Tag: investing

All investing related articles are found here. Educative, informative and written clearly.

Capitulation of Bitcoin?

2 min read

The bear market has seen the price of bitcoin decline more than 75% from all-time highs set in January. It is defined as a period of depressed activity and sentiment. A total of $60 billion has been erased from the value of all cryptocurrencies over the last week. That’s why many are wondering if the ongoing bear market for the asset class has finally come to an end.

Bitcoin makes up more than 50% of the entire cryptocurrencies market, in terms of total capitalization. Our prediction is that the bear market may end when bitcoin bulls refuse to cede more ground.

In the same period, traditional assets were down too. DOW had worst Thanksgiving week since 2011, oil is down 30% in 7 weeks, FAANGs (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google) is down almost 40%.

But somehow, for many people, FAANGs get more attractive as they fall and Bitcoin gets less.

Markets reverse

Markets can be reversed in three ways: by the following capitulation, by following a strong trend-setting upwards break, by slowly rolling over reversal which is the hardest.

Alex Krüger, economist and trader tweeted:

”Bitcoin crashed hard in the last month, yet the market has not seen capitulation yet. Market direction is uncertain.

Trying to figure where will the market stops falling, its bottom, is beyond fruitless. Those charting and calling bottoms are best ignored.

BTC has extremely well-defined resistance areas.

Books are so empty and volume so low that a whale can make a >5% pop/drop within a few hours.

I’d expect more 2-way action now and still lower lows eventually.

Wouldn’t be surprised to see 8200 within weeks.

A $BTC ETF will launch, making crypto go viral again.

Security tokens will go mainstream.”

What is capitulation in the market?

Capitulation is marked by extreme panic selling, consisting of extreme selling over a short time period. It is backed by high volume that builds momentum until an eventual “bottom” is found. The bottom is a price level where the asset looks too cheap or undervalued to investors for them to allow it to fall any further. In order for a true bottom to be found, many claim a capitulation needs to take the place because it is traditionally the last stage of a prolonged bear market. It’s difficult to consider something to have officially capitulated until after it has occurred. By looking at previous capitulation stages and market bottoms for bitcoin, there are a few similar signs traders and investors can watch out for. That may refer to an official market bottom.

Market conditions aren’t the same as they have been in past years. Bitcoin’s 2017 boom has brought new attention. Traders and investors who are left wondering if the asset can ever return to its former glory.

Such an event can be measured and understood in real-time. But in order to predict bitcoin’s future, taking a look at its price history is perhaps the best place to start.

It’s not an exact science, and there’s no guaranty history will ever repeat. That said, observing the bitcoin’s past price action yields three possibilities for potential market reversal worth of being discussed and considered.

If there’s no bitcoin ETF approval, one could argue there’s no reason for bitcoin to resume its bullish uptrend until a market bottom occurs like it did in 2014-2015.

Bitcoin falls under $4,000

After days of stagnating at the $4,200 price level, on Saturday afternoon (EST), Bitcoin (BTC) suddenly fell under $4,000, a highly-touted level of support for the cryosphere’s foremost asset. It wasn’t clear why this bout of selling pressure occurred. But within minutes, sell-side orders pushed BTC (on Coinbase) under $4,200, then $4,100, then $4,000, all the way to $3,800, where the digital asset is situated at the time of writing. Of course, this is worrying. It seems that a temporary floor has been found at $3,800. Crypto traders mentioned this key level before. It is unclear whether there was a catalyst that triggered this sudden loss of support, sending BTC plummeting into its third freefall in a week’s time.

This rapid 10% loss can be caused by a number of supposed catalysts: the aftermath of the Bitcoin Cash’s November 15th fork, an influx of institutional selling orders, the Bakkt Bitcoin futures vehicle delay, regulatory measures from the SEC, and, arguably the most convincing, the final bout of capitulation from crypto’s “weak hands”.

Many traders exclaimed that they didn’t expect to see BTC foray under $4,000 ever again.

The fact of this most recent move downward is that many believe crypto’s bear market isn’t done yet. At least not until a bottom of $3,000 is reached, which is claimed by many traders, including Tone Vays, Anthony Pompliano, and other lesser-known yet knowledgeable industry analysts. That could mean that the $3,000 zone would be a good time to start accumulating.

The bottom line

If the current ascending trend line breaks, the price may not find its “bottom” until reaching the high of the prior “mega” bull run, which in this case lies in the $1,200 area. If prices fall to this level, the last hope will be to find new rising support for the entire “bull cycle” to repeat.

Risk Disclosure (read carefully!)

25th November 2018
Cryptocurrency Market – How It Works

This market is in permanent growth, its volatility and unpredictable liquidity are a reality.

By Guy Avtalyon

The cryptocurrency market has been segmented into mining and transaction, based on the process. In the mining process, there is a greater necessity for hardware than it is a case in the transaction process. Therefore, the market for hardware for the mining process is larger than that for software. Furthermore, a miner can take part in this process with a small investment.

Cryptocurrency is used for various applications, such as trading, remittance, and payment. These applications drive the market for cryptocurrencies.

Trading the cryptocurrency market

Cryptocurrency trading cover exchanging fiat currency with crypto. Also, it refers to exchanging, buying, and selling of cryptocurrencies. It meets some similarities of foreign exchange or forex wherein fiat currencies we can trade 24 hours a day. The number of cryptocurrencies has increased exponentially; currently, there are more than 1,500 cryptocurrencies available. Some of these coins can only be vested using major cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin or Ethereum. To contribute to initial coin offerings (ICOs), one needs to perform trades or use a blockchain company’s services.

A large number of players are investing in developing payment gateways and platforms for the payment process of their currencies. When a customer makes a purchase using a cryptocurrency as payment, the transaction often goes through the payment gateway at a fixed exchange rate. It automatically converts to traditionally recognized fiat currency so the merchant can avoid the volatility of the cryptocurrency markets. The payment through cryptocurrency has several advantages. Enhanced transactional security, protection from fraud, decentralized system, low fees, quick international transfers.

Why invest in the cryptocurrency market?

Volatility and unpredictable liquidity are a reality of the cryptocurrencies market. You could have made tons of money if you had invested in bitcoin earlier but you would’ve lost a lot of money if you had started investing in the last few months. Because when investing in cryptocurrencies, many traditional assumptions fall flat. Managing risk in financial markets is a well-established discipline. Whether investing in equities, bonds, or currencies usually practices protect market practitioners when they are buying, selling, or intimidating. Risks are typically aligned into different categories. Market risk, credit risk, and operational risk, and complex formula are used to determine how much capital should be kept in reserve to absorb losses. The historical progress in bitcoin has increased risk appetite both for existing and newer traders. It comes with the realization that even a small exposure to cryptocurrencies could turn out to be lucrative.

