Investing 102

[GregWeld]

Originally Posted by Bucketlist2012

Did I just read that Bitcoin went from 266 to 150 in one day ???

I don't follow or own it, but man that is a crash for sure..

No --- It was actually WORSE than that... it hit a high of $266 -- crashed to $105 before bouncing back to $145.


Now - let's put it into perspective..... the 30 day range on Bitcoin is a low of $36.65 ---- with todays high of $266.00

It's currently trading at $170ish

[GregWeld]

Don and Bob....


Don't thank ME --- thank yourselves for being interested enough to read and take action.

As Don said.... you could have thrown darts at a Wall Street Journal and made a gain in this market.... BUT that is the way the market works! You have to learn to take easy with the hard. BUT if you're not in at all -- you don't get doodle. Up 15% for a couple years in a row -- then you might go sideways for awhile - then you might go down for awhile - and then bang you're up 20% again.... ALL THE WHILE GETTING PAID.

Work is like that -- super busy - then fearing a layoff.... if you stick to it work hard - next thing you know - all is okay again. But even when you're fearing getting laid off -- you're getting paid. If you hate your job you might be inclined to look for other opportunities.

The stock market is like that! I do my best research and shopping etc when the market SUCKS! It forces me to get my act together and really be wise in my choices - really think about what I'm buying... So sometimes it's actually kind of a good thing.

Right now it's all fun and games. I can go play in the shop - come back and see I've made "X" while goofing off. It won't always be like that.... But let's say the market sells off 10% (a real correction) --- do I care.... sure... but then the dividend comes in - and one company is paying me 6% -- and another is paying 5% -- and another is paying me something else.... And if I've been in the market long enough -- I might have a 15% gain -- so the sell off only reduced my "gain" temporarily. And now the dividends are buying shares at that reduced entry point... and therefore buying me MORE shares than if the market was full tilt boogie... so there's some offset for the pain I'm suffering.

BY THE WAY -- you don't loose anything if you don't sell. Just as could be said that you don't have a gain until you sell and take it... but long term -- eventually you'll sell -- or sell part -- or use the collateral to have cheap borrowing (cash on cash borrowing is always cheap!).

[toy71camaro]

It sure has been an "easy" market... Glad you other guys got in on it too!

i re-calculated my Investing 102 stocks. My "total return" since starting this is at 21.8% Learned quite a bit here, and in the process of teaching the same general concepts to a few others in my life. One being my parents. Who basically threw darts to pick their 401k (followed what i picked, which, i generally just guessed by looking at the overall return numbers of the 1,3,5,10 year values. knowing nothing of the underlying stocks, dividends, etc, etc.).

On a side note, the guys at work have been talking about Bitcoin the past couple days too. watching it sway up and down wildly. One buddy had like 100 "coins" from over the last couple years mining, he sold some, took the $5k he made from them, and build a kick ass "mining" computer to mine more coins. Not bad, but I dont have the $ to "gamble" that.

I'll leave that one to the gamblers. Right now all my spare $ goes to rebuilding my emergency fund an my ROTH IRA.

[Tony_SS]

Originally Posted by Bucketlist2012

Did I just read that Bitcoin went from 266 to 150 in one day ???

I don't follow or own it, but man that is a crash for sure..

Yes it did, big time! Amazingly Mike Adams, predicted it the day before it happened. And oddly someone called "Bitcoinbillionare" on Reddit was giving away over $13k in Bitcoins over the day. Mike is calling this a central bank stress test to determine how much it would take to crash the bitcoin market. And thus did just that and they achieved their goal: extreme price volatility has hurt bitcoin credibility. One does not just attempt to compete with the dollar and euro, and get away with it.

[GregWeld]

Originally Posted by Tony_SS

Yes it did, big time! Amazingly Mike Adams, predicted it the day before it happened. And oddly someone called "Bitcoinbillionare" on Reddit was giving away over $13k in Bitcoins over the day. Mike is calling this a central bank stress test to determine how much it would take to crash the bitcoin market. And thus did just that and they achieved their goal: extreme price volatility has hurt bitcoin credibility. One does not just attempt to compete with the dollar and euro, and get away with it.

Well the REAL difference in actual currencies is that they're backed by countries that make things - or produce things - and have tax payers (so actual revenue) etc. Of course we all know that the "full faith and credit" of some of these countries is complete BS.... and that only works IF they have enough cash flow to pay their gianormous debt load... But what I'm saying is there is a monumental difference between a national currency and a digital "game"/"trading scheme" for lack of a better definition which solely relies on the greater fool theory (i.e., someone else will pay more than you did).

I'm not saying that Bitcoin can't or won't catch on and become an actual currency that can be used for everyday functions... I'm not a guy that believes in ANYONES predictions. That's just guessing or wishful thinking. But you never know!

Personally - I think Bitcoin would catch on and would more likely become a currency if there were more of them and they were worth LESS.... and were used to buy things and pay bills --- rather than just (for the most part) being traded amongst the "faithful few".

[GregWeld]

BY THE WAY ----- Bitcoin is trading at $120 this morning....


Last night when I check the "Bitcoin charts" --- which might as well be peering into the sky and counting stars (hahahahahahaha) it was trading at $170.


I don't care one iota about this thing... it's just interesting to watch and perhaps LEARN from it. I hate to see anyone loose out on a great investment - but I really hate to see people just flat ass be stupid.

The whole thing reminds me of guys that go out and buy a clapped out Fred Flintstone car because they can't afford to buy a version of it that actually runs and drives etc..... yet their dream is to build a Ridler car. Dude! Really! If you can't afford to buy a $25K car --- how are you going to turn that $5K car that needs floors - quarters - roof - cowl - chassis... into ANYTHING.


So it's like investing.... we all want to be "rich" (hell - we all want to drive Ridler winners).... but if you're trying to build your nest egg --- is it smarter to gamble it --- or invest in real stuff?

[Tony_SS]

Originally Posted by GregWeld

Well the REAL difference in actual currencies is that they're backed by countries that make things - or produce things - and have tax payers (so actual revenue) etc. Of course we all know that the "full faith and credit" of some of these countries is complete BS.... and that only works IF they have enough cash flow to pay their gianormous debt load... But what I'm saying is there is a monumental difference between a national currency and a digital "game"/"trading scheme" for lack of a better definition which solely relies on the greater fool theory (i.e., someone else will pay more than you did).

I'm not saying that Bitcoin can't or won't catch on and become an actual currency that can be used for everyday functions... I'm not a guy that believes in ANYONES predictions. That's just guessing or wishful thinking. But you never know!

Personally - I think Bitcoin would catch on and would more likely become a currency if there were more of them and they were worth LESS.... and were used to buy things and pay bills --- rather than just (for the most part) being traded amongst the "faithful few".

Yes, obvious differences. But I like the principle of the bitcoin decentralized peer to peer, free market system. That's where the real value has always been. It's too bad that it seems like the popularity was exploited. It remained very stable for almost 2 years until this bubble. Bitcoin reminds me of the Gold market since 1971 on a nano scale. lol! It's not going anywhere, there's still a use for it. It will level off and slowly climb as options for usage expand.

Full disclosure, For what little that I have I'm staying in as its still trading for more than I paid. I am very happy for my buddy (who unlike me!) bought in at $8. He sold almost all of his on Monday for $188. He made out very well.. so I'm very happy for him recognizing the bubble and jumping ship at a good time!