A Casual Guide to Investing in Cryptocurrencies

in cryptocurrency •  7 years ago  (edited)

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Firstly, let me preface with a disclaimer: I'm not an expert in finance and economics. I've never invested in any company stocks and precious metals before. They aren't all that appealing to me anyway. So, much of what I know is just from my own experience dealing with cryptocurrency markets and reading books like The Black Swan and Antifragile: Things That Gain From Disorder by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. Maybe including Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk as well.

While some of us have shorter time horizons when it comes to investing, I have a preference for investing in fundamentals that seem to be evergreen. That is, investing in sustainable organisations that can go on for a very long time. Cryptocurrencies are a good representation of such organisations. As long as they're open-sourced and sufficiently decentralized, these projects will be worked on for the long-term. But I have one extra criteria for evergreen coins, which I'll spell out in the conclusion.

As usual, only use your disposable income when it comes to investing in cryptocurrencies. You would need to be able to hold onto your position for any substantial returns over the long-run.

Truth is, it's most likely you wouldn't need this guide at all as it's easy to randomly pick some low-medium cap coins and gain from them in this bullish market. Plus, these coins have some dimensions that give rise to a certain floor for store-of-value with a large enough community. But I'm just writing this for anyone who's even remotely interested in taking a dive in being a casual investor in cryptocurrencies.

Important metrics to consider

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It's better to look at market capitalization than the price of the coin alone as it's a loose indication of network value, just as much as how people talk about Facebook being worth $500 billion as a company. Just tune into https://coinmarketcap.com and notice this figure in the charts. Also another metric worth considering is the total supply of the coin and its inflation structure, if any. Look for the latest whitepaper for any of the coins.

Starting with the network's 16th hard fork in December 2016, Steem began creating new tokens at a yearly inflation rate of 9.5%. The inflation rate decreases at a rate of 0.01% every 250,000 blocks, or about 0.5% per year. The inflation will continue decreasing at this pace until the overall inflation rate reaches 0.95%.

This will take about 20.5 years from the time hard fork 16 went into effect. 75% of the new tokens that are generated go to fund the reward pool, which is split between authors and curators. 15% of the new tokens are awarded to holders of SP. The remaining 10% pays for the witnesses to power the blockchain.

As an example, this is the supply inflation rate for Steem (check the whitepaper) that starts at 9.5% in the first year. This inflation rate decreases over time by 0.5% per year, in similar vein with Bitcoin's decreasing inflation rate of 50% every 4 years. However, Steem will have a soft-cap of 0.95% inflation rate after 20 years while Bitcoin's inflation rate will be at 0% in year 2140. With mass adoption, the 0.95% inflation rate can account for lost and inaccessible funds that will eventually happen over a long period of time.

Justifying an entry point

Let's assume that cryptocurrency markets are going to be a multi-trillion dollar market sometime in the future. Let's say $10,000,000,000,000. With that amount, we are able to house about 1,000 organisations with an average network value (or market cap) of $10 billion dollars. Due to Zipf's Law, let's stretch that out into a conservative $1 billion dollar per cryptocurrency (note that I would sometimes use the word organisation or community).

So depending on your risk-appetite, just choose your entry point into any cryptocurrencies before they hit a market cap of $1 billion dollars. My preferred sweet spot for least risk in investing is when a coin's market cap is around $50 - $200 million to accumulate most of my desired position. But generally, under $1 billion is fine for any coins that could enter mainstream use.

Invest in which coin?

There's no straight answer to this as we all see the world in different ways. You'll have your own taste in coins, and I believe there'll be different flavours in the market for everyone, even for the same kind of coins. Different strokes for different folks. Which is also why we have thousands of different brands for everything in our consumer culture. But here's what I think is important to inspect before deciding your investment position: decentralization, usability, productivity, resonance, and market activity.

  • Decentralization. Are there plenty of people holding the coins, and how concentrated is the wealth? Is it easy for anyone to game or hack the distributed ledger? This should adjust your risk appetite. Generally, the more decentralized, the better. Some have argued that Proof-of-Work works toward better decentralization. For me, sufficient decentralization present in consensus algorithms like Delegated Proof-of-Stake is good enough. Plus, some might say it's better. This will be up to your own judgement, of course. Also, note about the potential speed of distribution / decentralization. You can do some due diligence here through block explorers. As for the case of OmiseGO, an ERC-20 token, check this out and scroll to the bottom of the page to see the distribution. You should be able to check this kind of stats out in most cryptocurrencies.

  • Usability. This is the most important element for me. Is there something people can use now? Do or will people use it frequently? Is it easy to build something on it? If you find yourself using it frequently, all the better. This is why I have a heavier position in Steem Power. It's the only coin I use 99% of the time when it comes to cryptocurrencies. If its slow and imposes heavy transaction fees, I would also deem it unusable over a long-run. This quality of usability is very important, in my opinion, as it is the very foundation of network effects. People need to adopt and use it in their everyday life.