The cryptocurrencies market is still developing. There are concerns about the potential for fraud and market manipulation. So, investors must take the necessary precautions. These individual risks are much more difficult to measure and manage when investing in cryptocurrencies.

Institutional demand for digital currencies

So far, most institutional investors, including banks, insurance companies, pensions, and hedge funds, have avoided cryptocurrencies. But, that attitude is beginning to change and institutional investors will soon be entering the market in a major way.

This year (2018) has been challenging for crypto investors. Global market capitalization fell amidst worries over fraud risk, escalating token issuance, and ever-shifting cyber-security threats. Accusations of market manipulation and concerns around potential naked short selling are also doing little to lessen institutional investors’ concerns about cryptocurrencies.

The effect in the market

Every big trader can exploit market illiquidity and shifting margin rules and contract limits at inexperienced cryptocurrencies exchanges. This causes a domino effect in the market and institutional investors rather stay away. The complexities and shy institutional uptake for the new cash-settled bitcoin futures products demonstrate that. But the industry must move towards a futures contract that is settled with proper warehousing standards.

Counterparty risk and custody provisions are even bigger worries for institutional investors. Although cryptocurrency exchanges are significant new platforms, they have been largely designed by the younger generation of developers. Financial institutions care more about the return of capital rather than return on capital. They are wary of the professional indemnity behind these platforms. We believe that now’s the right time for institutional investors to look seriously at making investments into cryptocurrencies. They should take part in the cryptocurrencies market.

Cryptocurrency market – potentially unlimited upside

The unpredictability of risk and the potential for high returns is the main characteristic of cryptocurrencies market. The most intelligent approach for new investors might be to hold a very small proportion of their portfolio in cryptocurrencies. This would give some exposure without excessive risk as the market continues to mature.

By the end of 2017, a lot of portfolio managers had to explain to their clients why they had only achieved single-digit returns in traditional asset classes. At the same time, some crypto funds had earned up to 2,000 percent from volatility. This shows, there is a little downside from investing 1% of the portfolio in cryptocurrencies, but the potential upside is almost unlimited.

The cryptocurrency market continues to attract new participants and liquidity should improve. This will take the time that’s the truth. Within a couple of years, cryptocurrencies will become a standard part of a diversified portfolio.

The stock market has a rich and mature history. It has seen many bubbles, market crashes, and economic recoveries. The growth of the cryptocurrencies market continues. If traditional stock exchanges continue to keep away from cryptocurrencies, they’ll miss out on a growing and profitable market.

Finally, the financial crisis of 2008 actually gave birth to Bitcoin.

22nd November 2018
Margin Trading Definition

2 min read

Margin trading isn’t without risks involved, so pay more attention to it

Margin trading is simply the process where investors buy more stocks than they can afford to. It also refers to intraday trading in India and various stockbrokers provide this service. It can increase your profits on the upside, but also expand your losses on the downside. Margin trading means buying and selling stocks or some other assets in one single session. This process requires a trader to guess the stock change in a particular session. It is an easy way of making a fast buck. It is now accessible to even small traders.

What is margin trading?

Margin trading is also called buying on margin. It is a method of buying shares that involves borrowing a part of the sum needed from the broker executing the transaction. The collateral for the loan is normally securities in the investor’s account. The trader has to deposit an initial amount of cash or securities into a margin account with the broker. And has to keep a minimum amount of cash or securities in the account as collateral. If the balance of a margin account falls below the minimum maintenance amount, the broker makes a margin call to the trader for the funds needed. Margin balances can be adapted to follow market values by adding or subtracting variation margins.

What is buying on margin?

Buying on margin gives the investor leverage as any capital appreciation or dividend income is on the total amount purchased. Even after the amount borrowed has been repaid to the broker, with interest, the investor could still be better off than if he/she had personally financed the purchase of a smaller amount of shares. That depends on how much the shares gain and how much they yield. There are some risks with margin trading – if the shares fall in value, the investor suffers a capital loss while also facing potential margin calls from the broker.

An example of margin trading

Margin trading is meant for traders who are looking for a simple way to increase their earnings. And also, they have a reasonable level of risk appetite but do not have enough capital.
Let’s say you are 100% bullish for the big company and believe the stock is going to pick up. You want to buy 1000 shares of that company and each share is priced at $200. You would need a capital amount of $200,000 to enter that position.
Assuming you have $150,000 and want to borrow the rest of the capital. With margin trading, your broker can help you with the rest of the funds while charging you a specific interest percentage.

How does margin trading work?

The whole process is quite simple. Margin trading is legal buying stocks or other securities, but instead of your own money, you borrow it from your broker.
Think about buying stock on margin as buying a house with a mortgage. A margin account provides you the financial support to buy more stocks than you can currently afford. For this purpose, the broker will lend you money to buy shares and keep some amount as collateral.
If a trader wants to trade with a margin account, the first requirement will be to request a broker to open a margin account. This requires paying a specified amount of money upfront and in cash. That is so-called the minimum margin. If a trader has a losing bet and ends in losses, and fail to pay the debt, the broker will get it out from the margin account.
When you open the margin account, you’ll have to pay an initial. This is a specific percentage of the total traded value and pre-determined by the broker. Before you start margin trading, you need to keep in mind these important steps.
First, you need to secure the minimum margin (MM) through the trading session. The reason behind this: if the stock is very volatile, the price can fall more than you had expected.
Second, the broker has the right to ask you to increase the amount of capital you have in your margin account. Also, the broker has the right to sell any of your securities if feels its own funds are at risk. The broker can even sue you if you don’t fulfill a margin call or if you are carrying a negative balance in your margin account.

Margin trading if the stock price goes up

This is the best outcome for you. Let’s do some math (I adore math).

Say you bought 100 shares for $4000. But you had $2000 and broker loans $2000. If the price goes to $50 per share, your investment will be worth $5,000. Your outstanding margin loan will be $2,000. If you sell, the total proceeds will pay off the loan and leave you with $3,000. Because your initial investment was $2,000, your profit is a solid 50%. Your $2,000 principal amount generated a $1,000 profit. However, if you pay the entire $4,000 upfront without the margin loan your $4,000 investment will generate a profit of $1,000, or 25 percent. By using a margin, you could double the returns.

The stock price fails to rise

If the stock stays at the same price, you still have to pay interest on that margin loan. You are in a better situation if the stock pays dividends because that money can pay some of the costs of the margin loan if not all. In other words, dividends can help you pay off what you borrow from the broker.

When the stock doesn’t change in price it is a neutral situation, but you’ll pay interest on your margin loan for each day. Margin trading can be a good plan for traditional investors if the stock pays a high dividend. Many times, a high-payed dividend, for example, $5,000 worth stock, can exceed the margin interest you have to pay. For example, if you had $2.500 and you borrowed the other $2,500, which is 50% of stock’s value. But you expect to receive $3.000 as a dividend, so you’re safe.

