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The rising price just makes me laugh. I "invested" $1,000 in BTC during the early hype as it was approaching $32.00. I told my co-workers how cool of a concept

The rising price just makes me laugh. I "invested" $1,000 in BTC during the early hype as it was approaching $32.00. I told my co-workers how cool of a concept it was and that my investment was sure to pay off with a skyrocketing price. After months and months the price drops and drops. My $1,000 is worth $200. I go through a ridiculously long process of proving my identity to Mt. Gox and Dwolla just to get real USD back at 1/5 their original value. Now if only I had kept it in there for the long haul, I'd have my $1,000 back. It's precisely this volatility that personally makes me skeptical of it truly reaching a critical mass of any sort.

enraged_camel 14y ago
You made the cardinal mistake of investing: you bought high, and sold low. Many rookie investors make this mistake because they are unable to control their emotions when the value of their investment takes a downturn. It can be nerve-wrecking to imagine all your money evaporating. Fortunately, your mistake cost you only $800. So it was actually a good learning experience. From now on, buy low and sell high. For example, the best time to buy is when a (recoverable) disaster or sensationalized story cause a financially strong company's stock price to dip. That's the perfect opportunity to buy some of that stock.
- drcode 14y ago
  Sorry enraged_camel, but I think most people would consider this very bad investment advice. There's much, much more thinking that needs to go into speculative investment decisions than just the phrase "buy low sell high". In fact, that phrase is pretty useless advice on its own and often invoked as a joke among investors. (Though there is truth in your specific point that people are at risk of making irrational decisions they regret when investments go sour.)
- jaredstenquist 14y ago
  What is high and what is low is of course speculative. When investing in the stock market I of course use that basic logic by analyzing the KPIs of the securities. This was less of an investment and more of an experiment in modern technology, prompted by some skeptical comments from my friends. For that reason it was more like purchasing a lottery ticket. My $1000 lottery ticket didn't perform well, but due to my real investments paying off well over the years, I can handle the loss without much thought. Win some. Lose some.

enraged_camel 14y ago

You made the cardinal mistake of investing: you bought high, and sold low. Many rookie investors make this mistake because they are unable to control their emotions when the value of their investment takes a downturn. It can be nerve-wrecking to imagine all your money evaporating. Fortunately, your mistake cost you only $800. So it was actually a good learning experience. From now on, buy low and sell high. For example, the best time to buy is when a (recoverable) disaster or sensationalized story cause a financially strong company's stock price to dip. That's the perfect opportunity to buy some of that stock.

drcode 14y ago
Sorry enraged_camel, but I think most people would consider this very bad investment advice. There's much, much more thinking that needs to go into speculative investment decisions than just the phrase "buy low sell high". In fact, that phrase is pretty useless advice on its own and often invoked as a joke among investors. (Though there is truth in your specific point that people are at risk of making irrational decisions they regret when investments go sour.)
jaredstenquist 14y ago
What is high and what is low is of course speculative. When investing in the stock market I of course use that basic logic by analyzing the KPIs of the securities. This was less of an investment and more of an experiment in modern technology, prompted by some skeptical comments from my friends. For that reason it was more like purchasing a lottery ticket. My $1000 lottery ticket didn't perform well, but due to my real investments paying off well over the years, I can handle the loss without much thought. Win some. Lose some.