Post
Topic
Board Economics
Re: This week has given me pause: I'm getting out of BTC
by
mgio
on 30/05/2013, 22:39:23 UTC
Government intervention was inevitable, the fact that it's playing out goes to show that Bitcoin is relevant.  I think some of the rewards that you and many others have reaped is because of the significant risk that was undertaken.  If you feel that risk is now significantly greater than the perceived reward, then you're right in liquidating.  But before you sell, ask yourself why you got into Bitcoin in the first place.  You already identified it as the "wild west" and were willing to lose everything you put in, so I think you've assessed the risk properly.  Does selling at this point change your life in any significant way?  To me, in a boom or bust proposition, that's exactly what you go for, the big boom or the unfortunate bust.  Anything in the middle isn't worthwhile settling for as you're cutting short the reward potentially being offered for the risk that you've already signed up for.



I'm not sure about the OP, but I'm guessing he is in the same boat as me. By that I mean, he invested very little early on with an amount that he was comfortable losing. But now, that small amount is a lot more money at risk, even if bitcoin is actually less risky now.

My first bitcoin purchase was 500 coins when bitcoin was at $10. $5k wasn't too much to lose if bitcoin completely collapsed and I thought there was a fairly slim chance of that ever happening. Honestly, I was super happy when that $5k turned into $6k in a couple of months. I figured if I could make a couple of grand off of it, that was great. But now those 500 coins are now worth $65k (and I've since acquired many more) and that is a significant amount of money to have in one very risky asset. To put things in perspective, let's say you have $50k in your retirement fund and invest $5k in bitcoins. That's just 1/10 of what you've saved for retirement. But now, 6 months later your retirement fund is probably not much more than the $50k they were were before and your bitcoins are worth way more! Time to sell and rediversify.