Bitcoin. I need advice and help

[sdifox]

I dont much about bitcoin. what makes you think it would be safe from the "crooked elites"? Alternatively what about something like gold or silver or real estate ? maybe some other type of commidity

Madoka cornered the market on LEGO and houses. Ponyo has to make do with BTC and Hermès scarves.

 

[ultimatebob]

I did okay, made several k with a mining rig, sold at about 99% of the ~17k peak. Now's not the time. It's gonna flutter up another 10% before dropping to ~15k, buy then.

EDIT: Also, use coinbase, they're good, and a lot of banks integrate with them well. I can see my crypto assets right on my USAA dashboard.

Yeah, I've been watching Bitcoin for awhile, and it tends to give up around 50% of its gains after a massive run up like this. Ponyo isn't going to listen to what I'm saying anyway, but he can't say that he hasn't been warned.

 

[hardhat]

So even if you want out of the stock market I still wouldn't recommend bitcoin. From a legal perspective, btc is a 'currency' with no backing. Its value is not supported by any first world government. And there is a huge amount of evidence that it is being widely used for tax evasion, illegal money laundering, and other illicit purposes. I would be very surprised if it is not (rightly) targeted by an international coalition within the next 10 years. In addition, no bitcoin respositories have any FDIC or other government backing. If you lose your account, have it stolen, or otherwise compromised no one will reimburse you one cent.

Bitcoin is only valued as an investment opportunity. Stocks at least have the purported value of the organization issuing the stock behind their value.

If you don't want stocks, have you considered buying real estate as part of a real estate investment firm? Not all such firms are publicly traded, and many will give you a 'hands off' experience if that is what you desire. Or, if you just want a place to store capital, bonds come to mind. Little return, but virtually no risk.

It's your money. You can do what you want with it. But please do some research into bitcoin before you get your cash stolen. It happens a LOT.

 

[zinfamous]

I dont much about bitcoin. what makes you think it would be safe from the "crooked elites"? Alternatively what about something like gold or silver or real estate ? maybe some other type of commidity

Unfortunately, the market in LEGO heads has already been cornered, right under our noses!

 

[zinfamous]

Madoka cornered the market on LEGO and houses. Ponyo has to make do with BTC and Hermès scarves.

DAMNIT!

 

[njdevilsfan87]

My first question is, where should I open an account to buy and hold Bitcoin? Who's the best?

Where to buy:
1. Setup an account on Coinbase.
2. Setup an account on Coinbase Pro right after. Never ever use Coinbase directly as their fees are outrageous. The fee is much cheaper on their actual exchange. The withdrawal process is exactly the same whether you decide to use Coinbase or Coinbase Pro.

Where to store:
1. If your computer security is good - you can use Bitcoin Core Qt. It is a software wallet stored on your hard drive that you can password encrypt. Backup the wallet .dat files to USB drives, other hard drives, etc. You cannot lose this file.
2. Metamask - not familiar with this but it seems popular so you'll have to do your own research. From my brief usage of this it seemed least secure of everything I've tried. There's just something uncomfortable about having my wallet tied to my browser...
3. Hardware wallet like the Ledger Nano X (my preference). You can watch YT tutorials (maybe 2-3 minutes) long on how to use one. The most important thing here is to safely store your 24 word key phrase somewhere. Either write it down, memorize it, or both. If you ever lose your hardware wallet or the hardware malfunctions you can restore it on another device using this 24 word phrase.

When to buy:
DCA is my suggestion. If you go in at $34K right now you're going in historically high. Maybe even wait until market volatility drops. If we're in for an "big everything correction", Bitcoin will probably head back to $20-$25K. It's not immune to toilet paper hands.

For everyone else:
You're all still stuck in 2015. Still not doing research as usual, crypto = bad, illegal money, whatever. But I'll fast forward you all to 2021: the first DEX and DeFi networks have launched this past year and could be the foundations of decentralized finance. It's taken an entire decade to get here. Bitcoin lead to Ethereum. And Ethereum laid the foundation for DeFi. DeFi is all still early stage and not without risk, but if it works out then here's your answer: no these networks and market rules themselves should not be possible to manipulate: that's the whole point of a decentralized consensus system.

 

[ViviTheMage]

What makes you think BTC is any better? Either way, if you are going to hodl BTC, you should use an offline/hardware wallet. Do not leave any coin in an exchange unless you have plans to immediately sell/use.

 

[snoopy7548]

I'd buy it from Coinbase, but don't hold it there. I'd heard way too many horror stories of crypto exchanges getting raided and account balances magically getting "lost" in the process. Get an "offline" wallet for your private key.

He should invest in CoolCoin!

 

[ultimatebob]

He should invest in CoolCoin!

Maybe I'll trade some to him for some Tesla stock

 

[snoopy7548]

Maybe I'll trade some to him for some Tesla stock

Me too! CoolCoin has nowhere to go but up!*

It's what happens when you're at rock-bottom.

 

[PowerEngineer]

where should I open an account to buy and hold Bitcoin? Who's the best?

Perhaps this is really all you needed in the original post?

