David Van de Walle

Sep 04 2017

‘This Bloodbath is Your Next Opportunity’

Thus began an email that arrived – as if on cue – about an hour ago. It doesn’t quite matter that they were talking about a completely different subject; it was from one of the scores of services I subscribe to and it is so a propos to what has gone on this morning.

Prices of Bitcoin, Ethereum Drop…

But why?

Just last week, I was mentioning on Steemit that I saw a real possibility for Bitcoin to hit $5000 and Ethereum to hit $400 (again, it was already there once) by the end of Labor Day weekend. It seems, though, that China had other ideas.

China Says NO to the ICO

This is not totally surprising – China rumors have been out there for a few weeks, and what looked like a coming crackdown at the beginning of the weekend turned into an actual crackdown early this morning, as Chinese regulators – SEVEN OF THEM – said that ICOs were, in fact, illegal under Chinese law.

We can’t explain it as well as Coindesk can, so go check out their article.

This impacted Bitcoin because it’s the main currency that lots of people use, or are chasing, or have as the basis of their portfolio.

This impacted Ethereum because it seems to underpin the vast majority of ICOs and “token sales” – so of course it would drop.

This Will Impact Your Portfolio…

Just how much it will impact your portfolio remains to be seen, and depends upon how much China exposure you have, too.

For instance, one of our favorite new exchanges is Binance, and its BNB coin/token powers the exchange. BNB has been on a little bit of a roller coaster, and our own holdings have gone from 19,000 Satoshis up to 60,000 Satoshis (and then some) then back down into the 12K range today, before trading at 21,000 or so as we write this.

SIDEBAR: Here’s a REFERRAL LINK to a new exchange coming called Altcoin Exchange. Worth checking out, as you can potentially share in the trading fees if you refer enough users.

We’re prepared to weather this particular storm, but you may not be so inclined.

What About Other Altcoins?

Pick your poison: every coin on Poloniex’s list is down…except for BURST.

It might look like a bloodbath – and maybe it IS a bloodbath – but now we’re back to the point of this article…

This could be that buying opportunity you’ve been waiting for.

Ripple? 4685 Sats. (“Sats” is short for “Satoshis,” in case you’re wondering. And a “Satoshi is .00000001 Bitcoin.)

Digibyte? 420 Sats.

Bitshares? 2725 Sats.

It’s possible – possible, but Do Your Own Research – that these coins could be in ranges that they may not be in ever again. If you read up on each project and spend enough time on the forums, you could possibly convince yourself that any one of these coins might be poised for a rebound, and taking off for heights unknown.

Place Your Bets (and Hedge Them)

We have, since day one here, advocated spreading your risk around. It’s one of the reasons that we recommend the Passive Income Platforms like Bitconnect (AFFILIATE LINK over there) and Control Finance (another AFFILIATE LINK).

It’s also why we recommend having your coins on several exchanges if you’re trading, and storing them somewhere like a Trezor (AFFILIATE LINK) or in another cold storage solution if you aren’t.

AND it’s why, once you get started (usually with Coinbase – hey, whaddya know, another AFFILIATE LINK over there!), it’s never a bad idea to have your holdings spread out between multiple coins with multiple uses. (It could be one reason why the BRED Porftolio has done so well this year: four different coins, each with four different use cases.)

Is THIS the Buying Opportunity YOU Were Waiting For?

It could be. In any event, if you’re looking for a time to get off the sidelines and into the action, this might be that time.

Sep 03 2017

New Exchange Coming? Take a Look at Altcoin Exchange!

Quick post today – with the promise of more to come…

We just learned of a new exchange coming, and it looks especially geared toward crypto traders that do a decent amount of trading.

Here’s a link to Altcoin Exchange – and this link can help you move up in line, as the more people you refer, the better your position once the site launches.

It reminds me a little of WCX – here’s the referral link for that one – which went from zero to a couple hundred thousand users in the span of a couple months.

Anyway, we’ll be watching this one…take a look and consider signing up – which is free to do.

Sep 01 2017

Coins on Fire: The September 1 BRED Porfolio Update

So, how was your August?

If you’re one of the four coins in our BRED Portfolio, your August was rather good. When we launched this portfolio in April, we backtracked our hypothetical investment to January 1, 2017. We took four coins – selected not just because they made for an acronym, like FANG – and put $2,500 toward each. Then, the theory goes, we left the investment alone.

It took off.

Here’s where the BRED Portfolio is today, with prices pulled from Poloniex at the stroke of midnight, UTC.

Okay, we have the advantage of hindsight here – of course, in April we were able to look back to January and think “wow, these coins would have been great to be in!” Still, though, what this tells us is that there could be something to the “buy and hold” strategy. More on that in a second.

August Performance: For the Record Books

That’s right, in the month of August, Dash doubled, Bitcoin Cash doubled, and the other three almost doubled.

If you remember the “chaos” leading up to August 1 – BITCOIN HARD FORK SEGWIT BITCOIN CASH OMG – you might have had the following approach:

But, as it turns out, a wait-and-see approach to all of the noise could very well have led to quite the portfolio growth.

