and so far all but 3 have risen over the $25 mark.

These are long term holds, I won't be fooling around with them.

1. Golem
2. Antshares NEO
3. PIVX
4. NEM
5. EOS
6. IOTA
7. STEEM !!!!!
8. Stellar
9. Verge
10. Reddcoin
11. Dogecoin
12. List
13. Bytecoin
14. WAVES

I also have these other coins

1. Bitcoin - 0.5 BTC
2. Bitcoin cash - 1 BTH
3. XRP - 5535,6362 XRP

I was going to focus on STEEM, talk about it and explain why I'm holding it and whats in the pipeline, but I lost my notes on Typora somehow and will have to return to STEEM at a later date.

Regarding XRP. 5535,6362 XRP may seem like a lot of XRP to hold on to, but theres a good reason why I've invested that much and holding firm. It's my nest egg for the future, if the price ever rises to a $1 and I hoping it will, I'll get a nice bonus. If it goes to $10, which is possible, I'll be over the moon. I think XRP has a big and bright future. But recently there hasn't been a lot of news coming through about XRP, and this lack of news has some loyal supporters a bit concerned.

I too have become a little concerned. So I've been scouring the internet looking for something, anything, to lift my hopes that my decision to invest into XRP was a wise one. On the face of it Ripple has a solid future ahead, its has a professional team of people in the driving seat and they have been making some very interesting deals and by all accounts forging ahead. However, XRP has stagnated around 17 cents mark for quite a long time now. (stop press - I just checked and its now up to 19 cents- come on! You can do it!!)

I know many cryptocurrency aficionado's dislike Ripple, and the main reason is Ripples target market, the banks and other financial institutions. So they are holding back in defiance. Perhaps this lack of support could be one of the reasons why XRP isn't doing so well at the moment? So has Ripple sold out? The question is irrelevant, because Ripple is a business, they are not ideologists, they are driven by the lure of profit and results.

Savvy investors would realise Ripple is an excellent long term investment. It's a not a coin for short term gains. One of its best attributes is it seems to be relatively stable. Which is exactly what Ripple needs it to be for the banks to have faith in the XRP. However we, as investors, wan't to see a ROI, unfortunately it may be some time before we start to see some decent gains.

Whats in the pipeline?

Here is some recent articles related to Ripple

1. Bitcoin cash grabs the headlines but Ripple has the banks attention.
   https://bankinnovation.net/2017/08/bitcoin-cash-grabs-the-headlines-but-ripple-has-the-banks-attention/
2. Ripple unveils and expanding suite of offerings
   http://www.bankingtech.com/931562/ripple-unveils-expanded-suite-of-offerings/
3. SBI Holdings view on XRP and the blockchain
   https://ripple.com/insights/sbi-holdings-views-on-blockchain-and-xrp-an-interview-with-yoshitaka-kitao/
4. Joel Katz on xrpchat - he is the man!
   https://www.xrpchat.com/profile/30-joelkatz/

Conclusion

There are signs of hope, Ripple are currently focussed on expanding the network and cementing themselves as THE system for the banks to use in replacement of the old SWIFT system. But there is a lot more on offer and to come, but ROI won't be coming anytime soon. However, I'm expecting general market conditions to trigger a rise in the value of XRP to around 20 cents by the end of August. When that happens a second rise is likely to come. In terms of larger gains, I think thats much further down the track.

Cheers Jim!