Margin trading when the stock price goes down

If the stock price drops, buying on margin could work against you. What if the price in our example goes to $38 per share?
The market value of 100 shares will be $3.800. So, your capital will shrink to just $1,800 because you have to pay your $2,000 margin loan to your broker. This isn’t real trouble at this point, but you should be cautious. The margin loan is 50% of your investment. If it goes lower, you may get the margin call. The broker will demand you to keep the ratio between the margin loan and the value of the securities the same as it was when he lends you money. That’s why margin trading can be very dangerous.

How to maintain the balance in margin trading?

When you buy stock on margin, you must maintain a balanced ratio of margin debt to equity of at least 50 percent. If the debt portion exceeds this limit, you’ll be required to restore that ratio by depositing either more stock or more cash into your brokerage account. The additional stock you deposit can be from another account. If you can’t come up with more stock, other securities, or cash, you have to sell stock from the account and pay off the margin loan. For any trader, it means having a capital loss. For you also, because you lost money on your investment.

The bottom line

As you can see, the margin can increase your profits on the upside but also increase your losses on the downside. If your stock drops drastically, you can end up with a margin loan that exceeds the market value of the stock you used the loan to buy. In the bear market of 2000, for example, many people realized stock losses. The majority of these losses came as a consequence because traders did not manage properly the obligations associated with margin trading. To avoid this kind of problems you must have sufficient reserves of cash or marginable securities in your account.
For example, buying dividend yields that exceed the margin interest rate could be the right choice so the stock could pay for its own margin loan. Just keep in mind to set up your stop-loss orders. Your goal is to make money, and paying interest could eat your profits.

14th November 2018
Stock Options Everything You Need to Know

The stock options give the holder the right, but not the obligation, to buy (or sell) 100 shares on or before the options expiration date.

By Guy Avtalyon

Stock options are financial instruments. That can provide the investor with the flexibility need in almost any investment situation.

Stock options are contracts that convey to its holder the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell shares of the underlying security at a specified price on or before a given date. After this specified date, the option stops to exist. The seller of an option is, in turn, obligated to sell (or buy) the shares to the buyer of the option at the specified price upon the buyer’s request.

The stock options give the holder the right, but not the obligation, to purchase (or sell) 100 shares of a particular underlying stock at a specified strike price on or before the option’s expiration date. The seller of the option is one who grants this right.

You can recognize two kinds of stock options: American and European. American options are different from European options. The European options permit the holder to exercise the option only on the date of expiry.

How do stock options work?

All options are derivative instruments. That means that their prices are derived from the price of another security. More precisely, the underlying stock price will determine the options price, it is derived from the stock price.

As an example, let’s say you purchase a call option on shares of Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) with a strike price of $40 and an expiration date of April 16. This option gives you the right to purchase 100 shares of Intel at a price of $40 on or before April 16th. Of course, the right to do this will only be valuable if Intel is trading above $40 per share at that point in time.

Every stock option represents a contract between a buyer and a seller. The seller has the obligation to either buy or sell stock to the buyer. Of course, at a specified price by a specified date. The buyer, on the other hand, has the right but not the obligation, to execute the transaction. On or before a specified date. If it isn’t in the best interest of the buyer to exercise the option when it expires, the buyer has no further obligations. The buyer has bought the option to execute a transaction in the future. Hence the name – option.

What is underlying security?

The particular stock on which an option contract is based is usually known as the underlying security. Stock options are categorized as derivative securities because their value is derived in part from the value and characteristics of the underlying security. A stock option contract’s unit of trade represents the number of shares of underlying stock which are covered by that option. The stock options unit of trade is 100 shares. This indicates that one option contract signifies the right to buy or sell 100 shares of the underlying asset.

What is the strike price?

The strike price, or exercise price, of stock options, is the specified share price at which the shares of stock can be bought or sold by the holder, or buyer, of the option contract. To exercise your option is to exercise your right to buy or sell the underlying shares at the specified strike price of the option.

The strike price for an option is initially set at a price that is reasonably close to the current share price of the underlying security.

What is the stock options contract?

A stock options contract is defined by the following elements: type (put or call), style (American, European and Capped), underlying security, a unit of trade (number of shares), strike price, and expiration date. All stock options contracts that are of the same type and style and cover the same underlying security are referred to as a class of options. All stock options of the same class are referred to as an option series. They have the same unit of trade at the same strike price and expiration date

Stock vs stock options

The difference between stocks and stock options is that stocks give you a small piece of ownership in the company, while stock options are contracts that give you the right to buy or sell the stock at a definite price by a particular date. There are always two sides to every option transaction: a buyer and a seller. For every call or put option bought, there is always someone else who is selling it. Many traders think of a position in stock options as a stock surrogate that has a higher leverage and less required capital. They can be used to bet on the direction of a stock’s price, just like the stock itself. But stock options have different characteristics than stocks. And there is a lot of terminologies that options traders must learn.

What are Put and Call?

A call is the option to buy the underlying stock at a predetermined price by a predetermined date. The buyer has the right I explained above. The seller of the call who is also known as the call “writer” is the one who has the obligation. If the call buyer decides to buy, the call writer is obliged to sell shares to the call buyer at the strike price. A call option contract grants its holder the right to buy a certain but specified number of shares of the underlying stock. That right has to be executed at the settled strike price on or before the date of the expiry of the contract.

For example, you bought a call option on ABC company with a strike price of $40, expiring in two months. That call buyer has the right to exercise that option, paying $40 per share, and receiving the shares. The writer of the call would have the obligation to deliver those shares and receive $40 for them.

Put options are the options to sell the underlying stock at a predetermined strike price. Until a fixed expiry date. That put buyer has the right to sell shares at the strike price. And the put writer is obliged to buy at that price.

Calls and puts, individual, or in combination, can provide different levels of leverage or protection to a portfolio.

What are employee stock options?

Many companies issue them for their employees. When used appropriately, these options can be worth a lot of money for you. With an employee stock options plan, you are offered the right to buy a specific number of shares of company stock.

All employees’ options have a vesting date and the expiration date. It’s impossible to exercise these options before the vesting date or after the expiration date.
You’ll recognize two types of stock options companies issue to employees:

NQs – Non-Qualified Stock Options
ISOs – Incentive Stock Options

With a non-qualified type, taxes are taken from your gains after you exercise the options. However, keeping too much company stock is considered risky. For example, if the company has financial problems, your future financial security could be in danger.

When long-term investors want to invest in a stock, they usually buy the stock at the current market price and pay full price for the stock. An alternative is to use stock options. Buying them allows you to leverage your purchases. Far more than is possible in even a margined stock purchase. In several investment situations, it might make sense to invest in stock options. Hence, rather than the underlying stock. Note, the basic fact of stock options trading. You are highly leveraging your investment. And it means your investment risk is also substantially increased.

