OT: Investing - Stocks/Mutual Funds/Bonds/Crypto

[Profound23]

Thanks!

Here is the key!

The common investor only knows Coinbase. Right now you can only buy 4 things on coinbase (ethereum, litecoin, bitcoin, and bitcoin cash). They want to invest in other altcoins but don't take the time to research how.

When an altcoin is going to be added to coinbase it is usually common knowledge for months. However, the people still don't know how to obtain (or don't want to jump through the hoops) until it goes to coinbase. Well, by the time it hits coinbase everyone is going to start buying as the next best thing. What just happened? You lost a lot of profit because by the time you can buy it, that coin has now gone from 2.00 to 100.00 (for example).

If you find one that is being talked about going on coinbase and use other sites to transfer it over to those altcoins you get it before the common joe can get it expanding your profit margin. As you said, use the money you don't mind losing because it is all still a huge risk. But the greater the risk, the greater the reward.

[CannondaleF400]

interesting topic - competing currencies are a good thing but I would be very careful investing in something with zero intrinsic value, and that governments could decide to outlaw or at least make hard to use.

[th87]

I opened a couple crypto wallet accounts yesterday just to play around - I have my eye on one of the cheap currencies - but it looks like it's going to take a long time for them to verify me so I can actually put money in. I have some cash in a stock brokerage account that has just been sitting doing nothing, so I might use it to seed my ascension to crypto oligarch.

I did some research on Bitcoin a few years ago for an article I wrote and came close to buying when it was at $10. My big mistake was being open and honest and telling my wife I wanted to put $1000 into it. I had recently lost money on a poker stock (this article was poker-related), so my wife forbade me. Not wanting to sneak around with our finances, I never invested. Oops.

Lesson: don't tell your significant other of your get-rich-quick schemes.

Don't undervalue the ability to lord it over her in perpetuity

[vlietinho]

Bought my first coins yesterday, its going like a rocket, LOL

[MickeyDavis]

Beside the Long Island Ice Tea thing (incredible how stupid people can be) you have this

Shares of the money-losing company previously known as Bioptix had risen in recent weeks after it rebranded itself as Riot Blockchain. The stock closed 11.2% lower at $24.52 a share Friday.

Just change your name to something associated with crypto and you're stock takes off. As I said in an earlier post I have a friend all over Riot, trying to talk me into it.

This has a lot in common with the internet boom of the 90's. At the end of the day there will be some winners and a lot more losers. Try to bet on the right horse(s) and for the love of God take some profits along the way.

[MilHammer]

zeezprah is spot on, the currencies are generally junk, I would continue to buy and sell w the market and get out quick.

The real thing that has value is the Blockchain tech. Bitcoin is secure because data is disparate, and it requires authorization at all levels of the 'chain', thus eliminating almost all instances of fraud/theft.

Ethereum and others are using that tech to allow for smart contracts, which requires consensus from all involved parties when attempting to change anything, and it allows for the authorization of transactions/contracts at all levels of the chain. This could eliminate accountants and revolutionize supply chains, among many other things.

The thing that will limit any of this tech is scalability. The more complex a chain, the more time it requires. Imagine trying to pay using Ether or any cryptocurrency at a store and it took 30 seconds for it go through. There are a few interim measures that Ethereum has pursued, and then there's "sharding", which is supposedly the future. I know nothing about the technical elements of that.

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[MickeyDavis]

It's funny that 30 seconds is considered a long time for a transaction to go through. One reason chipped cards were resisted by retailers is that it "slows down" transactions. I remember so many times a customer would wait until everything was rung up and THEN fish out their checkbook and start writing it out. Or the guy with a total of $11.79 had to dig for coins because he wanted to pay the exact amount. I wouldn't mind 30 seconds for a crypto transaction but I agree it would piss many off

[midranger]

It's funny that 30 seconds is considered a long time for a transaction to go through. One reason chipped cards were resisted by retailers is that it "slows down" transactions. I remember so many times a customer would wait until everything was rung up and THEN fish out their checkbook and start writing it out. Or the guy with a total of $11.79 had to dig for coins because he wanted to pay the exact amount. I wouldn't mind 30 seconds for a crypto transaction but I agree it would piss many off

This is where the volatility matters as it pertains to its use as a currency.

