The pain was getting too painful. I had to step away for a while. Wasn't expecting to see this when I came back. Dare I cautious optimism? 
Optimism about what?
A price floor or a trend reversal. Duh.
I feel like you are setting up to make some sort of "point" and I'm walking into your trap
Nah you are reading too much. I was trying to gauge more along the lines of fundamentals that have changed suddenly for anyone to be cautiously optimistic. At the moment (and even short to mid term) it is a caustic asset in my analysis.
Interesting. I dont think the fundamentals ever changed really. Before the great rise the price was way too low and I feel like it corrected way too much after. I'm optimistic about what looks like, might be, a shifting of sentiment.
I doubt it. In fact my recommendation to the couple of friends I introduced XMR to, was to sell when long term supporters came out of the closet (and before the N-rG barrage) and never get back in as I didn't feel confident enough to be responsible. In essence they 11x their Bitcoin portfolio and are never coming back. It is not like they don't know that XMR will rise again but it is an altcoin that will be used to extract Bitcoins out of the newbies and they get it & are not going to trade it anymore (and caustic asset was a borrowed term from them honestly).
I could not disagree more strongly with the idea that monero is just a lever to pry bitcoins from "newbies". Any alt coin market is full of danger but it is wonderful to gain 11x in an investment.
Personally, I invested 1\3 of my bitcoins into monero. I was fortunate to buy a little extra during the rise which I sold, regaining my original stake. But I kept the nut. Because I believe in monero.
I am not skilled enough to jump from alt coin to alt coin talking money from others... like you evidently are
I hope the promise of monero comes to fruition, but if it does not... At least I wasn't taken by more experienced traders like you and your group. Still.... Kudos on your gains.