I am a person who has long been interested in anything and everything related to Wall Street and the Stock Market. There is something that grabbed me early on in my life that hooked me into the questions of how and why a company or an organization could have a certain value put on it through its market capitalization. Why would people be crazy enough to buy into any idea? Is it fundamental valuations? Is it hype? (see TESLA) or is it what we Crypto's have come to call FOMO? I recall my 9th grade General Business Class in which we were all assigned a stock and a mutual fund to track throughout the year on a weekly basis via the local newspaper (a newspaper is an actual set of papers in which stories and events were written out and well...nevermind). Every week I would find my NYSE ticker under the M section. Mcdonald's was my stock. In learning this small piece of how the market existed I fell in love.
I have since had a love hate relationship with the market as most would be home gamer's would. At times you feel brilliant on a certain call when you see a beautiful green 20% sign next to your holdings, and then there are those not so brilliant days when you want to rue the day you heard of Pandora radio or it's common stock. Everything considered, I have learned a whole lot in the last 20 years reading, studying, and participating in the Markets, and I'm certain I will learn much more when it comes to Wall Street.
Fast forward to 2017 and to everything that's taken place outside of the normal stock/bond markets. I began to hear about this crazy Idea called Bitcoin. I actually recall one of my favorite sports talk show hosts make mention of the currency many years back. He was joking about paying for something in Bitcoin. I gave little thought to what he was talking about and soon forgot about it until this past year. And what a year it was, with the ups and downs and ups and ups of the Crypto Market. In August, I was speaking to a colleague of mine about our normal stock picks and how our portfolios had performed during the Trump Bump. She then asked me an off the wall question. "Have you checked out Bitcoin yet?" My "crazy" alarm started sounding inside of my head for a moment but was quickly interrupted by what she said next. "I made $32,000.00 last month from Bitcoin" Wow! Wait, What!? She also began to explain to me how this other coin called "Ripple" was sure to take off very soon. At that moment Ripple (XRP) was trading at $0.22 USD. I wish I could say that I jumped into the market at that time but I remained a bit of a skeptic. I began researching, reading and youtubing all things crypto. It wasn't until after the Thanksgiving Holiday FOMO that I signed myself up to participate in the new Tech Gold Rush. Of course by this time every exchange was so jammed up due to unexpected massive volume that it took me nearly 3 weeks to get verified on any exchange. But finally, I was in, and I am in today.
I am still learning daily everything I can about this new concept called block chain technology. I am in no way any type of expert but I am eager to continue to learn and understand how these new systems are designed to work. I truly believe that we are in the top of the first inning with zero outs when it comes to where this may go in the future.
I'm sure that we are in for a bumpy ride, and it will not be as easy and straight up like we have seen in the past few months. There will be many corrections both to the upside and to the downside. But if you hold onto your convictions and truly believe in what your investing in then HODLING is sure to reward you at some point down the road.
I'm sure there are many of you here on Steemit who share my passion for the markets and this new Crypto Craze. I look forward to hearing your stories and experiences as well as learning anything I can get my mind's hands on. I am looking forward to what 2018 has in store for all of us.
I would like to give a special thanks to Altcoin Buzz, Crypto Coin Newz, Crypto 99, and Your Altcoins. All 4 of these groups are a great resource of education and up to date market analysis.