I suspect the truth of the matter for Robinhood and some of the other "free" trading sites is that their processes for actually clearing customer trades is breaking down in the sense that it is exposing them to unanticipated financial risks. I very much doubt that they are motivated to protect short sellers (at the predictably high cost of angering their customer base).

I personally have no problem with the reddit army taking on the hedge funds in a battle over short selling, and it will be interesting (from the sidelines) to see who the winners and losers turn out to be. I suspect that the big winners (and losers) will turn out to be big institutions who have jumped in on both sides of this fight. I also expect that most individual investors trying to jump in now will also rue the day.

I agree that the deck has always been stacked against the small investor in that the professionals are just that: professionals. They have better information and trading strategies that we amateurs. IMHO the only way to level the playing field a bit is to invest for the long term on value/fundamentals rather than letting the professionals suck you in to their short-term, leveraged, trading games (which is where the reddit army is now fighting).

Good luck with cryptocurrencies. I just cannot understand the value proposition. It seems as arbitrary as tulip bulbs to me. It may turn out to really be digital gold, but right now I'm cautiously inclined to stick with the real metal as an inflation hedge.

My two cents...

 

[ultimatebob]

Me too! CoolCoin has nowhere to go but up!*

It's what happens when you're at rock-bottom.

Hey now... Coolcoin was designed to be a "stablecoin" before that was even a thing! If someone sends me 1,000 of them, they're still getting that space kitty t-shirt. Of course, it would probably cost you about $50 in Ethereum transaction fees right now to round up the Coolcoin from all the winners to make that happen.

 

[gorcorps]

Prevent the common person succeeding. But wasn't this a whole campaign lead by a group of people on Reddit to intentionally screw over the brokers to stop them from short selling stocks? Short selling isn't illegal or stealing, right? So Reddit users decide to try to combat it and stop the from doing so.

Isn't that market manipulation as well? It sounds like a case of Pot meet Kettle. But I could be totally wrong.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/robinhood-customers-sue-over-removal-164733860.html

"While users of the trading platforms claim in court filings that they suffered losses from the restrictions, legal experts say brokerages have broad powers to block or restrict transactions -- all of which is spelled out as part of customer agreements everyone signs to gain access to the services.

“I’m looking at the Robinhood contract, and it says in black and white they can block or restrict trades at any time,” said Jeff Erez, who runs a Miami-based law firm specializing in securities-fraud litigation and represents plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed last year against Robinhood related to service disruptions. “I’m not aware of any law that would guarantee you a right to purchase a certain security at a certain brokerage firm.”

So their Terms and conditions specifically state they can restrict trading at any time. So what they did was not illegal, apparently.

One of the arguments that sparked all this is that hedge funds like this shouldn't be using their clout to short stocks like this. When there's a tremendous amount of short activity, investors get anxious and jump ship faster than they might have without that activity. That leads to companies that may be struggling losing the time to try and turn things around, because after enough investors jump ship they're pretty much done.

Basically these fuckers make their money by betting against businesses trying to reorganize, without a care in the world that they're putting the final blow to a company, leaving who knows how many without jobs. Kicking people while they're already down like a coward

This is an attempt to show these hedge funds that other people can affect the market as much as they can, and maybe they'll think twice about pulling this in the future. Maybe they'll put their money towards investing in the GROWTH of a company, instead of using it to profit by putting people out of work.

It also calls into question if regulations need to change. At it's peak, there was something like 135% short rate... how is that allowed? How does the system allow a hedge fund to borrow 35% more stock options than exists? This has put a huge spotlight onto how broken the short options part of the market can be, and has revealed how much of the market is controlled by funds making moves and not as much about how companies are performing.

 

[sdifox]

One of the arguments that sparked all this is that hedge funds like this shouldn't be using their clout to short stocks like this. When there's a tremendous amount of short activity, investors get anxious and jump ship faster than they might have without that activity. That leads to companies that may be struggling losing the time to try and turn things around, because after enough investors jump ship they're pretty much done.

Basically these fuckers make their money by betting against businesses trying to reorganize, without a care in the world that they're putting the final blow to a company, leaving who knows how many without jobs. Kicking people while they're already down like a coward

This is an attempt to show these hedge funds that other people can affect the market as much as they can, and maybe they'll think twice about pulling this in the future. Maybe they'll put their money towards investing in the GROWTH of a company, instead of using it to profit by putting people out of work.

It also calls into question if regulations need to change. At it's peak, there was something like 135% short rate... how is that allowed? How does the system allow a hedge fund to borrow 35% more stock options than exists? This has put a huge spotlight onto how broken the short options part of the market can be, and has revealed how much of the market is controlled by funds making moves and not as much about how companies are performing.

Short was more than 200% of float on Jan 15.

 

[gorcorps]

Short was more than 200% of float on Jan 15.

Wow, didn't see that

Absolutely bananas

 

[Scarpozzi]

My life savings is still in the market, but ai have 20-25 years for the number of shares I own to rebound. Dips in the market, no matter what allow us to buy more stake in what's going to continue to soar (indexes).

I agree with you, but not losing faith yet. 6-10% annual compounded gains are fine with me if the risk and volatility isn't unreal.