  • Productivity. Most cryptocurrencies incentivize human behaviour, and subsequently, activities. What's the coin all about and what does it create? If it encourages productivity and has a positive net effect, then it's most likely a good thing because it creates value.

  • Resonance. If you feel strongly for the coin, be it for a cause or whatever, perhaps it's something that you should invest in. There's a good chance many might feel the same too. The best kind of investment is when you can contribute both material and human capital. For example, I'm all for a zero-marginal cost society in the future, so I've a preference for coins with zero transaction fees. Hence why I'm using this platform as well. For this criteria, please make sure you do more due diligence if you're emotionally attracted to any projects out there. It could all just be fluffy marketing stuff with no substance.

  • Trading volume and liquidity. It will depend on your risk appetite. Higher volume is better, obviously. I think there needs to be enough trading volume to justify an investment. It's a sign of attention, market activity, etc. Also, you would need to be able to liquidate your position into your desired currency without too much of a friction.

There's also a question of core developers / community. This is important when the network value is under $1 billion, especially when it's much lower in the region under $50 million. However, this criteria should become less important as it grows and becomes more decentralized. I'm not including this in my list as it's not all that important to me. As long as a project is open-sourced with decent distribution, people will most likely get things done with enough capital. I take a look at people only when a project is closed-sourced and / or heavily centralized in the beginning.


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Sorry for the wall of text. Here's an image.

HODL, but forever?

I'm from the camp that thinks this way: leaders won't last more than 10 years in this age of accelerated disruption. Not even the cryptocurrencies that we all know and love. This is why I've personally moved on away from some of the older giants, only keeping some of them just in case. The HODL memes that go around are funny and all, but you know what, even happy long-living turkeys get slaughtered when its turn comes during Thanksgiving. So, diversify.

To conclude, here's my last note on long-term investing. In my opinion, zero transaction fee is an absolute requirement for evergreen projects. It saves money, improves adoption, and allows for plenty of innovation. Network revenue generated from transactions with arbitrary fee isn't a great plus point in my books.

Please invest responsibly and only put in what you can afford to lose. Also remember to secure your coins for the long run. Don't leave them in exchanges. Store them in the appropriate wallets and be the one that owns the private keys!

Oh, and remember to take profit at some point to cover your original investment. By the way, the coolest and most casual form of investing I found.. is voting on the Steem network! Power it up for peace and prosperity.

All the best in your adventures!


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Thanks, Kevin, got some helpful information from your post. With the recent high price of SBD, I've used the opportunity to take first steps with some small investments in other cryptocurrencies.

One thing that seems pretty noticeable is how much together all the coins move. For example, on coinmarketcap.com, you can see in the prices graph how recently there was a dip for practically all the coins at the exact same time. And after that they all went up. To me this suggests that the prices are driven by speculation and hype, rather than the actual products the companies behind the cryptocurrencies (blockchain technologies) are developing. If that's the case, I will make a prediction that there will be a crypto bubble similar to the dotcom bubble. After the bubble bursts, the companies that don't have any real and useful technology will die, and the ones with real solutions will remain. And in the process people will say that it's the end of crypto/blockchain, just like they said it was the end of the Internet after the dotcom bubble.

Another noticeable thing seems the relation between circulating supply and price. The more coins in existence, the lower the price. Bitcoin was able to achieve this high price because it has a very small circulating supply. You wouldn't expect a coin like Ripple, with its much bigger supply, to reach such prices. So, yeah, the price of a single coin seems pretty irrelevant (and the result of design decisions), although that's what most people focus on. (I just find it so unfortunate that scarcity equals profit, while giving an abundance of coins to everyone on the planet would make the coins worthless. :( )

What I was wondering about is whether you look at the underlying blockchain technology protocol that the cryptocurrency you're looking to invest in runs on. Do you ask questions like: What problems are they trying to solve with the technology they're developing? What approaches do they have to tackling the problems, and how do their approaches compare with others?

One other thing that I personally (and I think many others) would find helpful is workable strategies for storing the coins. There isn't any one app for all the coins, so it can be difficult. Just throwing it out there in case you are interested in making a post about it.

Man,reading your comment felt like reading a post in itself! But I find it helpful, as much as the post itself.

Glad to hear you found it helpful. :)

With the recent high price of SBD, I've used the opportunity to take first steps with some small investments in other cryptocurrencies.

It's a great time to be doing this trying it out :)

One thing that seems pretty noticeable is how much together all the coins move.

Many coins are reliant on either Bitcoin or Ethereum, which is why it all seems like they're in sync. But I agree, it's largely influenced, mostly by social media these days.