[DPGBucks]

Curious what you guys are using for your flash drive "wallet". I need to buy one but I'm not seeing anything compatible for bitcoin under $100. Seems high for a little storage drive.

[M-C-G]

zeezprah is spot on, the currencies are generally junk, I would continue to buy and sell w the market and get out quick.

The real thing that has value is the Blockchain tech. Bitcoin is secure because data is disparate, and it requires authorization at all levels of the 'chain', thus eliminating almost all instances of fraud/theft.

Ethereum and others are using that tech to allow for smart contracts, which requires consensus from all involved parties when attempting to change anything, and it allows for the authorization of transactions/contracts at all levels of the chain. This could eliminate accountants and revolutionize supply chains, among many other things.

The thing that will limit any of this tech is scalability. The more complex a chain, the more time it requires. Imagine trying to pay using Ether or any cryptocurrency at a store and it took 30 seconds for it go through. There are a few interim measures that Ethereum has pursued, and then there's "sharding", which is supposedly the future. I know nothing about the technical elements of that.

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I've sharted once, but don't know that I would want to do it again in the future.

I'm much more interested in trying to buy in to the blockchain technology and curious where and what people think it can be applied to in the future. And seems like maybe there is some buy low opportunity there yet, just don't know enough about it yet.

[MilHammer]

zeezprah is spot on, the currencies are generally junk, I would continue to buy and sell w the market and get out quick.

The real thing that has value is the Blockchain tech. Bitcoin is secure because data is disparate, and it requires authorization at all levels of the 'chain', thus eliminating almost all instances of fraud/theft.

Ethereum and others are using that tech to allow for smart contracts, which requires consensus from all involved parties when attempting to change anything, and it allows for the authorization of transactions/contracts at all levels of the chain. This could eliminate accountants and revolutionize supply chains, among many other things.

The thing that will limit any of this tech is scalability. The more complex a chain, the more time it requires. Imagine trying to pay using Ether or any cryptocurrency at a store and it took 30 seconds for it go through. There are a few interim measures that Ethereum has pursued, and then there's "sharding", which is supposedly the future. I know nothing about the technical elements of that.

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edited post

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[MickeyDavis]

I don't have time to go through the thread so maybe this was brought up but a buddy of mine wants to buy Electroneum and while I have a basic knowledge of it I'd like more info if possible from the experts here. Thx!

[jschligs]

I don't have time to go through the thread so maybe this was brought up but a buddy of mine wants to buy Electroneum and while I have a basic knowledge of it I'd like more info if possible from the experts here. Thx!

Supposedly is a mobile cryptocurrency. I haven't heard much on it at all.

The coin is relatively new and isn't available on most of the mainstream exchanges. That means two things to me, it could potentially take off in the future and be worth 100 times the value now, or, it will never take off.

[MickeyDavis]

Looks like it's only on Cryptopia and that they have applied to other exchanges. I'm not familiar really with Cryptopia.

[ReginaldDwight]

So we are looking at saving for a home down payment in probably 5 to 6 years, anyone have some good tips for how to grow that money a bit outside of putting it into a savings?

[MartyConlonOnTheRun]

So we are looking at saving for a home down payment in probably 5 to 6 years, anyone have some good tips for how to grow that money a bit outside of putting it into a savings?

Depending on how much you currently put towards retirement and your current income, probably the 'safest/easiest' without an economic downturn is putting it in a Roth IRA - you can remove contributions.
Regular 401K you can remove 10k without penalty (You still pay the taxes you would normally)

Of course, if you are already maxing both those out, you are just stealing from your own retirement and need to look into other things.

[midranger]

You could buy a CD. Could open a brokerage account and invest conservatively. Find the highest interest money market account you can find.

[MickeyDavis]

Yeah saving for a house you can't afford to lose anything so I'd definitely stay very very conservative. You won't earn much but you won't lose any.

[midranger]

Ally has a 2% 12 month CD right now. 5k minimum

Probably the best thing out there for your situation.

[jschligs]

I would argue a MMA would be safest and best bet. If you're really thinking you want better than 2% I'd even argue doing a stock portfolio that Etrade and Scottrade have. But I have to agree with Mickey, conservative is probably a better idea.


Edit: Any stock investors jump onto the marijuana stock train recently? They're flying as of late due to Canada and a co-worker was telling me I should jump in.