12th November 2018
Tricks of The Trade

Don’t eve try to find or use tricks in the trade, here is why.

By Guy Avtalyon

There are no tricks of the trade. You will find no hacks or cheat-sheets. All you can find are countless strategies to choose from depending on your trading style and many wise practices to follow.

In short: Learn before earn. Whenever it seems something is very obvious, first see how the market is behaving before making up your mind to go long or short. Start with paper trading. Learn Technical and Fundamental analysis. Access your risk ability and only take positions in which you are comfortable with possible loss.

After many hours and a lot of coffee, we had one conclusion: There are 3 types of trade. You have to choose your strategy. If you make the right pick and learn a lot you have a chance to become a master in it.

At first, you should get theoretical knowledge about the market.

Educate yourself and read special books. Read blogs. You can find a good piece of advice there. Make out a trading strategy or taking an already working one (find it on the Internet), test it, and see how it works. Try to master it. But don’t go away from its rules (you can change the rules, of course).

Practice. You need practice. Start with a demo account. All of them are free and you can get even several accounts from different brokers to compare them and find the best one for you. Then continue with trading real money, decide what strategy is yours, and start making money!

Remember, that you should keep in mind all the tips or tricks of the trade which you will learn from literature. You will have to make all your decisions logic and automatic. After some time, when you’ll be experienced enough, you should feel the ground. Meet your losses and wins as a lesson.

Define your goals and choose a trading style

It is important to have some idea about where are you going. You have to have clear goals. Then check your trading method is capable to achieve these goals. Each trading style has a different risk profile. That requires a certain attitude and approach to trade successfully.

You have to be sure your character fits the style of trading you deal with. The mismatch will lead to stress and definite losses. Learn and practice.

It is better than trying to find tricks of the trade.

Take this small tip regarding calculating expectancy:

Expectancy is the formula you use to determine how reliable your system is. You should go back in time and measure all your trades that were winners versus losers. Then determine how profitable your winning trades were versus how much your losing trades lost.

Take a look at your last 10 trades. If you haven’t made actual trades yet, go back on your chart to where your system would have indicated that you should enter and exit a trade. Determine if you would have made a profit or a loss. Write these results down. Total all your winning trades and divide the answer by the number of winning trades you made.

Choose an appropriate trading platform

Choosing an online broker seems like a simple process. But in reality, it can be a nightmare because finding the right broker is not easy. In the very beginning, you want to be sure that the broker has the right credentials, understands the market, has similar wealth-building beliefs as you do. The most important question is about what type of trader you want to be. Are you an active trader or buy-and-hold investor? Whatever you are, it will affect your choice of broker. If you are a buy-and-hold investor and invest in index funds, making a few trades per year, fund selection may be more important to you than low transaction fees. If you like to trade off of Fibonacci numbers, be sure the broker’s platform can draw Fibonacci lines. These are the best tricks of the trade.

Choosing a respected broker is of main importance. Researching the differences between brokers will be very helpful. You must know each broker’s policies.

Have a plan before executing a trade

You don’t need a million bells and whistles to make money, just one simple tactic that works. One of the biggest problems a trader faces is bridging the gap between trade planning and execution. Getting from a strategy looking good on paper to real-world trading performance is what it’s really all about. Without question, all the planning in the world will not do you any good if you can’t execute and reap the benefits of your work. Wins and losses come in a random distribution. It is not unreasonable to sit through a series of losing trades even if you did everything according to plan. One issue to consider is that people aren’t particularly confident in what they’re doing and this can be rectified with a little guidance.

Understanding what it is that you are trying to achieve and what constitutes reasonable results can go a long way towards settling nerves and allowing a trader to execute how they have planned to do so. Clarity of mind and consistency of approach will help you to start to realize the potential of your strategy.

OK, there is one trick of the trade: “one punch, one kick.”

The idea is to accomplish the job as quickly as possible with very minimal effort. Find your edge in the market, a technique that works and sticks to your plan. If you don’t have a strategy then you shouldn’t be on the battlefield. Traders who execute random orders without a plan usually lose their money. Who needs a flying roundhouse kick, when a straight stomp to the knee will incapacitate your opponent with one simple move.

Trade quality over quantity

One general mistake is the need to always be in a trade. Some traders get whiplash by chasing the market during choppy conditions. Advanced traders are very picky about when to pull the trigger.

Most of the time the markets produce a 50/50 possibility for success. You want to be patient and wait for trades that have a higher probability than a coin toss. The trick of the trade is to find good trade setups not treat the markets as a roulette table.

That said, even quality trades have an element of chance, therefore you always need to have an exit strategy to manage risk.

Traders tend to make money when the markets are inefficient unless you’re running an algorithm that scalps a flat market, stay away from choppy or stable price action. Only trade in market conditions that are conducive to your particular trading strategy.

As we said before, there are no tricks of the trade. Trading is an art. The only way to become skilled is through consistent and disciplined practice. That’s the trick of the trade.

9th November 2018
Who are the most successful investors in India?

2 min read

All those who enter the stock market in India has the same dreams. They all want to become absurdly wealthy like few of the known richest investors in the world. These guys made a success! It is never easy to make money by investing or trading in stock markets. The stock markets are highly volatile and your investments can be at high risks. Many people have lost all their savings in this market. Yes, the rules are the same for all, but the story is not the same for all. Many have gathered good wealth. In India too. We found some beautiful stories about successful investors in Indian stock market.

We want to introduce some of the most successful investors in India. How was their journey, what principles they follow, how long they have been investing? Who knows, maybe these examples could be an inspiration to all of us. For you too!

Rakesh Jhunjhunwala – Stock market investor

He is one of the most successful investors in India. His portfolio is worth over Rs. 20,000 crores / 3.2 billion dollars. His top holding is CRILIS but he holds stocks of Titan and Lupin too. He is known as Indian Warren Buffet.

Rakesh Jhunjhunwala entered the Indian market in 1985. His father was interested in the stock market and boy-Rakesh was very carefully listener during the long conversations among his father and his friends. He attended the Chartered Accountancy course to gain a professional degree and completed in 1985.

After that, he joined the Stock Market and started trading. His first biggest bet was 5000 shares of Tata Tea which he got for Rs 43 and sold for Rs143 in just 3 months. This gave him Rs. 5 Lakh which was a big deal at that time. His next big hit was Sesa Goa. He bought 4 lakh shares and gathered huge profits on it. After that first successes, a lot of stocks made large sums of money for him like Lupin, Crisil, etc.

Porinju Veliyath – CEO of Equity Intelligence

He is one of the most well-known investors and fund manager. Equity Intelligence stock picks like Emkay Global Financial Services and BCL Industries has raised by 200% in their share prices and IZMO and Vista Pharma raised by 100% at their share prices under his hand. But it wasn’t so easy in the beginning.

