Bitcoin. Did you cash out too early like me?

[utterflapdoodle]

And if so how vigorously are you kicking yourself?

Anticipating a sharp drop like the 2017/18 cycle I cashed out in mid January. My investment had doubled at that point and I thought that was good enough after holding for over three years.

I'm making it sound like a thoughtful decision but it wasn't. The price was dropping quite fast at the time and I panicked. I later bought back in with about half of the total but missed out on some of the subsequent big rises.

It doesn't help that the other "safer" investments I put the profit into have since dropped. I know the stock market as a whole has taken a downturn at the moment but still it's really galling.

I'm mentally beating myself up about this almost constantly. I can't help checking my investment totals daily and comparing the sum to what it would have been if I had held my Bitcoin.

I know this isn't productive. Investments should be viewed in the long term and from that perspective I've done pretty well. It is not as if I even urgently need the money for anything but I can't seem to forgive myself for this string of bad decisions.

Any words of wisdom about how to learn from this and move on mentally?

Oh, Helloguvnor's question was about the Stocks and Shares ISA. Ignore me.

@ThatDamnKrampus

I am so intrigued by this. I would like to dabble but wouldn't even no where to begin!! My dd1 was telling me about another type of crypto that is new? Can't even remember the name - will have to ask her again. And what is an ethereum? Is there a minimum to invest? Sorry for so many questions, I get lost when I try to search on the internet.

Coinbase is fairly easy to navigate if you're new to cryptos. There are hundreds of different ones. Ethereum is the world's second-biggest crypto. There's no minimum investment on Coinbase as far as I know.

@HarmonyHedges

Thank you, I will go and check it out.

Like @HarmonyHedges says Coinbase is a really good place to start for newbies. You will see a lot of people critiise them, and the criticism is usually valid, but for small-timers or people just starting out, its all you really need. Once you have significant sums tho, get a hardware wallet (like trezor or ledger) and transfer them there.

Ethereum is a crypto that can run smart contracts (ie contracts that run automatically). Its well worth exploring, but the gas fees on Eth are huge at the moment, so its pretty expensive to do some of the more interesting things that Eth makes possible. Solutions are on the way, but might be a while yet.

Once you have significant sums tho, get a hardware wallet (like trezor or ledger) and transfer them there
@Cailleachian

Why? (I didn't know about this.)

Also India has just banned cryptocurrency, it's a speculative unregulated area be glad you made profit

Security

You only really own the crypto if you have the private key to it.
So if you hold it on something like coinbase, you dont actually have the crypto, you just have a promise from coinbase to give you that amount of crypto if you ask (like money in your bank account, compared to cold hard cash).

There are various ways to hold your own crypto with your own private key, but by far the most secure is a hardware wallet, which is like a little USB stick that you plug in to transact with. If you lose it, you can get your crypto back through the 24 word seed that you create when you set it up.

Lol at "banned cryptocurrency".
How do you "ban" unstoppable code?

Nigeria tried that. They shut down the bank accounts of people who used crypto. Bitcoiners shrugged. Bank of Nigeria is now trying to lure them back. Talk about shooting themselves in the foot.

www.coindesk.com/nigeria-is-now-rewarding-citizens-for-using-licensed-money-senders-not-crypto

Thanks Cailleachian

@NeedToGetOuttaHere I'll buy more for sure and I plan to hold it long term. I have a load of limit orders lined up waiting to go when the price drops as it inevitably will.

@TomHardyAndMe I am very fortunate to live in a country that does not charge tax at all on crypto profit if you have owned the coin for a year or more. It is treated not as currency or investment but as personal property like a house or car.

@ThatDamnKrampus There are loads of cryptocurrencies around now. Bitcoin was the first and is now the biggest. Ethereum is a blockchain technology platform and Ether (ETH) is the crypto associated with it. I sort of knew that already but got the right vocabulary from a Google search so I'm really no expert on any of this! You can buy through online exchanges, there are lots of these, I use one called Bitstamp. There is no minimum to buy but the exchange will charge a fee for buying and selling.

I first got into crypto through a young colleague of mine. He has had absolute faith in Bitcoin for years and he is now sitting on a multi-million fortune at the tender age of 32!

His tips which I wish now I had followed are 1. Keep buying regularly. 2. Do not try to time the market. 3. When crashes come, and they will, do not panic, buy some more and keep holding!

Having said all that cryptocurrency is a still a speculative investment so I'd advise anyone to only put into it what what you can afford to lose.

Cleary @Cailleachian knows a lot more about Ethereum than I do!

Keeping your crypto in your own hardware wallet is indeed the safest way to go. Some unfortunate people have lost their crypto if they stored it with an exchange that was then hacked. My colleague keeps his wallet in a safety deposit box at the bank. It keeps it safe and also stops him from making hasty decisions.

I cashed out Tesla at 683 a share, thinking I was a god, only to think im an idiot at above 900, followed by it arriving back there this week....

Ultimately, its a profit, smile, say thank you, look for your next opportunity...

Charlie Munger says that if he could tell students who came into cash these days to do anything, he would simply make 4 or 5 good investments great companies, compounding the rises over time (which is the key) and he would stop - as he would be truly rich...

