Whew!
Most are breathing a sigh of relief. Some are mourning lost opportunities to "buy the dip". And no, it's not over technically, but we've definitely gotten over the tipping point.
It would be so easy just to muddle along from this point on, and do whatever we normally do, but let's stop ourselves, shall we, and ask what can be learned from this ordeal. These are the three key lessons I learned:
1. The Hardware Wallet is Indispensable!
The adage is true: "If you don't control your private keys, you don't own it." As much as I like, and am grateful to Coinbase for enabling me to get into BTC, and I now own some Dash, and some mining power, they still control my private keys, for the amount I hold with them.
It took 48 hours to move my BTC from their vaults to My Wallet, and I had to wait to the end of the work day to move that to my Trezor. During that period I had a security scare, and just today Coinbase sent me an e-mail stating they would NOT support UAHF and its coin, should it be implemented. To not support a hard fork if it occurs is almost as bad as a bank bailin, where depositor monies are used to pay off bank debts! Lesson: Get a hardware wallet and use it!
2. Bitcoin MUST succeed even if it isn't your favorite coin!
Just look at the charts. Everything dances to the tune of Bitcoin. Bitcoin is the gateway to cryptocurrency, and the superhighway upon which other cryptos are bought/sold/traded. I LOVE Dash! I think Etherium is very promising. But now, being still in the infancy of blockchain technology, there is fragility in the system, and Bitcoin is the backbone we must protect. This is true in spite of the fact that other cryptos have solved what Bitcoin is going through.
http://coinmarketcap.com/
3. Red means "buy"
I thought I would wait until payday to make a another major purchase of BTC. Don't get me wrong, I bought a little when I saw it dip below 2K. Word on the street (aka "trollers") was that it was going to go lower even than $1800, and that we'd all have more time between now and Aug. 1 to make a "big move" and "buy the dip". Now we see the price pushing up as if the last few weeks never happened!
"Dollar cost averaging" is a good strategy in the long term. But when BTC takes a good knock like it did recently, that is NOT the time to wait for the absolute perfect bottom! Don't be so greedy. Buy the dip, and spread out the buy into several medium buys, so you're "grabbing" that lowest point (or close to it) as you buy.
These few points might not seem like a lot, but they are QUALITY lessons!