IN FACT…

Let’s, just for snicks, rebalance the portfolio, starting anew on August 1, with equal amounts of Ripple, Ethereum, and Dash, plus $2,500 worth of the Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash combination (accounting for the “spin-off” on August 1).

So you could have picked up an easy 83.5% bump in your holdings?

What’s Next?

THIS IS NOT INVESTMENT ADVICE, DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH, SEEK ADVICE AND COUNSEL OF TAX AND INVESTMENT PROFESSIONALS…

One way I *could* see this going is that the sideline money will stop sitting on the sideline. Especially if Bitcoin hits the $5,000 milestone – which *could* happen by Labor Day.

I alluded above to there being value in the “buy-and-hold strategy,” and the BRED Portfolio really does show us that. Plus, by holding – or HODLing – coins, you’re better able to weather storms caused by emotion and lots of trading back-and-forth between winners and losers.

Getting Started

If you haven’t gone to Coinbase yet, use our AFFILIATE LINK to get rolling – they’ll give you a $10 bonus once you’ve made a $10 purchase. (We’ll get a bonus, too.)

But if you haven’t gotten any Bitcoins – or Ethereum or Litecoin, the other coins that Coinbase can get you – now might very well be the time. Once you’re in the game, you can just let your coins sit there…and possibly keep adding value in this crazy economy.

In any event, it was quite an August, and it’s been quite a year for the BRED Portfolio.

Aug 28 2017

An Update on Two PIPs

Hope everyone had a great weekend – in or out of crypto – and is ready to make things happen.

We know we are – and we thought we’d update you on a couple of the posts we’ve shared recently. These are around concepts we’re calling PIPs – Passive Income Platforms. Here goes…

Bitconnect is Back

Here’s the post from late last week: Et Tu Bitconnect.

The site is now past its problems from the weekend.

One of the problems, as far as we can tell, stemmed from “whale trading” – where the big whales with lots of coins try to manipulate the price through massive buys and sells. It worked – the price dropped precipitously, causing the appearance of a “run on the bank,” and prompting Bitconnect to pull its site down.

It turned out to be a smart move – in our opinion – sortof like a trading halt on Wall Street.

The challenge from here on out, though, will be the performance of their volatility bot.

Above – and please ignore the apostrophe issue, as this is from the Bitconnect site directly – and that’s an AFFILIATE LINK over there – you’ll see two graphics. One is from a few weeks back, where daily interest was above 1% for 4 of the 6 days listed (on a chart that is actually supposed to be the last five days).

The second chart is the past few days. Interest is much lower, as you see – and it’s zero for payouts tomorrow.

Compare this to Control Finance (AFFILIATE LINK), who pays 1% minimum daily, and Bitconnect might have some trouble with the viral element of their approach, as YouTubers like to share great, predictable, dependable returns.

We’ll keep an eye out for you, and continue to share updates.

Bitpetite – Not Ideal…

We’re updating this post with more info on Bitpetite. And we encourage you to visit our “Passive Income” page for continued coverage of what’s up with this, and other platforms.

Our big beef, which we talked about a few weeks back, was this: It’s not obvious on the site that your “deposit” will not be returned. But, at the end of your “loan terms,” your deposit won’t be coming back.

So, while we do strongly encourage Bitpetite to change the language on their site, it’s not unlike other mining contracts you may purchase. You are renting or leasing their capabilities, and you’re getting a return – but the return isn’t as large, because you don’t get your minimum back.

We are still profiting from our Bitpetite relationship, and you may as well. Here’s the Bitpetite AFFILIATE LINK.

We’re withdrawing our…”dividends”…as often as we can (there’s a minimum threshold) and moving them over to Coinbase. (AFFILIATE LINK.) We may consider another Bitpetite contract in the future. We’ll keep you posted.

Your Reminder…

For us, these sites are experiments. We’re happy to “take one for the team” here, but note that you will want to think carefully about getting involved with any sites where your Bitcoins (or other coins or tokens) are not owned by you.

And, in all cases, remembering that this particular site is NOT GIVING INVESTMENT ADVICE, do your own research and don’t invest more than you can afford to lose.

Aug 25 2017

Et Tu, Bitconnect?

Of the “Passive Income Platforms” (PIPs) we’ve studied so far here at the site, Bitconnect holds the most promise. And it also jolted the marketplace a ton in the past 24 hours; the resulting blowback has left more than a few cryptocurrency enthusiasts with a ton of questions.

First, the BCC Currency Dropped

It since recovered, but the resulting shock might have done something to the Bitconnect platform – separate from the coin, the platform is where you can loan money to BCC and have them invest it on your behalf in their “volatility software.”

Earlier today, an “Site Maintenance” message greeted visitors. Now, the site is back, but the dashboard for users of the software will be down until Sunday the 27th; here’s the message they shared with visitors just now.

If you’re looking for a message that will inspire a little bit of confidence in the system, this really isn’t it.

Welcome. To. Crypto.

Honestly, this is all becoming par for the course – and I should be harping on the message over and over that you should do your own research and don’t put all your eggs in any basket and seek the advice and counsel of investment professionals and tax advisors.

We had thought that Bitconnect having its own coin would help with its long-term stability; we’ll need to wait and see if they can use their coin, their trading bot, and their website to make us at least a little more confident in the service.