I agree that when anyone invest money into a venture that it is very important to take the time to explore the potential risk. I think the value is likely to trend up overtime and I will address what I think is most important issue, Security. Theft leads to market depreciation and it is important to utilize diversification and diligence by keeping your investment spread out and by reducing your risk. Recently the DOA was hacked, I will admit that I didn't have anything invested in it so my opinions will be different from people who do. One way or another the best way of defending is by having people demand more strict security audits and standards, In the event of hacks or exploitation the community as a whole can ban together and reverse an exploit democratically (More or less). On a social platform like this I think this may be easier.
Having mined Ethereum and taken the time to look at the history of bitcoin short trading is not something you can really plan for unless you have the capacity to react before the rest of the market. Crypto currency suffers from a considerable amount of volatility and it isn't something you should pour your rent money into with the hope of making a quick buck.
However I am of the personal belief that any returns made in this market should be reinvested too. The opportunity here isn't just to spend money but to learn about a developing technology and markets as a tool for leverage. In my personal case I started in ethereum because I wanted a new graphics card, If it pays for itself and makes some money, great reinvest it. If it doesn't I have the graphics card I wanted anyhow. Admittedly Steem uses cpus to my knowledge, but my point being that if you are going to invest in something either way. It should be where the net benefit of experience out weighs the investment,
I am taking the time to network with new people learn what makes post profitable and as an extension marketing skills. Develop information networks and in general develop new products. If the currency does tank for any reason I don't lose any of that. If I put my beer money and stop buying say, scratch tickets (I don't drink or gamble but speaking hypothetically). spend 100 dollars and if say the currency goes up to 10 or 100 I'll buy another house. In the end this should be about small investments over long periods of time. Not the other way around.
And that is my investment strategy.