You may have heard more people recently both celebrate and bemoan the state of the cryptocurrency market, especially the explosive rise and fall (and most recently, rise again) of Bitcoin. Even if you only have a layman’s knowledge of how the cryptocurrency market tends to fare, you’ve probably walked away with the obvious impression: yes, it’s volatile. Even though Bitcoin dropped below $6,000 last week (for investors, that’s a hair-pulling 70% less than the value of its all-time high in December), it’s since played a comeback kid move, surging up by 50% and topping $9,000 as of this last weekend. Investors have experienced a roller coaster ride that shows no signs of slowing down just quite yet. The current state of Bitcoin is on the up and up, and while no one can quite explain why, it’s a great time to educate yourself on how it all works.
So is it still a good time to invest in and learn about cryptocurrencies? The short answer is, yes. The fact of the matter is, cryptocurrencies are utterly dependent on the ever-changing whims of the market, meaning they’ll rise and fall based on how urgently the market believes in their investment. And while the dips can cause a bit of a panic, Bitcoin’s performance speaks for itself: it’s outdone any asset or stock you might have otherwise invested in.
Here’s the big note: don’t invest any amount you can’t stand to lose. Be sure that whatever you put into Bitcoin is not essential to your daily life and operations. And despite the valleys and the peaks, long-term investors in Bitcoin indeed have something to show for it: for example, if you had invested $1,000 in Bitcoin in 2011, you would have $36.7 million now. To successfully invest in Bitcoin, it’s important to stay true to the most basic tenets of investment: start small, play the market wisely and patiently and you could end up with some big wins.
By the Daily beast
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