I will make a prediction that there will be a crypto bubble similar to the dotcom bubble. After the bubble bursts, the companies that don't have any real and useful technology will die

I wonder.. cryptocurrencies are rather different compared to company stocks. There's worldwide access to this thing, and we're getting a slice of a network and growth could potentially remain open ended. But yeah I guess in the end is if people are actually using the currency.

Do you ask questions like: What problems are they trying to solve with the technology they're developing? What approaches do they have to tackling the problems, and how do their approaches compare with others?

Oh yeah, thinking about it I should've included this part, but maybe I've described it in "usability / productivity / resonance". For example, I recently got into Substratum as they seem to have an elegant solution to net neutrality with browser-agnostic solutions for mainstream adoption, minimum software for node operators, and all without the need for politics.

One other thing that I personally (and I think many others) would find helpful is workable strategies for storing the coins.

I'll try to look out for an article on this, remember coming across a really good one.

Btw, thanks for the awesome comment @borislavzlatanov. I've been seeing your comments, even promoting steemstem and have always thought that you should post up more stuff!

For sure the world is changing (even in such a short timespan since the dotcom bubble) and I definitely don't think history will repeat exactly.

Glad you liked my comment - I haven't been posting because I encountered the issue with high-quality content remaining unnoticed, and at the same time a lot of low-quality content reaching great popularity. And the other thing is that I have the impression that even the high-quality content that gets popular doesn't really get read by most people, it just gets upvoted. So I haven't been motivated to post, and I was wanting to do something about these underlying issues first.

There are curation groups and all. I think the issue will mostly resolve itself when the communities feature rolls out. Since this is proof of stake, and highly staked users doesn’t necessarily mean great curators, sometimes it’s really difficult to align incentives. What are yours thoughts on the possible solutions?

Curation groups like curie have made all the difference in the world for me, and I am very, very grateful to them. So, I guess the more help they get, the more the platform as a whole will benefit. In a way, they are trying to find gems among all the massive amounts of posts published each day. So I'm thinking in the direction of arranging things so there is much less low-quality posting to begin with. How do we achieve that?

Firstly, with the coming of Communities, there will hopefully be so much less content within a given group. So the people in that group will find it easy to go through all the posts and vote on the ones they consider worthy. Like on most forums. But, if there is excessive posting from people who are looking to just make money without contributing to the purpose of the group, and it becomes difficult to go through all the new daily posts, there could be moderation or various other arrangements. (Not to be confused with a lot of on-topic, beneficial posts being made each day, which could be solved by creating subcommunities within the given community.)

Secondly, SMTs suggest some very intriguing possibilities. If we see the Steem blockchain as a very rudimentary socio-economic system, then from my understanding SMTs will allow each community to create its own socio-economic system by altering the parameters of the parent one (hopefully, without having to create their own cryptocurrency). There isn't any one correct model that all the people have to operate under (like it is with current countries and governments). It's more like - make it flexible and people will hopefully (but not necessarily) find a model that works in the context of their group and its purpose. One thing I really like about this is that the rules of the game (parameters of the system) are written in computer code, not in legal language like today.

So we have a very good starting point. Then, in order for a community to be successful in fulfilling its purpose, I would suggest they do the following:

  1. Define success metrics. This is how the people can know if they are making progress or not. For example, a success metric could be the number of successfully executed projects within the community. See what the number is, then make a change and see if the number is higher next month. Whatever metrics make sense for the given community.
  2. Start experimenting with the parameters of the system. One idea I have is to turn the post rewards the other way around - 25% for the author and 75% for the curators. Not everybody wants to be a content creator (especially writing blog posts) - why not given them the opportunity to make a buck by just curating? My hypothesis is that this will significantly reduce the number of daily posts, leaving much less competition for the remaining posts - so the ones that contribute to the community or the whole platform will still get rewarded well. By tracking the success metrics, a sweet spot for author/curation percentage split can be found for a given community. Another experiment: remove the 7-day limitation on payouts. Really high-quality content is good even after years. I hypothesize that this will lead to authors putting up less, but more high-quality stuff. Stories, books, music records, games, software products, (scientific papers?), etc. will thus bring money to their creators all the time, removing the tension for the creators to continuously post new stuff. I see this as paramount for the future of the Steem blockchain's model, but I realize that doing these experiments on the whole platform (rather than only within a given community) may have many negative retroactions.

What do you think? Do you see things in a similar way, or differently?

Good thoughts on the success metrics. One of the easiest metrics would probably be from capital generated and distributed in a community. How would you define a metric for altruism by the way?

Communities will almost certainly make curation better as there'll be moderators and more focused pile to work on. I'm pretty sure the devs are delaying the release of the communities feature for a reason. I think there are a lot of good community suggestions that are being considered like what you've mentioned for SMTs and rewards pool parameters.