The story of his life isn’t exactly ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ but he had a lot of struggles in his early days. Porinju Veliyath was born in the lower-middle-class family in Kochi. During his student days, he had to work many different and hard jobs to support his family.

When he moved to Mumbai in 1990 in search of a job, he became a floor trader at Kotak Securities there. He was clever, learned quickly and he became an expert trader. He worked for 4 years there and got a lot of knowledge. In 1994, he joined Parag Parikh Securities as a Research Analyst and fund manager. In 1999, he returned to his hometown Kochi and decided to make money on his own from the stock market. He made his first major investment in ‘Geojit Financial Services’. The stock was trading at a very low value at that time. Proving everybody wrong, this investment gave him multiple returns. In 2002, he started his own portfolio management service firm in the name of ‘Equity Intelligence’.

Vijay Kedia – a successful investor with the origin

He describes success on the stock market: ‘knowledge to find out quality stocks which one can acquire only by reading. If one doesn’t have reading habits, he can’t be a good investor.’

Vijay Kedia was born in the family of stock-brokers. He started his career in the stock market in 1978 not by his own choice but by force after his father died.

He joined the family business of trading and stock-broking. At the start, he was not doing well. But, he did not lose hope. He realized that trading didn’t suit him well and decided to start with investing. But learned a lot about the fundamentals of companies. In the beginning, he owned Rs 35,000 and by his own study, he invested the entire amount in a stock named Punjab Tractor. In 3 years, the stock multiplied 6 times and his Rs 35,000 grew into Rs. 2.1 Lakhs. Then, he invested in ACC at the rate of Rs. 300. After a year, the stock multiplied 10 times and moved to Rs. 3,000 in the second year. He continued to make successful investments in various stocks to create a wealth of 500 crores.

Vijay Kedia is betting now on Everest Industries and Vaibhav Global as multi-bagger stocks for 2018. And still is one of the most successful investors in India.

Nemish Shah – top 10 retail investor

His net worth is Rs 1,300 crore.

Nemish Shah is the co-founder of ENAM, one of the most reputed and respectable investment houses. He keeps himself away from media and publicity. His investment ideas are most sought after. He invested in Asahi India and multiplied his funds to 3.4 times in 3 years. He does not invest in too many stocks. His focus is on limited stocks and highly sector-driven.

Ramesh Damani – well-known investor

Ramesh Dhamani is well-known as Warren Buffet follower as much as because of his investments in listed and unlisted companies. He is picking high-quality stocks and retaining them for a long time. He follows the model for investing that favors companies with strong management credentials and processes. And it is Warren Buffet’s model. That affords him millions of rupee. Also, one of the most successful investors in India.

Raamdeo Agrawal – Founder of Motilal Oswal Group

Raamdeo Agrawal is one of the founder members of Motilal Oswal Group and MD and co-founder of Motilal Oswal Financial Services. He started buying stocks in 1980 and till 1994; he made a portfolio of about Rs. 10 crores. Then, he read Warren Buffet’s tips and worked upon his portfolio to pick quality stocks instead of accumulating bad sticks. In a span of one year time, his portfolio doubled. He has amassed a net worth of over Rs. 6,500 Crore /1 Bn dollars.

Dolly Khanna – the Value investor

Women in the top 7 the most successful investors in India. Value investor Dolly Khanna has been investing in the Indian stock market since 1996. Her portfolio is managed by her husband Rajiv Khanna. She made debut through the fertilizer sector by homing in on a top-quality small-cap stock which enjoys a monopoly position. She has a knack of spotting multi-bagger stocks and knows exactly when to book profits. Emkay Global Financials, PPAP Automotives, IFB Industries, Thirumalai Chemicals are some of the picks form her portfolio.

Bottom line:

If you want to become successful in the stock market, then you should learn from the lives of these iconic stock market investors. How was their journey, what principles they follow, how long they have been investing?

Everyone who enters the stock market world knows about Warren Buffet. The greatest investor of all time and one of the richest person in this world who made his fortune by investing in stocks. But you have to know these guys and their life path.

Both you and they deserve this to know.

Risk Disclosure (read carefully!)

22nd October 2018
Crypto cannabis is very hot now!

The cannabis industry is hotter than ever, cryptocurrencies got high

3 min read

Crypto cannabis is very hot now. PotCoins are digital coins you can send via the internet, which allow cannabis enthusiasts to interact, transact, communicate and grow together.

Cannabis cryptocurrencies or weed coins are tokens by the marijuana industry. Pot is now completely legal in Canada and Uruguay, and several states in the United States. Consumption of marijuana for medical use is legal in some other states, and also in countries like Israel and the Czech Republic.

Crypto cannabis market

The cannabis market is one of the quickest growing markets but is held back in some countries by states laws that still consider it an illegal drug. That makes problems for the industry to raise money, which is where cannabis cryptocurrencies enter the scene. Weed coins intend to change the nature of the medium of payments for the legalized cannabis industry since traditional banking systems make obstructions for the business.

The booming marijuana industry and cryptocurrencies could present an investment opportunity.

There are several ways to invest in crypto cannabis and it becomes easier to buy legal weed with cryptocurrency. Hence, like any other investment, comes with its own risks. In case you are interested, here is the list of 10 weed coins in the market.

1. PotCoin (POT) – This decentralized crypto became the first of many cannabis cryptocurrencies in 2014. Since then PotCoin is the gold standard. POT’s max supply is 420 million.PotCoin’s market cap peaked at $90,097,520 on January 1, 2018. In June, PotCoin spiked again when basketball player Dennis Rodman wore a PotCoin.com t-shirt to the US-North Korea summit. PotCoin’s valuation was up for 20% on that day. You can buy PotCoin on Bittrex, Changelly, PotcoinTrade, and PotWallet. With a market cap of well over $10 million, PotCoin is the highest valued weed cryptocurrency.

2. HempCoin (THC) – HempCoin (THC) isn’t designed just for cannabis. THC coin is designed for the entire agriculture industry, from tobacco to cannabis and hemp, came into being to facilitate buying farming supplies. Today, you can trade THC on Bittrex and qTrade, it hit a record high market cap of almost $160 million in early 2018.HempCoin is expanding. By 2019, HempCoin will introduce HempPay, a payment platform for buying weed. HempPay will be an app, website and cryptocurrency credit card.

3. Paragon (PRG) – Paragon isn’t for buying weed, it isn’t like other cannabis cryptocurrencies. Paragon’s PRG token is focused on helping weed businesses grow. Paragon developed ParagonCoin (PRG) in order to provide cannabis businesses to pay rent. What is it about? ParagonSpace is a brand-new cannabis coworking space in Los Angeles and PRG is the only currency that ParagonSpace accepts, whether you’re buying coffee or renting an office.ParagonSpace hopes that their Ethereum-based cryptocurrency will work for business to business and business to customer interactions.ParagonCoin is still in its early days. They’re still building an all-encompassing cannabis business ecosystem with smart contracts, a coworking space, and cryptocurrency, all on the blockchain. Paragon’s total supply is of 164,936,584.

