Quote from: Ron~Popeil on July 07, 2014, 02:13:40 PM

I find myself wishing I had found bit coin much earlier. Other times I realize that if i had I would be posting threads like this one because I undoubtedly would have been one of those that sold at a nice profit and spent the money a long time ago. I also would have been one of those that had a lot of holdings in MT GOX. Instead I spent a lot of time reading this forum and learning from others mistakes before I bought a single satoshi. These stories make bit coin safer for newer bit coiners and I appreciate them.

Me too. I'm sure there are a lot more similar stories than we know.

Quote from: BitProdigy on July 07, 2014, 07:08:05 AM

I just need to get this off my chest

I found out about bitcoin in 2011 by listening to the Stefan Maleneoux (f$#% spelling) Podcast. It was just after the big crash from $30 and the price was hovering around $3. My first reaction was skepticism of course but I took the time to read the Satoshi Paper and did my research and poked around on some forums and came to the conclusion that this bitcoin thing was legit, and possibly the future of money for the world.

At some point I got a bonus at work that was rather substantial so I thought I'd use that bonus money to dabble in this Bitcoin thing. I bought 500 BTC for about $1500 bucks on TradeHill. I then used some of those bitcoins to purchase some Casascius coins. I bought 10 1 BTC casascius coins and one 25 BTC Casascius coin. (all of which were the 2011 with the error) I made an offline wallet with encryption in a flash drive made 3 copies of it and bought a safe to store the coins and the flash drive in and gave the other two encrypted flash drives to two trusted people with safes as well and I was done and happy.

Some time passed and I was watching the price religiously. Almost an entire year passed and it was only hovering around about $5, and my best friend bought a motor cycle, and he needed someone to ride with, and I wanted a motorcycle. So I cracked open the safe, put in my password, and since TradeHill was out of business created an account on MtGox and sold all of my coins in my wallet at $6 a piece, and I went and bought a motorcycle for $3000. (which I still have, Ninja 250r)

A while later I moved out of state and the price of bitcoin was around $200, I was so sick with myself for what I had done that I was kind of delirious and so as a going away gift I gave all 10 of my 1 BTC Casascius coins to the 10 closest people to me in my life. And so I was left with only the 25 BTC casascius coin.

I owned 500 BTC and 11 of the most valuable collectable items that will ever exist, and I was left with just the one 25 coin. It is safe to say I will never own 500 BTC ever again in my life for as long as live.

AFter the climb to $1200 and crash, and with a new job, I started buying again. I have not even recovered the 10 BTC I gave away yet but it's cool. The experience taught me a valuable lesson. Don't underestimate Bitcoin and what it can do. In the moment it seems silly to invest so much in what seems like such a crazy dream, but do it anyway. And I also learned the secret investment strategy for Bitcoin which is this: Buy low, Buy high, and keep buying and buying and buying. Just keep converting worthless fiat into Bitcoin at every step of the game, ignore the price, and convert fiat into bitcoin at a steady and consistent rate. Never sell. Never convert bitcoin into fiat, it is always a bad move in all circumstances, especially considering you can buy anything you need with bitcoin now.

Sometimes when I think about it, or I do the math in my head, I feel like I just got kicked in the stomach and I need to throw up. But I keep buying more bitcoin every check I get, and I won't stop until I'm getting paid in Bitcoin directly. Hopefully my story is interesting to you. Cheers.

That's called learning from your mistakes. 2 of the 3 biggest threats to your investing strategy (whatever it may be) are fear and greed. In this case, greed got you. Don't let it happen again, stick to your plan.

I learned how to tackle fear and greed, but in Bitcoin, I got nailed by #1. Misinformation/little research. If I just bought BTC instead of throwing it away to Butterfly Labs. I would be doing much much better today.

Quote from: LiteCoinGuy on July 07, 2014, 02:45:21 PM

Quote from: QuestionAuthority on July 07, 2014, 07:21:11 AM

Hey, don't worry about it. Bitcoin will crash back down to $1 eventually and you can buy back those 500 coins and get ready for the next jump to $1000.

99% would not do that. thats the reason why he sold his 500BTC. most people are not patient enough.

when bitcoin drops 30%, they sell.

if they see Bitcoin as nothing more than part of their portfolio, then that's a smart move. Even smarter is to sell at 10% drop.