In the past decade alone, the rise of Cryptocurrency as a global currency has exploded in popularity and use. This is largely due to the countless financial accounts of early investors whose initial modest stakes in crypto stock have now ballooned to amazing fortunes. The lucky investors are often referred to as Bitcoin Billionaires and they are usually pictured with wide smiles in front of a lavish mansion or luxury yacht. Images and stories like these are all that it takes to fuel the crypto mania that is sweeping the globe and encourage many to invest in a platform – even if they do not fully understand what it is all about or how it works.
So, what makes Cryptocurrency different from the Stock Market or traditional Investment Banking? Namely, Cryptocurrency began in 2009 as a decentralized digital asset of exchange to oversee the transfer of finances via a database called a blockchain. This anonymous virtual currency is therefore based more on a consensus of a community of traders and not a defined authority such as a government or business. With no intermediary, there is the advantage of low transaction fees and also no currency conversion rates for international investors. The ease of trading at lower costs combined with a sense of freedom, make Bitcoin an attractive market for investors around the world. Especially when there are trade conflicts, as currently seen between China and the US, or other global issues that can destabilize markets – bitcoin can somewhat sidestep these crises because they are not fully beholden to international structures and borders.
However, there is always a flip side and as is often said ‘Anything that sounds too good to be true, probably is”. Potential investors should make sure that they are not simply wearing rose-tinted glasses after reading stories about the incredible profits that can be gained from bitcoin and/or cryptocurrency in general. Like any investment, there are risks and volatility. This can come in the form of a crash, which was the case in mid-December of 2017. On December 17, the bitcoin value peaked at the highest it has ever been. Yet what goes up, often tumbles down and this occurred just 5 days later on the December 22nd in which bitcoin’s value plunged 45%. The downward trend continued in January 2018 on a rumor of South Korean bans of crypto markets, and bitcoin fell an addition 12%. As with the regulated stock market, there can be hype and a rush to join the bandwagon when profits are rising or skyrocketing yet this same craze causes panic selling of shares as soon as the market slips. When thousands of major investors offload their shares, it is easy to see how this can quickly snowball and investors can get crushed. On top of this are scam websites selling coins as well as certain cases where investors have been locked out of their bitcoin account for the simple fact of forgetting their password.
Therefore, it is highly recommended to do extensive research when investing in cryptocurrency in order to understand the costs and benefits. A great way to practice trading is to create a mock portfolio or investment simulator (such as the one available at Investopedia), that allows for stocks to be traded risk-free with digital money. This helps investors, especially newbies, learn how markets behave whether trading in the stock market or crypto exchange. After a while of trial and error, investors start developing an idea of how to create strong, diversified portfolios and distinguish from steady growth (crypto) stocks to those riskier.
To develop this investor mindset further, online casino sites offer a great opportunity to place wagers that can win real money. The online slots are also very engaging, easy to play, and overall fun. There are even investor themed slots, such as ‘Action Bank’, or ‘Piggy Riches’ slot and the ‘Foxin Wins’ series of games about wealthy cartoon animals that invite you to their mansion while spinning the reels. The gameplay is very straightforward with usually 5 reels, 3 to 4 rows, a set number of pay lines, and numerous bonuses and features on offer. There is also a degree of strategy with online slots, where players can determine the type of betting that suits the game and or the Return to Player ratio that determines the odds of bigger, less frequent wins versus smaller payouts the occur more often. In the future, more online casino sites may even open up to using cryptocurrency allowing players to place wagers using bitcoin and also receive awards in the same way.
In a similar way to strategies for playing online slots, a trader of cryptocurrency needs to determine which stocks offer a more stable return, over a longer period, versus the more volatile stocks that can jump several points in a day. Further, the trader must decide how much to invest in a specific stock, and this involves a series of strategies – accounting for many different factors. Each of these strategies such as can be found at immediateedgebot.com or thebitcoinscode.com involves the trader to adopt a certain mindset. For instance, a conservative portfolio requires the traders to look for Crypto stocks that have a gradual rise over time (as proven in their charts) and further to collect profits and/or re-invest after a certain percentage gain. This creates a balanced, diversified portfolio that grows over time and that benefits from compounded profits from re-investments. currency is still relatively new. This is largely why many do not fully understand how the platform works and also why there are a number of issues that have arisen with trading bitcoin. However, there are numerous exchange sites such as ChainCreator, that have set out to address these problems and offer support. They offer services both to the individual or business investor of bitcoin shares and also to those innovators interested in starting their own crypto stock in an Initial Coin Offering (or ICO). The mindset of investors is beginning to shift from tradition on traditional markets to those of blockchain, as cryptocurrency offers many advantages.