More participants in the crypto cannabis market

4. CannabisCoin (CANN) – CannabisCoin is another cryptocurrency designed to making buying medical marijuana easier. It came into 2014 a few months after PotCoin was CannabisCoin. It is peer-to-peer open source currency and like PotCoin, was created to make transactions for medical marijuana dispensaries easier. Initially, it was very popular but it has generally failed to deliver much for investors. This cannabis crypto made waves back in 2014 when dispensaries sold 1 gram of cannabis for one CannabisCoin.The total supply of CannabisCoin is set at 91,859,176, with over 77 million currently in circulation. The currency has a market cap of $5.2 million.

5. CannaCoin (CCN) – Cannacoin is a cannabis altcoin that runs on its own decentralized blockchain and has its own Cannacoin wallet. Forked off Litecoin, Cannacoin uses Proof of Stake-Velocity. Cannacoin is open-source and developers can use it to create other applications. For example, CannaPay a website committed to cannabis credit cards and goes through its own ICO is connected to Cannacoin’s protocol. Cannasight, another Cannacoin project, provides developers to create a multiplicity of open-source applications. Cannacoin has been around since 2014, most of its projects are in early stages of development. CannaCoin has a market cap of $272,000. There’s a circulating supply of 4.7 million CannaCoins.

6. DopeCoin (DOPE) – DopeCoin, was launched in 2014, was remodeled as DopeCoinGold in early 2017. DopeCoin aim is to give people a way to buy weed anonymously without paying transaction fees. Their consideration doesn’t cover legal matters. They don’t care if someone is getting weed from a licensed dispensary or an online black market. Merchants in both the U.S. and in Europe accept DopeCoin payments.DopeCoin also has its own cryptocurrency wallet. This dissenter cannabis cryptocurrency is capped at 200 million.

7. Tokes (TKS) – This cannabis currency aims to move the entire weed supply chain and customer transactions away from cash. Unlike other cannabis cryptocurrencies which operate in a legal gray area, the Tokes platform follows anti-money laundering rules and Know Your Customer financial guidelines to detect money laundering. Tokes provides the security of a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority compliant financial institution. You can buy TKS, keep it in a Waves Wallet and spend it as currency at certain dispensaries. There is a supply of 50 million TKS.

8. GanjaCoin (MRJA) – GanjaCoin is weed cryptocurrency for buying weed both from dispensaries and online. On GanjaCoin’s website, you can buy CBD products and smoking accessories. GanjaCoin is a privately created cryptocurrency but is working on dispensary partnerships.GanjaCoin offers the comfort of virtual payment. For weed producers, cannabis cryptocurrency is even more favorable. With GanjaCoin, they pay low fees via blockchain.GanjaCoin is unique because it’s the first one backed by feminized cannabis seeds. In the future, GanjaCoin will back each coin with a whole gram of weed. The benefit of using this model, in addition to offering a value guarantee, is that it keeps supply low. There will only ever be 42,000,000 GanjaCoins, which is lower than other cannabis cryptocurrencies. GanjaCoin is currently listed on MasternodeXchange and Stocks. Exchange and provides their own cryptocurrency wallet.

9. Growers International (GRWI) – Growers International dates back to 2015. They wanted to meet the particular needs of weed producers. As a member of Growers International’s decentralized platform, marijuana growers can chart seed-to-sale data and keep a record of their plants’ genetic makeup. The immutability of the decentralized ledger lets growers prove a strain’s authenticity. Their partners are already buying supplies using the GRWI token. Growers International plans on offering smart contracts for cannabis farmers, they can use their smart contracts to complete supply costs, electric, labor, etc. Growers International has a cryptocurrency wallet. GRWI is trading on Cryptopia and CCEX.

10. KushCoin (KUSH) – KushCoin is based on blockchain technology to the medical marijuana supply chain. This cannabis cryptocurrency seeks to connect the process of growing and selling weed, staying in compliance with federal, state and local laws. The point is to have different levels of the supply chain so, consumers to avoid high fees and inconvenience by paying with a cryptocurrency. In 2014, KushCoin started with the goal of addressing all these issues. Their plan was to create a KushCoin wallet, a seed bank for KushCoin users and a crypto credit card. According to Bitcoin Forum, someone hacked KushCoin. But the developer recently got back control.
There are also GreenMed (GRMD), Sativacoin (STV), Cannation (CNNC), Bongger (BGR), Marijuanacoin (MAR), BlazerCoin (BLAZR), Budbo (BUBO).

Bottom line: The most important aspect of starting your own cannabis-related business is actually the most important aspect of starting any kind of business: picking the angle you’re most happy with.

Investing in a cannabis company comes with a number of risks that could negatively affect investment at any time. There remains a large amount of uncertainty in this emerging sector, especially as laws and business models continue to evolve.
Some investors may see others flocking toward an emerging sector and can be compelled to follow out of fear of missing out on an opportunity.

However, behavioral insights shed light into the way that people make decisions about money and has shown that investors who follow other investors’ behavior are more likely to invest in speculative bubbles that could burst. If that happens, investors could stand to lose some or all of their investment. But isn’t every investment potentially risky?

The risks in crypto cannabis

Many cannabis companies are promising investors the opportunity to capitalize on the potential for considerable future growth. A number of companies are looking to expand.

The cannabis industry is hotter than ever, with new deals announced almost every day, and merger and acquisition activity at an all-time high.

As per Viridian Capital Advisors estimates, investments in the marijuana industry reached $6.6 billion in the first 10 months of 2018. According to New Frontier Data, sales are expected to surpass $9.5 billion in 2018, some forecasts say to $12 billion.
Risk Disclosure (read carefully!)

21st October 2018
Cannabis VS Bitcoin Both Are the Two “Sexiest” Plays.

Cannabis stocks just like bitcoin stock can be hot investment choice these days

By Guy Avtalyon

If you have a dilemma in selecting the stocks, cannabis vs bitcoin, this exactly you have to read. Cannabis shares are a temporary hum. Wait! Didn’t they say exactly the same about Bitcoin?

Traditional Wall Street and media gatekeepers are late.

The fact is that Bitcoin lacks a time-tested business model and fundamental backing, and it pays no dividend. The other fact, marijuana is illegal in almost every country, putting the business model in jeopardy.

Pot stocks are more tangible speculative investments, traded and regulated on recognized stock exchanges, but still subject to a variety of market and regulatory risks. We know that advisors can caution their clients on the risks of investing in cannabis stocks, and the risks are there at current merits. It was the same in the case of Bitcoin.