Wrote something about communities and UI/UX yesterday that relates to what you're talking about, with some inspiration from @thevenusproject. Would love your thoughts on it: https://steemit.com/asksteemit/@kevinwong/how-would-you-map-out-steem-s-community-in-an-organizational-ui-ux

I wouldn't try to measure altruism. I would try to set up a system and measure the performance of that system. The social sciences often try to measure people and their "qualities" and it gets very, very difficulty and messy. I see the way forward as building a system and measuring how it performs. Then tweaking it continuously.

A community can have projects. If somebody wanted to know about the community, they would look at the projects pursued by its members. If the goals of the projects are directed towards meeting human needs, then it would be clear to people what that community is about. And they could call the community altruistic, humanitarian or any other word they prefer to use. At the end of the day, it's the goals that matter - and those goals have to be measurable so the people can know if they are meeting them or not.

For example, if I initiated a project about creating a new website on the Steem blockchain, one with educational materials that enables people to both learn and make money, some goals of my project might be to have people successfully complete sections of the content, keep them coming back and going through more and more advanced materials, etc., etc.

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Hoping to learn to this post as i am new in crypto. I will follow you and make to read your article in crypto.. thank you very much hoping and wishing to guide me on this. @kevinwong

Awesome, i never really thought of looking at the actual qty of coins to price as a metric. Thanks for the info.

THIS WAS A GREAT HELP

There is a difference in price appreciation of alt coins. Even visible on CMC if you watch closely.

The coins that are real, working today, blockchain is cranking through blocks, the chain is being used. Those coins are slowly heading higher.

Coins that are just play toys, but not real or not aligned to long-term goals elaborated in original whitepaper, are slowly losing ground.

There will be a big shake out. Just like dot com boom and bust.

There will be few survivors. ADA will be one of the survivors.

XRP token will survive, but it will be 1/10,000th of current over pumped value.

Very informative piece. I appreciate your frankness about your HODLing strategy. While holding for an extended period of time may be useful, there is a time to cut-bait and move profits into newer and better opportunities.

very good experience and advice, Kevin.
i am a new investor of cypto market, now i am holding ETH, KNC, EOS and other IC0 which not be listed on exchange now. Hope they will go to moon in 2018. haaa..

Very great information here, thank you for sharing! I have been such an avid fan of crypto currencies lately! We are changing the world people!

5 criteria that @kevinwong looks at when it comes to investing in cryptocurrencies

  • Decentralization
  • Usability
  • Productivity
  • Resonance
  • Trading Volume and Liquidity

This post is clearly one of the more insightful and thoughtful posts when it comes to investing in cryptocurrencies. Rather than convincing one why is this coin good, why is the other coin not so good.. you educate the mass on what are the general signs to look for and how to determine on our own what suits our taste or not. Thanks brah!

Just make sure there are actual devs working on the thing lol xD Thanks man.

xd actual devs

I do some risk management every 6 months. what can I afford to lose, securing profits and re-investing.
I keep positions on old coins that are probably of sentimental value and not because of usage. And invest in new promising techs with some of my spare earnings.
When and if crypto bubble pops I am keeping the memories and the friendships formed. And also some of the experiences I collected during this trip. It has been a hell of a ride.

that was really useful, i am currently researching as i want to invest in other coins except steemit ( although i consider it the best) but i had no clue where to start, what wallets exchangers to use and coins to invest into. What was really helpful at your post that i haven't gave a lot of thought is the what problem they try to solve and if they have a real product. That change completely my thinking!

Thanks, although what was your main focus other than those criteria before reading this??

the main focus was kinda stupid as i was checking the top 10-20 just because they are 10-20 but now i said to myself that i will take my time look every aspect , research and read a lot everywhere around the internet before investing to something

If you're basing any decisions in your life on what is written in the book 'Fight Club' by Chuck Palahniuk - you're gonna have a bad time.

Lol not necessarily if repackaged

What do you think about a quantum computer and how it could imply on crypto?

IOTA and QRL have addressed that

Cheers for the in-depth write up on your investing thoughts.

I think one thing that many new investors miss is the supply and how different the distribution is between coins. Not all coins use PoW and mining, and distribution through pre-mine, insta-mine or ICO's can be very confusing for new people to the space.

As you mention above HODL is great but I think it is important to choose exit points (even if they are in the distant future) or choose points for distribution/re-allocation. I believe Crypto is here to stay but in future what is on top could easily switch as new assets and offerings are created.

Thanks again. New here so just looking around Steemit for people to follow and found yourself.

On the first 'evaluation factor' above - decentralisation of holding - market manipulation can drastically effect this - as with the recent verge scam over the Christmas period - now 1 guy holds 14% o the currency....the price is now a lot less stable (potentially) for the rest of us!

