I understand that in my most recent posts I have been waffling a bit on distinctions between investing and trading, since I recognize that there had been times that I had been too strict in my own descriptions, especially there can be some areas that end up overlapping.. and so surely it helps if the investment timeline is 4 years or longer and it also helps if there is not any kind of rush to withdraw large amounts at a time..
I also understand that once a bitcoin investment is largely in place and it is mostly either sustaining its value and/or growing in value (also needing to attempt to account for debasement of fiat), then these would seem to be more investment practices rather than trading practices, even though once the investment is largely in place, there can be trading within it without really jeopardizing the overall value of the investment that would largely be growing or even having core amounts of the invest that does not get withdrawn, it just largely sits and continues to gain in value .
There are many threads, including this one, that has more of a focus on whether and how to get started rather than how to manage your investment after you have been in it for a cycle or two... so both getting started and how to maintain an accumulation practice for a whole cycle seems to be the first part that many newbies need to get through before they reach the dilemma (and the various practices and additional options) that comes from considering how to manage their BTC holdings after they had spent a decent amount of time building it up to a status of sufficient and/or overaccumulation.
Yet the question of trade versus investment still likely remains relevant because of course, if a newbie cannot even get into the mindset of investing rather than trading, then we might be talking past each other, and I don't give too many shits about trying to help anyone to figure out how to trade bitcoin, they can do that on their own, since it can be a crapshoot and if folks are coming to bitcoin to gamble or trade, then that's on them to figure out those kinds of details and/or to make their guesses of BTC price direction based on those trading/gambling kinds of considerations. The investor does not need to get caught up in that and just largely start out putting in money into bitcoin on a regular basis for 4-10 years or longer and just keep building and then once the BTC holdings is built to a certain level, reassess options at that point.. and presumptively the BTC price goes up during the whole process, even though it is not guaranteed to go up, yet bitcoin is likely amongst one of the best, if not the best, asymmetric bet to the upside, and I am using the term bet in regards to long term, which asymmetric bet means that the most that as long as leverage is not employed, then the most that can be lost is 100%, yet the upside potential seems to be quite great (even though not guaranteed).
People have different ideas. They always think about profit. People want to get rich as soon as possible. No matter how much we tell them to invest instead of trading, they will only start trading when they get the opportunity. However, I would like to tell my fellow traders and investors that we should invest for the long term first, then secure our capital and trade at a rate of 10-15% per annum to meet our needs.
If a person wants to have a long-term view while investing in Bitcoin, he will actually focus on investing instead of trading. The advantage of long-term investing is that once you have placed your investments, you can let them grow over the years, providing opportunities for capital growth. Meanwhile, trading is like a gambling game, where you repeatedly buy and sell to trade the fluctuations in the stock price and make short-term profits or losses.
For example, let's say I start investing in Bitcoin in January 2025 and I plan to review the value of my accumulated Bitcoin in 2035. So what if I buy small amounts of Bitcoin regularly during this period? Then, even if the market price fluctuates at different times, it will achieve long-term growth for my investment, because Bitcoin has a long-term price growth trend.
Now suppose, I was trading during this period and sometimes bought Bitcoin and waited for the price to rise, and sometimes sold it immediately when the price fell, then my profit or loss would depend on the short-term market fluctuations. As a result, my risk exposure would be much higher. But, as a long-term investor, if I hold Bitcoin, even if the market drops a little, I will eventually achieve long-term growth.
Therefore, as an investor in Bitcoin, you should let it grow over time, and not let market fluctuations affect your investment.
After putting in the time and effort to secure your capital over a period of time, it doesn't make sense to risk it on trading for those quick gains. Even if you put 10-15% return per annum, the volatility and unpredictability of trading can easily wipe out the hard work you've put in. The odds are always against traders especially in a volatile market like bitcoin, its a gamble that often leads to more stress and potential losses than it's worth.
Prioritizing and Sticking to a long-term investment strategy, can create a more stable financial foundation and allows you to reap the rewards of your patience and discipline without jeopardizing your previous efforts. The focus should be on steady growth rather than chasing after fleeting opportunities that could end up being detrimental. preserving what you have built and allowing it to grow sustainably.