 

[sdifox]

Wow, didn't see that

Absolutely bananas

off of yahoo finance 226.42%, that should not be possible, at most it should be 100%

 

[ponyo]

Ok. So everyone seems to think Coinbase is the best? I have my Coinbase and Coinbase Pro account setup now. I just need to fund it which I will do shortly. I will also probably order the Ledger Nano X wallet from Amazon.

I think many people here are under the wrong impression I'm pulling out and leaving the stock market. No, that's not true. I won't ever leave the game completely. I will continue to invest in stocks of companies I like and believe in like Tesla and trade and sell options for income. But I see how fragile our financial system actually is and want to protect myself in case enough people want to move to decentralized crypto based world. So I need to hedge myself in case enough people get fed up and leave for crypto world or just start putting all their new money in crypto world. So it's insurance. Just like I have insurance for other things. And how I own gold and silver as insurance against my possible blowup in the stock market. If I ever behave reckless and stupid like many of the hedge funds and blow up my account, there won't be government or someone there to bail me out. I'm just a small fish, and I can't change the rules in the middle of the game because I'm losing or about to go bust. My gold and silver stash is my "shit, I screwed up and blew up my account again" rainy day fund. That's its main purpose. As potential seed money to help me get back on my feet again if I ever badly screw up or some Black Swan event happens I didn't anticipate and see coming and it destroys me from nowhere. But now I think I need even more insurance against the system and that's where crypto like Bitcoin will come in for me. I will be buyer and holder of Bitcoin and maybe Ethereum. I'm not looking to trade it just like I don't trade my precious metal holdings. I'm looking ahead and trying to anticipate future trends.

As for other assets like real estate, I am going to look for second home. I'm going to take a look at Austin, TX, as I think that's Silicon Valley 2.0.

 

[FelixDeCat]

What about using PayPal to buy Bitcoin? Seems super easy to me.

 

[ultimatebob]

What about using PayPal to buy Bitcoin? Seems super easy to me.

Yeah, let's take the "security" and "customer service" of Paypal and add the volatility of cryptocurrency to it. It might be the only financial platform that I hate more than Robinhood at the moment, and that's saying something.

 

[ultimatebob]

I'm actually surprised that Ponyo hasn't gotten into crypto already. He's been talking about it since 2017, and I'll bet that he can practically taste the FOMO in his mouth when he looks at a 5-year Bitcoin price chart.

I think that he might be better off waiting another month or two for the inevitable price correction, but now probably isn't a bad time to fund the Coinbase Pro account and get ready.

 

[PlanetJosh]

Now that PayPal let's you store BitCoin I may buy my first BC there. I looked into a bank to buy it, at Chase, but customers in online comments said there was a problem verifying a trade in BC on the Chase site. I think PayPal sounds more dependable to assure a buy or sell went through. Anyway I'll read up on guides to buy BC on PayPal. I didn't even know they have BC trades until yesterday.

Oh check that, I just read ultimatebob's post about PayPal above. Will review my decision.

 

[VirtualLarry]

What about using PayPal to buy Bitcoin? Seems super easy to me.

Because, when you "Buy" Bitcoin through Paypal, you don't actually own it. Not your keys, not your crypto. You can't even send or receive that Bitcoin. Might as well be called "paper bitcoin", because that's all it is. It's not real Bitcoin.

Although I have no experience, my understanding is that Cashapp, a competitor to Paypal, does actually let you buy, sell (exchange for Fiat) and send / receive Bitcoin and ETH (they supposedly actually give you wallet addresses on the respective networks).

Paypal, do they even give you the legit Bitcoin network transaction-ids for your BTC purchases in Paypal? Like I said, "paper bitcoin". Might as well be an accounting slight-of-hand.

 

[ponyo]

I'm actually surprised that Ponyo hasn't gotten into crypto already. He's been talking about it since 2017, and I'll bet that he can practically taste the FOMO in his month when he looks at a 5-year Bitcoin price chart.

I think that he might be better off waiting another month or two for the inevitable price correction, but now probably isn't a bad time to fund the Coinbase Pro account and get ready.

In hindsight, I should've invested in bitcoin in 2017. But it's ok because I didn't have confidence or reason to buy bitcoin back then. I don't have any FOMO with bitcoin because I'm already rich. I don't need to get rich twice. I believed Tesla stock was the better investment. Better than anything out there including bitcoin and the most undervalued. And I caught the big move up in Tesla so I'm happy.

My Coinbase Pro account is ready to go. I wanted to buy bitcoin before Elon and Tesla but they beat me to it. But that's ok. I will get my chance.

I also booked flight, hotel, and rental car in Austin, TX. I'm going there next month with my wife and we're going to check out Austin and the surrounding areas. If we love Austin, TX, I will start the house hunting process and look to buy second home there. Hopefully I can buy something bigger than small cardboard box for $500k. I know Austin is expensive so if I need to go out little further, I will. And I might go up to $750k if I really like the house/location, but I really don't want to spend more than that.

 

[ultimatebob]

I have to admit, recent events are convincing me that a small percentage of cryptocurrency probably belongs in a balanced portfolio. I'm not sure what percentage should be, though.