Cannabis industry

But the cannabis industry may offer trace to the future of Bitcoin. Because despite their different paths, the crypto and cannabis are siblings. Why? Just spend a few minutes on Reddit pages committed to trading, Bitcoin, and cannabis and you will see similarities of the group. According to TD Ameritrade Inc., trading in pot stocks is superiorly done by millennial-aged males. The stats for crypto look almost the same.

We are witnessing an explosion of interest in cryptocurrencies, cannabis stocks, and ETFs. And particularly from millennials. What do younger clients need? They love technology. They want to be educated investors, that’s why they are in need of education. They’re younger in their investing and trading careers. But they know what they want. They want to trade 100 shares of stocks at the table in the restaurant using some bot. They don’t want to miss the boat.

Cannabis vs Bitcoin

If you’re a long-term investor type who’s not at all interested in trading, then you’re on the right track to becoming a wealthy investor over the long term. Sticking with such a reasonable investment strategy can be tough, however, especially if you constantly hear about how a friend of a friend of yours got rich overnight by investing in Bitcoin or Canopy Growth (TSX:WEED) (NYSE:CGC) stock.

You can ignore the hype, as it has nothing to do with you. It’s difficult to tell the difference between a bubble and an actual paradigm shift that could lead to massive riches over the near term.

Today, cannabis stocks and Bitcoin are the two “sexiest” plays.

While the word “bubble” has been thrown by some experts, other equally qualified, are on the other side and are thinking “opportunity of a lifetime.” Being on the right side isn’t a matter of how clever you are. You can find a lot of examples of how some very smart guy has fallen as a victim on the wrong side of the “sexy play” of his time.

When it comes to subjects like the rapidly emerging rising cannabis market or blockchain-based cryptocurrencies, it’s hard to know what you’re dealing with as an investor. Nobody really knows how much new entities will act in the public markets over a long period. Attempts to make comparisons to events that happened in the past can make some sense but can’t help a lot.

Neither cryptocurrencies nor cannabis are suitable for conservative investors. It is for visionaries, for those who can perceive the future and recognize the chances. Set a limit and stay within it.

There are many people in the crypto industry believing in a bright future. As well as there are supporters of the legalization of cannabis. Technology companies, for example, SinglePoint and POSaBIT, are working to create a payment method for dispensaries and consumers using bitcoin. Recently, some cryptos emerge specifically for cannabis transactions.
This isn’t the first time that stocks in a hot niche have risen. We all know what happened with bitcoin stock a year ago. The companies specializing in the crypto have had fantastic gains.

Some investors never look back at overhyped fields once they aren’t trending, but investors who invested hard-earned money into most popular stocks usually learn the harder way what results can be.

Currently, a limited number of marijuana stocks is accessible to most investors. We’ve seen some massive moves in marijuana stocks. Those gains stem from the fact that investors who want to invest in marijuana have limited options available to them.

Why cannabis vs bitcoin?

The same case we already saw with many Bitcoin stocks.

In 2017, the top-performing Bitcoin stocks have less liquidity than many others. They stood very low on that list. But it reversed. In 2018, bitcoin declined in its volatility.
Of course, speaking about cannabis stocks we can expect winners, but we can’t be sure where to expect. Maybe cannabis investors could learn something from the bitcoin incredible boost in the past. Perhaps the same could occur. Sometimes, success may occur in unexpected places. As an investor in cannabis stocks, just be ready to see the secondary effects. Try to recognize how they can influence the companies that are not always obviously related.

Investors want to get rich from cannabis stocks, but past investing crazes and experience with cryptos have often left people wishing they hadn’t fallen for the allure of these markets. You can avoid repeating those mistakes and improve your chances of being successful with your investments in the long run. Just get more knowledge, learn permanent, test, and measure everything twice.

21st October 2018
India Could Treat Unregulated Crypto Assets as Illegal

2 min read

According to Moneycontrol, a report which is being prepared by a committee headed by India’s Economic Affairs Secretary, Subhash Chandra Garg, may propose amendments to the existing laws with a view of making it illegal to hold crypto assets that are not approved by the government.

Does it mean that could soon be illegal to hold cryptocurrencies that lack the government’s seal of approval in the world’s largest democracy?

The panel will propose legislative amendments and recommending punishment for those holding unapproved crypto assets and also will penalties for those who flout the law.

This move is the result of the government’s attitude that crypto assets which are unregulated should be kept out of the Indian financial system to prevent them from being used to aid illegalities. Under this formulation, they mean evading taxes as well as in Ponzi and multi-level marketing schemes.

According to the same source, holding unregulated crypto assets like bitcoin in India could attract punishment.

India treats crypto as illegal.

Why this isn’t surprising?

The Subhash Garg-committee was placed last year and have to submit its report in December. Besides the Economic Affairs Secretary, the other members of the committee come from India’s central bank and the country’s securities markets regulator.

It is expected the Subhash Garg-panel report be adopted. Having in mind their previous attitude, there will not be a surprise.

Anti-Cryptocurrency opinions have various government agencies in India. This spring, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) barred banks and financial companies dealing with virtual currencies and banned these financial institutions from allowing their clients to buy cryptocurrencies. They were given three months’ time (ending June 2018) to exit from any such services if they were offering.

“…with immediate effect, entities regulated by RBI shall not deal with or provide services to any individual or business entities dealing with or settling VCs [Virtual Currencies],” read part of a statement issued by the RBI as reported by CCN. “Regulated entities which already provide such services shall exit the relationship within a specified time.”

The consequences after the ban are still felt today.

In September one of the biggest cryptocurrency exchanges in India, Zebpay, announced that it was shutting down after it found itself unable to operate without access to banking services. That is the indicator that India treats crypto as illegal.

The negative consequences of the ban have not been limited to cryptocurrency exchanges, however, and have spread to the wider blockchain ecosystem. As CCN reported in September, this was leading to a ‘blockchain brain drain’ as well as ‘blockchain capital flight’ to jurisdictions with more conducive environments such as Malta, Estonia, Switzerland, and Thailand.

What can be expected from these last stages of deliberation?

The government view is that unregulated crypto assets should not be allowed to move into the financial system. In short, India treats crypto as illegal. So, it is expectable that the Garg-panel is likely to recommend appropriate amendments in existing laws, defining the punitive measures for those found holding illegal crypto assets.

In his budget speech for 2018-19, finance minister Arun Jaitley had pointed that cryptocurrency was not legal tender in India, but hinted that the government was open to adopting the underlying technology, called blockchain, to bring in more efficiencies in India’s digital payment systems because it allows keeping a record of a chain of transactions, eliminating the need of intermediaries.

According to Moneycontrol, officials of the capital markets watchdog, the Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) have also organized tours to Japan’s Financial Services Agency; the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority, and Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority,

The study tours “help engage with the international regulators and gain a deeper understanding of the systems and mechanisms,” SEBI said in it’s in the annual report for 2017-18.

And December is near. The trail of the devastation of cryptocurrency exchanges is visible.

