Anyone that has been speaking to me recently will probably know that I am quite interested in crypto-currency. I first noticed Bitcoin in 2011 and back then opened an account with Mt Gox and was extremely close to transferring 500 GBP to buy 10 BTC but pulled out as I had issues to transfer funds to a Japanese bank (which I could have easily overcome if I had of tried). If only I had of done so as by todays value that 10 BTC would equal roughly 150,000 USD (from a 500 GBP investment!). That might sound extreme but to put things into perspective I dont feel like I missed out as I know myself and back then if my 500 GBP had of turned into 1,000 GBP I would have cashed out in fear that my initial investment would have gone up in smoke eventually. In retrospect that of-course wouldn’t have been the case but we always have to work with the information at hand without being able to look into the future. After 2011 I put my interest in Bitcoin to one side as I felt I missed the boat after the price rose too high and I focused on other things.
In 2013 I started working in FX and CFD trading and learned quite a lot about derivative investments and trading as well as the mistakes people make down to psychology and how to handle the pressures of trading. Fast forward a few years and in 2017 crypto-currency values surge and put them in the spotlight. I suddenly find myself armed with FX & CFD trading knowledge that can be directly applied to crypto-currency investing and trading. I felt compelled to get involved and now read all I can about various networks and tokens such as Ethereum, IOTA, Cardano in addition to the age old Bitcoin and its offshoots such as Litecoin and Dash.
Mid 2017 I found myself making a well educated and calculated estimate that BTC and all crypto-currency values should rise. I was so confident about this as I understood the technical applications of crypto, trader sentiment, market depth on the exchanges, where the price had been along with support/resistance factors and also the fact it was not easy to invest in for the average joe (and what would happen when it would become easier). All these things combined swirled around in my head and I found myself opening accounts at the major exchanges. I decided to do something that I would strongly recommend against anyone doing and that is to use borrowed money to speculate with. I basically borrowed money from my own company and invested it in BTC, ETH and LTC. My investment paid off and after I made a small profit I sold everything and paid back the loan. I was very happy but then shortly after selling everything the crypto market went crazy and the value of everything doubled within a month and if I had of held my assets for that little bit longer I would have made an additional few thousand pounds. Initially, this made me think I had made a mistake but we have to remember traders psychology. You can never know whats around the corner so you can never trade perfectly. Just the fact you manage to make money and get your investment out is an achievement. Having said that I had a realisation that at this moment in time selling crypto-currency you hold is probably not a good idea (in the short term) and that has held true for some years. For that reason I have now decided to use my own money (that I can afford to lose) in order to buy and hold a small portfolio of crypto.
I have made the decision to move my crypto investments away from BTC as although it is the most valuable crypto out there I believe it is excessively overvalued, which is reflected in 30 – 40 USD transaction costs when you can send ETH or LTC for 30 – 40 cents for example. BTC is no longer workable to pay for goods and services (unless we are talking about large payments) and I forsee it as being good as a store of larger value in a similar way that someone might buy gold. That has put other crypto-currencies in the spotlight for small value transactions and IOTA for example has no transaction fees so irrespective of how valuable the IOTA token might become there will always be a case to use it for small or micro payments. Ethereum and Cardano are in the spotlight for being programmable, which is fascinating if you ask me. I could go on about the pros and cons of each crypto-currency but this post would get very long. If you are new to this and interested I recommend you check out Coinmarketcap and choose some Crypto’s to read up on.