Lol damn, good thing i sold it all the top. Gotta thank Mcafee for the market irrationality though lol. I don't even know what good the coin is for :p

I'm holding it, but I need to research the difference between coins some more. I'm half tempted to try and put together some 'top trump cards for different currencies... it'd be a great learning tool.

What I like about steem, is is that you can actually do something with it - ie network on here. And then there's the thing which I only just discovered - you get interest on your SP as well! How did I miss that? I kind of like that.

Of course, the downside of steem - is that you have to blinker yourself to so many of the trending posts which are just shite, not to mention the rants!

Thanks for the tip, liking your posts,

Karl.

If Bitcoin has a trending page, it’ll all be filled with proof of work gibberish anyway so human readable content on steem is at least.. something :)

Yeah steem power provides more earning power as well and you get to earn more from curating / voting!

steem's POW ledger will be a true testimony to the shallow nature of humankind in the early 21st century. I can almost imagine a Star Trek scene in which, rather than being aghast at the fact that we used to power vehicles with fossil fuels, we powered one of the earliest cryptocurrency economies with blokes in dresses doing comedy make up tutorials, 30 second video clips of dogs running in circles, manwiches and psychobabble.

I dread to think how it's going to deteriorate when it really mainstreams!

I need to sort out a strategy to make sure I stay in my 'niche'.

@kevinwong - Since I have recently started dabbling into crypto, this guide comes in at a perfect time for me. I love the parallel you have drawn of market cap with company evaluation since I am fairly familiar with normal evaluation of companies for stock trading.
You also answered an important question that has been plaguing my mind about HODL. HODL, as you have rightly pointed out, is so over-hyped. True, sometimes we may sell early and miss some profit but it is better than risking crash. Quit while we are ahead should be the motto.

Thanks for the article. Kudos for the simple layman terms in which you have explained everything. Upvoted full.
Wishing you Happy holidays and a happy new year.

Regards,

@vm2904

As always, if someone is willing to bet their entire savings onto something (anything) then it's probably more prudent to protect that person from their own silliness rather than protect them from cryptocurrencies.

Nice Guide and happy trials.

I am interested to learn more about zero transaction cost coins/tokens. What examples can you give? Concept looks viable but I have not encountered one coin that is like this. EOS is still in development stage so I do not count them. Thanks.

Steem, eos, iota, raiblocks are the ones without tx fee :)

d*mn forgot steem was one. lol. Thanks.

Thank you for this. Though I currently only have LTC and Steem Id like to get more once I can afford a Nano s hardware wallet. I'm also waiting on some verification emails for other markets other than coin base I just feel like they are so dang slow and backed up right now.. One day lol

Happy shopping!

Zero transaction fee, interesting absolute. Good, clear advice and points... the trick is applying it into actual strategy. TY

Basically just buy and hold good potential coins that people will use when the network value is still relatively low :)

Solid advice. I look at market cap as well, but trend toward values with a high market cap. Like ripple which has done well. For those that can stomach a more centralized approach. And yes, take your initial investment back if you get the chance!

Ripple is definitely a middle finger to cryptos :p not touching that though lol

Thanks again Kevin for sharing your insight on this market, been reading a lot about cryptocurrency and always looking forward to your posts.

Hey this is an awesome post! I am new to trading... well I am in the researching phase right now so I will soon be new to trading. I am interested in Crypto and Cannabis as in my world they seem like the current trends and up and coming investments. I am going to follow you and resteem your post you sounds like you might have a lot of good tips! Thanks for the awesome post!

Try to avoid meme coins, they might do well.. but there's no real use to them.. imo lol

Thanks! Crypto can be soooo overwhelming!

This is good information. I know that steemit has been like a savings account to me for digital currency and I am thinking I want to invest in other markets of crypto also. I just know this is the easy way to get your foot in as you start because its not a direct currency deposit required option. Perhaps later when I understand it better I will invest in digital money for the future. I might be doing that on one of my cashouts just to have other elements to look at as these options grow. Re-steemed and Followed.

Thanks Kevin for writing this elaborate article. Definitely help guide me in my journey to crypto. Modern on me later.

Oh it’s you, I freaked out reading this earlier lol. Np mk. Write your intro lol

  ·  7 years ago (edited)

Excellent post and a proactive analysis, my friend, all your arguments are fully confirmed by the basic indicators of the crypto-currency market. You quite rightly noticed about the zero commission, as in my opinion it is a triangular stone of all coins and those coins that will build a reasonable policy in this matter and will dominate this market. But how to make a choice, everyone certainly decides for himself, depending on his preferences! Thank you @kevinwong and happy Christmas!

Thanks for Healthy tips ...but i want to ask you about your five crypto you would like to invest ... i understand your disclaimer.....i just want to know about your choice ...