But despite these moves of various governments, which are understandable in some sense because they have no control over the crypto, cryptocurrency will survive. We will be witnesses.

Risk Disclosure (read carefully!)

18th October 2018
Ways to Earn Bitcoin

2 min read

After Bitcoin become one of the hottest new investment assets it has surprised many who once believed the blockchain-driven cryptocurrency would never have real-world value. It has also produced huge interest. This interest, as the nature of this digital currency as well, cause great opportunities for making extra money.

Traders Paradise wants to present you several ways how to make money with Bitcoin and several different ways to earn Bitcoin.

How to earn bitcoin?

There is a huge amount of money to be made in this market, and many of the ways of earning with Bitcoin may result in small amounts. It shouldn’t dishearten you. Even small amounts of Bitcoin can be useful assets.

How?

The rapid growth of the value of the cryptocurrency gives possibility. If you want to accumulate larger sums of Bitcoin, that’s also entirely possible. It requires some initial investment of course.

Let’s begin exploring the different ways in which you can start making money and earn Bitcoin.

Selling Bitcoin-related products

It is the fact that there are ways to make money from Bitcoin without actually owning any. For instance, you can sell products and services and be paid in Bitcoin.

The easiest way to get into being an affiliate marketer for Bitcoin products is to promote Bitcoin mining devices through some affiliate program. Point is that you can send visitors from your website and receive a small commission on any products they buy there. For that, you’ll need a website on which to post your affiliate links. The good news is that, since Bitcoin miners are generally priced at $100+, you don’t need to sell too many of them to start making some decent money from your marketing efforts.

The same concept can also be applied to Bitcoin services. Many services surrounding Bitcoin offer generous commissions to marketers who refer customers to them. If you’re going to create a website, integrating promotions for services can be helpful to your readers and profitable to you. This is one way to earn bitcoin.

Do freelance jobs and get paid and earn Bitcoin

A huge online marketplace for freelance services exists to connect freelance workers with customers. A new twist has come in the form sites that send payments to freelancers in Bitcoin. If you are freelancer already or have a skill that businesses would be willing to pay you for, you may be able to render services in exchange for fairly significant amounts of Bitcoin.

Freelancing in exchange for Bitcoin has two advantages: first, unlike mining or investing, there is little or no initial cost for most forms of freelance work and the second, some freelance jobs can pay amounts of Bitcoin worth dozens or even hundreds of dollars. If you want to earn Bitcoin at a reasonably fast rate without investing a large amount of money at the outset, freelancing can be your best option.

You’ll just need to sign up for a freelance marketplace that pays in Bitcoin.

Invest in Bitcoin and Bitcoin derivatives

Investing in Bitcoin, indeed still not as common as investing in stocks and bonds, but is fast moving into the financial mainstream. To be honest, investment is one of the profitable ways of making money with Bitcoin.

Basic Bitcoin investment is the simple buying and holding Bitcoin until its price goes up enough to gain a profit. Bitcoin has produced some incredible gains for investors in past years. If you had invested just $200 into Bitcoin when it was worth $1 in early 2011, your investment would be worth millions today. This is an ultra example, which demonstrates how profitable Bitcoin investment has been for some traders who have been willing to hold their investments for long periods of time.

High-risk investment

In the past Bitcoin exchange was easy to hack, like Mt. Gox exchange which was hacked 2014. But now the new generation of more secure exchanges come onto the market to supply Bitcoin services.

A less known way of investing in Bitcoin is to trade it as a CFD, or contract for difference. In core, a CFD is a derivative instrument that is based on the price of an asset, in the case of Bitcoin.

Unlike standard investment, however, CFDs don’t involve actually buying the asset they mirror. Instead, traders open positions on the movement of an asset’s price with a CFD broker. CFDs typically have high leverage rates. Meaning that both gains and losses are higher than they would be in a more traditional investment environment.

Used properly, Bitcoin CFDs can be fairly profitable. If you’re too careless with them, they can be high-risk investments. It depends on your personal level of risk tolerance.

Bitcoin mining

Mining refers to the use of computer hardware to automatically perform a set of mathematical operations. That, in turn, creates new Bitcoin. Bitcoin is set up that only 21 million can ever be produced. At this moment, more than four million are on the table for Bitcoin miners.

You have to know one important fact about Bitcoin mining before getting into the difficulty increases over time, which means, it will take more time and more computing power to generate each following Bitcoin.

At the beginning of Bitcoin, cryptocurrency enthusiasts were able to use graphics processing units on regular computers for mining. But nowadays the difficulty has gone up so much that much more specialized equipment is needed.

To start Bitcoin mining, you’ll need to invest in external devices called a Bitcoin miner. That provides the necessary computing power to produce Bitcoin. The price of a Bitcoin miner will vary based on its processing ability.

Small USB miners start at under $100, while larger, more powerful mining devices can cost thousands of dollars. Although the initial investment of buying a Bitcoin miner can be fairly large, it allows you to produce your own permanent flow of new Bitcoin until the full 21 million has been reached.

Start mining

If you decide to start mining yourself, you will have the peripheral costs too, like electricity costs, for example. If you have a large miner that produces a large amount of heat, you may have to install a cooling system.

These costs can eat up much of the profit margin in Bitcoin mining. Fortunately, if Bitcoin continues to grow in value, these costs will be compensated later.

But there is another way you can get in on the action. It is known as contract mining. In contract mining, you’ll pay a fee in exchange for a company to employ its Bitcoin mining equipment on your behalf. This contract will last for some period of time. And all Bitcoin mined during that time on the equipment you’ve contracted will be sent to your Bitcoin wallet. Contract mining is an easy and passive way for you to accumulate Bitcoin. But it will cost more over the long period than having your own Bitcoin mining equipment.

What else you can do to earn Bitcoin?

For example, you can do micro-tasks small, simple actions, such as viewing an advertisement or engaging with a post on social media. Though the pay is usually very low, micro-tasks are the simplest way to get into Bitcoin.

Bitcoin faucets are a bit like micro-tasks in the sense that they pay very small amounts of Bitcoin in exchange for a small amount of your time – often around 1 Satoshi, which is a hundredth of a millionth BTC. In the case of faucets, though, Bitcoin is usually available to be claimed by users at a set interval, such as every five minutes.

Or you can create content to be monetized with Bitcoin-based ads. Maybe you can lend out the Bitcoin you already have and generate passive income. But if you have respectable knowledge you can make a decent amount of money form helping other people learn about cryptocurrencies.

Bottom line

The easiest and fastest way to have Bitcoin is to buy instantly with a credit card or debit card. You can acquire $50 or less for Bitcoin, fast and usually within 10 minutes. However, you may be new to the entire cryptocurrency concept and for that we recommend you learn these few things above.

Bitcoin is extremely empowering but also different than the currency you know and use every day.

Risk Disclosure (read carefully!)

17th October 2018