I've said for over a year now that in order for the proper 'mooning' to begin, a few jigsaw pieces need to be placed:
1.) Wallstreet (my general term for banks and institutional whales) need to get involved and that the major banks will start to buy out Crypto exchanges so that they have data/information feeds. DONE
2.) Before Wallstreet enter a new market like this, just like many commodity markets in the past, first they will create a Futures market. This way they can manipulate and suppress prices of Cryptos without owning any Cryptos as they can Naked Short the market. DONE
3.) Wallstreet will need custodial services because they really won't want to mess about with wallets and private keys and the risk of being hacked. So they will want to store it somewhere fully insured. DONE
4.) Wallstreet will then bring about the first Bitcoin ETF so that hedge funds can play with the crypto space without actually buying any cryptos. ALMOST DONE.
The thing to remember here is that when a Bitcoin ETF is finally passed, that ETF company will have to actually go out and buy billions of Dollars worth of Bitcoin. And store it somewhere. And these boys won't just buy it at market price. They will drive the price down so they get more Bitcoin for their buck. And then they will store it (fully insured) at a 'Crypto Bank' with custodial services. That's what Coinbase is to Wallstreet. A retail exchange for the average Joe and a 'Crypto Bank' for the Whales.
So I'm not surprised at all we are having a last minute tree shake as they are just trying to scare away all the 'weak hands'. I.e. Those currently pulling their hair out, checking coinmarketcap every 10 minutes and questioning whether Cryptos will ever get back to all time highs. DON'T BE A WEAK HAND. These big boys control the media message and flow and being sucker-punched into selling your Cryptos is exactly what they want.
All of the pieces are almost in place now for the next fractal surge up. The second the Bitcoin ETF is approved I bet my bottom NEO that the ETH ETF won't be far behind. And then the options market won't be far behind that. That will attract more traders. Then the derivatives floodgates won't be far behind and then there will be LEVERAGE! After a couple years of easy public accessible LEVERAGE, that is when you need to start worrying about getting out of Cryptos. By then your pension fund will no doubt have a small Crypto allocation.
With a property you have leverage and can buy a house 10 times more than you can afford. With equities you can buy and sell 2-5 times more stock than you can afford. Right now, the public cannot easily amplify their holdings. This is a MAJOR reason why we are NO WHERE NEAR PEAK BUBBLE.
In 2007 the average stripper in Florida owned 7 apartments. That's how silly leverage got in the housing market. Right now I doubt even 1% of strippers own any Cryptos. Don't get me wrong, I'm fully aware that most participants in this market right now are in pain. Many are probably 60-90% down on their portfolios and the strategy of HODLing isn't sitting too well with the more impatient speculators. I also know many people who made 6 figures profit in 2017 and are now only sitting on 4 or 5 figures profit. Hell, I traded my $25k portfolio up from $25k to $1m in a 4 month period. I took a couple hundred grand off the table to divest back into my businesses to create some real cashflowing income streams, so sat here right now it's looking vastly diminished in the low 6 figures. BUT through exiting the market for most of the Bitcoin crash and dancing in and out a few times, I've actually got over double the amount of tokens than I originally had. Even though I extracted some profits. Regardless, there's lots of soured & bitter people around right now.
Many are blaming others, but ultimately, as an Investor, YOU are responsible for your portfolio. Many jumped in with way more than Risk Capital. Some have left the market completely, which is a good thing in my opinion. The get-rich-quick 'WHEN MOONers?' aren't good for this market. They repel the more level-headed investors which in turn slightly extends the time it takes for this industry to go mainstream. Most of them are investors who have never invested before and Cryptos are their very first investment. Which is why so many people are being duped into the most basic of scams like One Coin, Das Coin, Bitconnect and USI Tech. So it's been a bit of a rollercoaster for them. They got caught up in the hype of 'Bitcoin to $1m in 1 or 2 years time' and now it's free-falling past $7000. This is actually the BEST investing lesson they will ever learn. IF they heed and learn from this...
So if you're in Cryptos you NEEEEEED to be in for the RIGHT reasons:
1.)You're in for the short/medium term (until the proper bubble pop) when the public come rushing in en masse. This won't happen until the 'Early Majority' (of the Adoption cycle) comes in, Cryptos are as easy as online banking, there is an established naming service just like websites have URLs AND there is LEVERAGE so your waster mate Dave down the pub can re-mortgage his house and also amplify his Bitcoin holdings.
2.) You're in Cryptos with no more than RISK CAPITAL. That means you won't lose your shit or feel suicidal whenever the market does its annual 30-70% drawdown.
3.) You're INFORMED! You know it's going to be an extremely erratic market for at least the next 10 years and that there will be an endless string of scandals, events and sensationalised news announcements.
4.) You're aware that this is a short term highly speculative bubble which will most likely pop at some point. So you're playing the Greater Fools game here and then the long term BUY, HOLD and NEVER sell game once this market matures. Just like hoovering up the Blue Chip stocks that were still operational after the Tech Bubble fallout. Stocks like Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and IBM etc.
5.) By being informed you can retain THE BIGGER PICTURE. Which is all of the above, and that whether you got into BTC at $19k or $10k, will be relatively insignificant compared to the sheer potential Bitcoin and the rest of the market could grow to. Amazon is now $1900 per share. I'm pretty sure you'd be happy if you bought in at $20 or $50 per share. Hell, even $200 is cheap.
So I hope this helps, it's just my 2 cents and I personally feel that there are blindingly bright times ahead for us, but you need to ensure that you adopt my Cryptonian Portfolio and that you frequent your local strip club to maintain your cutting edge market research on public adoption :)
Glad to find you here.
Thanks! :)
Welcome Mr Kidd (isn’t that a bond character?)
Well put, thanks for sharing your perspective, my own view is almost entirely in alignment with what you are seeing.
Truly agree with what you said.
Great article Siam...but i saw this tweet that brought about some concerns...they are very valid arguments...i think with Futures and Wall street getting involved, it seems to suppress price. I was vehemently against futures, and that concern rang true. One positive is that when the gold ETF was launched gold saw a huge bull run and then capoot...volatility and price increases vanished, so hopefully we get one more face melter before this happens.
hey shawnster do you use telegram ? are you following for the big announcements ?
Hey bat....yeah i follow multiple telegram channels...which ones are you referring to? Good to see you on hear again..been a long time
Bitshares for nice people
yes not been on much hope you are well my friend. BTS is taking a pounding !
No doubt, but isn't everything right...this one is hard to call...im hoping BTC goes sideways for the next 3 months while alts start to build their foundations and really take off...if not we could just die a slow death all the way down to $3000-5000...one impressive thing is that this last low held...i thought we were surely going to break decisively through that like a hot knife through butter...so hopefully we just bounce around here for a while....i still think Bitshares will do very good...i always try and consider what the large investors will want to see this time around..they of course will want use cases and projects that are earning revenue..but being the top three most used chains is impressive in itself...i have a feeling we may get a transition onto EOS too..i don't think they need to, but it will be interesting to watch...cheers friend
Join the Telegram I shared if you haven't already. Need to keep on top of what is happening on Bitshares ! Big event coming up
Nice read. A word or two is enough for the wise.
i agree! if you wanted to invest in crypto gain patience first. but anyways everyone aware about this exchange? they have updated about their platform now https://news.kucoin.com/en/kucoin-platform-2-0-bi-weekly-progress-update%EF%BD%9C2018-12-17/
I've known so many traders getting worried about the market even though they know that there's a possibility of market dumping.