Steem, IOTA, Substratum, Santiment, and TaaS are my current favourites :)

@kevinwong. Thank you for sharing your post and your current favorites! I really appreciate your insight and taking the time to write down these tips. As a newby, it can be overwhelming trying to conquer all the info out there. I will take a much further look into these crypto as I agree with your points as to what to look for in a evergreen coin and have been trying to find good alt coins to diversify. Keep up the good work!

Thanks... EOS is under ICO ...what is your views about that?

EOS big fav as well. But i think it's rather overpriced at the moment tbh

I've so been looking forward to an informative post like this regard investing in cryptocurrencies....
Thanks really detailed 💯

Thanks, feel free to ask anything!

Brilliant post my Friend! Thank you so very much for this information! It means the world to a beginner like myself. It is so great that steem is without a tax fee! I'm so very excited about steem and its potential in 2018 and beyond! I told multiple individuals about steemit yesterday and they assure me that they would join! They were very excited and enthusiastic! I will continue to spread the word every day! I love steem and the steemit community! It is such a great and helpful community! I'm very blessed and honored to be a part of the steemit community! TEAM STEAM! Blessed 2018 my Friends! GO TEAM STEAM! :)

Kevin, my friend ! I will share with you the holy grail of investors, the money making master mind machine !

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The HITBTC TrollBox chat.

Bringing you the best of the best investors ever to roam the dark corners of the internet, the basement dwellers that make Bill Gates look like a Chinease Rip off Artist.

Seriously, never listen to these douches you would lose a ton of money.

No way.. don't take signals from trollboxes.. plus that's not really investing, more like for trading.. lol

There is a lot of great advice in here especially for someone who knows nothing about Crypto. It is to easy to hop see 1000s of different coins and just pick one and hope for the best without doing any research. (I've been guilty of that myself).

Diversification is also really important in my opinion. As you pointed out we shouldn't invest any money that can't lose. However, if you diversify than at least you are less likely to lose it all, or lose it all at once!

Thank for making the post with your opinions. I am just a new and learning every day. Why did you said to keep in wallet and not to keep them in exchange ? I don't use wallet except steemit and I kept some money in bittrex and poloniex for small trade (buy low sell high). But for long run, if I keep it in exchange website, will it make problem?

Small amount in exchanges is ok. It's just that these websites / exchanges can be hacked or shut down since they're operated by a single company. Decentralised exchanges are better.

I understand now. I will search for alternatives of such centralized exchange. It will be worse day for anyone if something happen like this. Thanks for awareness.

Good introduction! Short and sweet but real usable information.

My husband started during the summer with a small $100 investment. He's now cashed out a few times to finance a few projects, about 5 times the initial investment including fees paid. Consistency helps. He uses a faucet and tries to visit it every day to collect. I'll ask him to add some comments here.

This will be a great help to those who will invest in cryptocurrency, something that they MUST consider before investing. The guidelines you gave are all on point.
Thank you very much for sharing this @kevinwong ! Resteemed.

This is a great guide on how to invest in crypto. I actually just going into investing. I will definitely use your advice.

Thanks so much for this great post on how to invest in cryptocurrencies. I'm more in the camp that I can see market leaders developing over weaker projects but prefer taking profits as needed.

@kevinwong I have to congratulate you on breaking down the different components for those starting out in cryptocurrencies. I know from my time writing about altcoins for a client that the hardest part for me was always trying to explain it in easy terms without me coming across as if I thought people were stupid. (which of course they aren't)

I hope that your readers can take a lot from this post by you.

I really like how you broke down the factors. Until now, Ive only had btc, eth and ltc, but I think I might try some small Alts.

Resteeming this for my other noobie friends.

indeed a very helpful post! i will take note of each of this that you have explained so i could be at my best in trading. i'm just a newbie in the trading world but I'm having a grasp of it,thanks to every blogs that I get to read just like this. Thanks so much for sharing! All the best! ❤

This is not about trading though, more for investing long term :) but i guess some same fundamentals apply.

i've already bought some coins too for long term investment. it takes so much courage to not sell them when you're seeing the value go up. 😆

The annotated screen shot from coinmarketcap made laugh :) It's hard to ignore the price of a coins because it's instinctively draws attention and creates psychological barriers. But I see why you chose to annotate it that way, really interesting approach. I'm not sure why you say you want to hodl forever. I mean at some point it might be nice to get some profits and travel the world or buy a house.

I’m currently learning about crypto at lightning speed after, this pointed me in a good direction with the different proof of this and that, thats something I need to research.

My first goal was to get a few of the big names and eos. Now I’m looking to put a little bit into a bunch of different smaller coins. Then rinse and repeat.

All the best, let me know your favourite coins next time!