Generally, there is a tendency to over trade.... Find your investments, have a plan, a risk tolerance, assume it will go against you for a long time because you will probably overpay, and have a target exit point, exit at that point and move on... -15%/+30% is common, but extend the timeframe and make sure you pick companies that aren't going to be replaced anytime soon with tech, etc, that are run well, etc... And give them time for their revenue to grow and in five years, a P/E ratio that is silly today, could well be translated into a ridiculously low one, for what you paid for it. Its not shown in any online data because it depends when you invested, but its a great way to think and track using excel. (Other spreadsheets are available lol)

Good luck and do your own research.

I wish I could follow that advice but I seem to like the buzz of selling at a profit too much. I’ve had a good 10 days with Bitcoin and made 16.1% profit on my 10k investment which is now either sitting in my bank. I was thinking of doing what the OP did and just invest profit and then keep my original investment.

How do you ban code... Good question... At one point anything longer than 256 bits in an encryption key was considered above consumer grade - 4096 being military and its use was banned. To enforce this, the US authorities injuncted and prosecuted them.

Historically, weird things have been banned. For instance, I learnt recently that the USA banned private ownership of gold, in order to help get them out of the Great Depression, and they did this by buying it all...

More recently, the FCA is advising against Crypto as an investment vehicle "for my protection" as a consumer... This means via my tax efficient investment vehicles I am not aware of how I can get exposure to crypto other than by buying Tesla lol. There were a few ETF funds which were primarily crypto based but these have now been deregistered I believe. The tax efficient nature is critical to me - due to the levels of tax I incur...

I wish all crypto investors well, love to see the person in the street make a few quid, or even, a shedload.... But its just too volatile for my portfolio, and will be until there is widespread corruption (I mean institutional investors) involved in it. :-)

@Bard6817 Goldman Sachs has decided to reopen its crypto exchange desk & others such as JPM are close.

It is risky but don't think it's going anywhere if big investment banks are getting involved.

My husband cashed out in mid January too , against my wishes. Have to say I'm pretty annoyed at him .

@Indoctro

My husband cashed out in mid January too , against my wishes. Have to say I'm pretty annoyed at him .

This is why you need control over your own private key. No-one can do anything against your wishes if you have the key.

If it is joint assets, I'd suggest looking into a multi-sig wallet, where both you and your husband would have to sign the transaction before any funds could be moved or exchanged.

Hindsight is 20/20 - I invested £10 3 years ago as a joke when I knew nothing about it, it's gone up like 8x since - I sold at £33k per bitcoin which wasn't bad, but wish I'd put a few grand on! I also put on £100 on Bitcoin and Ethereum end of Feb, Ethereum's gone up from £990 to £1800 since, again kicking myself for not putting on more....

Obviously I can't gamble away an entire house deposit whilst we're in a house purchase, but if I had, I'd have enough to do another degree/not work for years.....

India also wiped out 86% of it's 'Cash' overnight in 2016, so I would not be too concerend about their actions on Bitcoin

@vickyp0llard Hindsight is indeed a bitch with crypto.

The volatility inevitably leads you to all kinds of mental what ifs. What if I'd bought at such and such a price, what if I'd bought more, what if I didn't sell at .. insert price here which is lower than the current price.., what if I'd bought another better performing crypto instead and on and on.

There are all kinds of ways we can mentally beat ourselves up but if you made a profit well done! On balance the decisions you made were not wrong.

Just remember there are a load of negative what ifs too. What if you had gambled your house deposit and lost half of it or all of it? I think you made the right decision not to take that chance.

@utterflapdoodle you're right. Any profit is better than nothing. Every time I say to my husband "if only I'd put X amount on Dogecoin last month, I'd have enough for X" he says "if my auntie had balls, she'd be my uncle"

It's not too late to buy back in, btc will take a dip this year, buy back in then!

Keep in mind this dip will start the 'alt season' where people buy into other cryptos more then Bitcoin

I am really pleased there is something on Mumsnet about cryptocurrencies! I have only £150 to get started with unfortunately. What kind of fees do you get charged to buy? Which company do you use for buying - Coinbase was mentioned. I looked at eToro but the application process is very off-putting! They ask you all kinds of questions about your financial experience etc. I would just like to start! I understand that I can lose it. Hope someone is still watching this thread

Hello @Tworoads. I use a European exchange called Bitstamp. This might not suit you however as they are strict on KYC (Know Your Customer) anti money laundering rules and ask a lot of personal questions about your finances and identity.

Once you are all set up though it is easy to use and reliable. I've withdrawn reasonable size sums to my bank account quickly and with no problems. Their fee schedule is here ...
www.bitstamp.net/fee-schedule/

Other crypto knowledgeable folks on here may be able to recommend another exchange that might suit you better.

Welcome to the wonderful world of crypto. Good luck and be careful!

I did buy some years ago and I treated it like betting on a horse I think I made a few hundred on 50?

What I'm interested in now however is buying the shares of the blockchain companies but not sure how too?. Scottish mortgage has purchased block chain. Com?