Right now you can see a lot of panic in the market place, people are literally saying the sky is falling and selling their stash in order to try and recoup some of their money back. In most cases this is probably a terrible idea as most of the experts agree that the price will go back up and likely surpass where it has been. Most of these experts tend to be long term investors, what do these people know that you don't? Well lets take a look at the main types of investor and figure out where people fall in.
New Investor: These investors have never had much experience with investing, its quite possible that Cryptocurrency is their very first investment. They are subject to making mistakes because of their lack of experience which causes them to lose money and willpower for investing, causing them to drop out when things start to look bad. We are seeing a lot of new investors cash out because the market is not currently doing well, they are worried that the market will never recover. The fact of the matter is that everyone starts here in some aspect or another and the only way out of it is to learn or follow the advice of experts.
Get Rich Quick Investors: These investors are likely new and think that investing in Cryptocurrency will be a quick path to riches. These investors don't really understand anything about Cryptocurrency and probably don't care too, they just want fast money now (don't we all?) and are jumping on the bandwagon. Unfortunately these investors will have a terrible time as Cryptocurrency can make you rich, but it usually requires a size-able amount of money to start with, luck and/or time.
Long Term Investors: These investors are in the investment game for the LONG TERM. Most of the experts fall into this category as they understand that dips and crashes are normal and in addition are opportunities to buy more Cryptocurrency at a cheap price. The overall goal is to buy as much Cryptocurrency as possible and then hold onto it until it matures and appreciates in value. MOST of the Bitcoin millionaires fall into this category, they invested some money in Bitcoin when it was dirt cheap, then waited YEARS for the price to skyrocket. Honestly investing in Cryptocurrency as a retirement fund or wealth generation, might be a very good idea as overall the price of the top coins increase over time. Patience is a virtue!
Short Term Investors: One of the best things about the Crypto markets is the volatility, if you know that good news is going to come out for a coin it would make sense to buy that coin then sell it in the short term to make a profit. I know a friend who has a few thousand in Ripple, he plays the markets daily getting about 1-3% interest per hour buying low and selling high. Simply put these investors flip currency for a profit. Even though the markets are down there are still some plays to be made, for instance buying coins now and selling them in a month when they increase. Many long term Investors dabble in short term investments as well, the profits often funnel back into their main Cryptocurrency of choice.
The final investors we will talk about are the Chance Investors: Chance Investors see an undervalued coin and invest a few hundred bucks or a thousand in it. They hope that one day the unknown/undervalued coin will increase in value substantially. A big difference fromm the New/Get rich quick Investors is they use information to level the odds in their favor. As an example I have been taking a look at Reddcoin, Reddit's cryptocurrency. Now it hasn't really started yet so it is dirt cheap and considering how it will act like Steemcoin it might be a huge hit a year or 2 from now as Reddit is a really popular site. A small investment can get you tens of thousands of coins, worst case scenario you lose a hundred, best case scenario you get rich! Keep in mind that the initial people who invested in Bitcoin and held onto them took a chance, back then there was a serious chance that Bitcoin wouldn't work.
For myself most of my investments are in long term plays, Ethereum being one of my favorite probably about 70%. I also do some short term investing 25% and some chance at 5%.
If your still interested in more information A friend of mine Cryptototem has written down some strategies on how to invest that you might want to take a look at https://steemit.com/cryptocurrencies/@cryptotem/the-70-core-30-play-money-approach-to-a-cryptocurrencies-portfolio.
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