Solid healthy tips my dude kevin. Thanks for the posts. happy new years to all

And remember to pay your taxes this year!! :)

Well, if i ever cash out ;)
Thanks for dropping by. Happy new year man!

You say this strategy is better than:

:D

Great !
Good analysis my friend.

Interesting stuff. I'll keep that market cap tip in mind. Why do you think SBD has gone nuts? Speculators who have no clue what they are doing?

Yeah, most likely clueless traders and speculators lol. Anyway, it's a good way to spice up the payout structure as well

I am still a beginner in the crypto market, I agree it will be a multi-trillion dollar market in the future. Thank you for sharing his brother's experience.

That's huge guidance of how to invest cryptocurrencies in blockchain. Valuable opinions to starting. Thanks @kevinwong. Always followed your advice.

  ·  7 years ago (edited)

If you want to invest in cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin is still a standard item of every portfolio – but it is no longer the onliest asset.
very useful information thank u kevin :)
best investment STEEM and BTC

  ·  7 years ago (edited)

Well said. Straight to the point!
Very helpful for new people in the crypto world.
Included most of the main issues.

Thx for the image lmao :d

Good post but I am afraid i am a man who believes in HODL! I think the cryptocurrency market is only beginning to flourish and hope for some long term gains.

Yea hodl is a fine non strategy lol. Just saying it might not work all the time, although you’d still own the coins regardless of the price.

wow..this is very helpful to us..very informative and you have given us a good guide about the latest trends and how we should focus on them..thanks alot for sharing this with us :)

this is very userful guide i allready know some data wich u writed about total supply and the volume of coins wich is traded :) i just made proffit with RDD Last Days :) BTW thank you for this gread post !

What would be the appropriate wallet to hold crypto? Right now I have a coinbase account but haven't really used it. I'm still a noob when it comes to this @kevinwong.

It depends on which coins. For the popular ones, you may check out this post on it :) https://steemit.com/tutorial/@kevinwong/totally-new-to-cryptocurrencies-here-are-the-top-5-things-you-should-do

Thank you for that @kevinwong. I'm saving up some sbd for a new computer and I was just wondering how I would transfer funds. Not really sure how I would go by that but I just want to put better content on steemit.

Is there a simple sure to work way of turning the crypto into real money? currently I'm waiting for xapo and wirex to approve me, but there got to be some simpler way to turn crypto into money.

Easiest is to trade for Bitcoin and use localbitcoins.com to sell it to others. There are also goods and services that accept crypto. You can even buy cars/houses with it if you find the people out there! So crypto is real money as well :p

@kevinwong enriching read indeed! Thank you.

Thanks @angiechin28 hope it helps even if a little :)

Very nice and interesting read. It covers all the things that I had thought about myself - and much more. I personally consider these three aspects as most important:

  1. Size and strength of the community in relationship to the market cap
  2. Technology - does it allow zero cost transactions? Is it scalable?
  3. Early usability - is there an early use case for it?

Steem ranks extremely high on my scale - which is why it is by far my highest scoring crypto currency! And it is fun as well.

Guide to Investing in Cryptocurrencies can't be casual. If you want I can explain it.

Awesome post my friend. Amazing concept and very well written. Great publishing work, good job. Thanks @kevinwong for sharing this post.😊

Have a wonderful day!!💙💙💙

https://steemit.com/abuse/@lukestokes/whales-you-have-some-flagging-to-do

Please resteem or promote to finally a good witness that cares about this platform and isnt afraid to stand up to berniesanders....haejins followers upvote my posts and resteem....
.if your a whale or dolphin delegate to me your SP so i can stomp bernie aka justin for good...i delegated all my steempower to haejin already im weak

Very informative post @kevinwong. Im learning through your post.I have to read more about crypto since it is a different field to me.

  ·  7 years ago (edited)

"Don't leave them in exchanges. Store them in the appropriate wallets and be the one that owns the private keys!"

that's right @kevinwong sometimes there is a game that sucks .... make us exercise heart.

Ohya Merry Christmas @kevinwong :D

Good thoughts, thanks!

Wow Great post.your Post is awesome.@kevinwong

I wanted to stop bye and thank you so very much for how much information you share! You are helping so many individuals! I have been telling my Family, Friends and Clients about Steemit! I'm doing my best to try to have Steemit accumulate 1,000,000 members! This past year is one of my best years and I credit the Steemit Community! It is truly a blessing being part of the Steemit community! Thanks again my Friend! Please keep in touch! If I ever do exceptionally well with Cyrptos, the steemit community deserves much of the credit and I will never forget! Blessed 2018 and I'm always wishing everyone the VERY best of health and happiness! :)

The time you took to put this together for all us newbies is very commendable.

Thank you very much!

Great information and post my friend.
We have to make a strategy to save our account. Great publishing work my friend. Amazing concept, very well written. Thanks @kevinwong for sharing this post. 😊💚💚

This post has received gratitude of 10.88 % from @appreciator thanks to: @kevinwong.

I must appriciate you skill about crypto which I think is due to you reading.

Some really cool things to consider first before investing in anything and then HODL

Thanks @kevinwong I gain new knowledge about the crypto trading,thanks a lot ..

You got a 9.53% upvote from @upme requested by: @kevinwong.
Send at least 1.5 SBD to @upme with a post link in the memo field to receive upvote next round.
To support our activity, please vote for my master @suggeelson, as a STEEM Witness

Truth about switching coins to a wallet vs leaving them in exchanges. Everyone should listen to this advice.

thank's for the sharing @kevinwong. if you not busy, please check my blog, i post about my hobby

Thank you very much I have read your post. Thank you for giving us the information about this. I'm following you Follow me

Great post.you are my friend.

Thank you bro good job good post

this is vary helpful post thank you. I was looking for something like this for some time now. i looked on youtube most videos were no help at all but your post broke it down to where i can understand it....

This post has received a 14.22 % upvote from @buildawhale thanks to: @kevinwong. Send at least 1 SBD to @buildawhale with a post link in the memo field for a portion of the next vote.

To support our daily curation initiative, please vote on my owner, @themarkymark, as a Steem Witness

Great stuff man

If you feel strongly for the coin... perhaps it's something that you should invest in.

Thanks for this reminder @kevinwong. I bought a few shares of CNY, with positive results. However, because I could not find any discussion beyond it temporarily banning BTC, I sold my shares. I can't get this thought out of my head. I'm smh, because there's nothing worse than an indecisive move. I really wish I had someone say it's a bad move; but, I know the decision has to be mine. For some reason I may not be surprised if I repurchase the shares, just to get the 'doubt' out of my system.

remember to take profit to at least cover your original investment.

In this recent sell, there was a minor profit; but, watching a share tank really reminds me of those who suggest not investing in something you don't believe in.

Thanks for this post.

I welcome any opinions from all in the community regarding the lack of information regarding investing in CNY.

Peace.

@ kevinwang for Upvoting me many times thank you. For this post to help newbies like me know more about cryptocurrency my praise god bless u

Wow ......

Yah it's most important thing.I think everybody to need invested currency.Thank u for your post.@kevinwong

Hey @kevinwong, I am writing to you and many other people who I have noticed for being very active and interested in humorous/sarcastic posts. I am not writing and begging for following me, but I want to share with you two of my other accounts, @krvsada and @tuzlasada , where I post funny GIF memes on daily basis (5 on each). Since I really want to improve and get amongst the best 'humorous 'steemians’ on this platform, I would love if you could sometimes drop to any of my meme accounts, enjoy in shared content, and possibly (the most appreciated) evaluate my work. I promise that I will be fully engaged with single one of your comments since this is something which inspires me and makes my days better. Furthermore, if you decide to keep up with my account, and if you decide to add my accounts to your steem voter account, I will assure to connect additional 55+ young accounts to automatically upvote your account's (and anyone else's) posts. All of them are my friends and their accounts can not give you lots of 'rewards', but can easier get you to the HOT section and possibly increase your account visits. That would be the smallest thing that I could give as a return for your engagement with you. Please help me to get a rise in this section on this platform. All the best, @keyss.

I agree with you success always ya friend

tank you for sharing this educational post

Nice post @kevinwong. Very useful your post

I think if we belive that bitcoin will be at 100k by the end of the year i would say that steem makes sense at 32 billion dollars :)

Could you advice a newbie who can afford around 100-150$
Where should I invest ?

many people who like to invest, hopefully this news is useful for them, interesting imformation

good post.
Follow and uvote me yes.
thank you.

I've read your blog that you said about the economy here and invested with it. I liked your blog all the way

This is a comprehensive guide on crypto-investments. Good to know insights from you.

nice post @kevinwong, glad to meet you

hi @kevinwong very helpful info tks! :)

Upvote me pls

Good experience

good post and very interesting. this is an amazing experience @Kevinwong. I will always follow you to get very great information from you. I am very interested to invest in digital currencies like bitcoin ... I am very interested in learning about cripto money, but I have not invested because I have no capital to invest ... thank you for sharing this very great information @kevinwong. I like your post.

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Thanks for the great advice. Stemit has taught me a lot in a short span of time thanks to great writers like you

Very good and straight information and advice on this complicated topic for me as a newbie! Will have to slowly reread and understand the whole thing again! I am rather overwhelmed by this as a newbie.

Thank you! Keep up your good work!

Thanks for your insight. I also think that new crypto will likely take over the pioneers and since we don't know which ones will win, diversification is very important. Keeping an eye on current developments and knowing where to shift is also key because this is a very fast moving market.