Bitcoin Investment - Bitcoin Price

Bitcoin investment

Joseph Stigliz, former chief economist at the World Bank and now a professor at the Columbia University said on Nov. 29 he believes digital currencies should be controlled by the government, calling bitcoin’s price increases unsustainable.



For Americans, Coinbase has an option to link your bank account to your Coinbase wallet. This makes future payment transfers easier. The company also offers automatic bitcoin buying at regular intervals. For example, say you want to buy $50 in bitcoins every 1st or 2nd of the month,

right after you get your paycheck. You can setup an auto-buy for that amount on Coinbase. Take into account a few caveats before you start using this service. If you issue an automatic buy order, you will not have control over the price at which the BTC is bought. Next thing to note is that Coinbase is not a bitcoin exchange, you are buying/selling your coins directly from the firm, which in turn has to source them from other buyers. This creates issues or delays when executing orders during fast market moves.



Beyond that, for most people, the best (i.e. simplest) way to invest in bitcoin starts with setting up a cryptocurrency wallet. Some of the better-known sites where you can do this are Coinbase, Bitstamp and Bitfinex, although there are a number of other platforms out there, as well. Once you establish an account, connect it to your payment source — a bank account or a credit or debit card — via two-factor authentication. Of note: It’s important to use a tool like Google Authenticator rather than just relying on text-based authentication, which can be more vulnerable to cybertheft, when investing in bitcoin.



As we wrote in Blockchain Technology: “in the short-term, partial blockchain solutions will become common. Already, financial institutions are creating their own private blockchain networks and producing digital coin. Participating institutions act as nodes in the blockchain, and have visibility into all transaction on the shared digital ledger.”

"At the beginning, it's all about the technological innovators," Sorin said. "Now we're seeing the development of venture capital funds who are investing in crypto-related technologies.

Like any speculative investment, buying bitcoin at sky-high valuations is risky business. If you’re asking, “Is it smart to invest in bitcoin?” you might do well to heed this advice from billionaire investor Mark Cuban, who told MONEY, “It’s still very much a gamble.” You need to know that your bitcoin investment might lose money. If you’re not prepared to face that prospect, bitcoin investment might not be for you.

GuestMemberGuest001Click to flag and open «Comment Reporting» form. You can choose reporting category and send message to website administrator. Admins may or may not choose to remove the comment or block the author. And please don't worry, your report will be anonymous.Question. Do you invest in bitcoin similar to how you would a stock i.e. buy in anticipation of a price increase then you sell the bitcoin and convert it back to fiat (and you get your profit). Or, if the idea is that bitcoin will eventually replace fiat currency then there would be no point of converting it back to say USD even though the price goes up. So here the idea would be to get some bitcoin now and then have it available in the future when it’s the main form of currency. How do people approach this? -1 Reply12 days 17 hours agoMemberMemberSteven HayClick to flag and open «Comment Reporting» form. You can choose reporting category and send message to website administrator. Admins may or may not choose to remove the comment or block the author. And please don't worry, your report will be anonymous.Hey, Well, it depends on the person. You are free to take whichever approach best suits you. Personally I hold and accumulate but occasionally cash in small amounts when I feel price is especially high and likely to come down. I then use these for necessary purchases and certain luxuries. It’s hard to give you any more specific advice without knowing your financial situation. 0 Reply11 days 23 hours ago

Far from being safe for widows and orphans, like utilities, the Bitcoin market — which hit $150 billion in August — looks more like the 1840s gold rush. Many rushed in, but few got rich.

With all the buzz about bitcoin, more people are now considering it as an investment opportunity. But with anything new and complex, con artists are there to take advantage. BBB scam tracker continues to receive numerous complaints from consumers fooled by phony bitcoin investments

bitcoin price

and who are often losing thousands of dollars.

GuestMemberBerthaClick to flag and open «Comment Reporting» form. You can choose reporting category and send message to website administrator. Admins may or may not choose to remove the comment or block the author. And please don't worry, your report will be anonymous.has anyone tried to sell or but bitcoins at furcoins.com? I need help? 0 Reply28 days 19 hours agoMemberMemberSteven HayClick to flag and open «Comment Reporting» form. You can choose reporting category and send message to website administrator. Admins may or may not choose to remove the comment or block the author. And please don't worry, your report will be anonymous.Hi Bertha, I’ve never used the site or heard of it before. I see they have a pretty whopping premium of about $1200 over and above the current price. I also see that they accept Western Union and Moneygram payments (only?) which are both very expensive funding mechanisms compared to bank transfers and other funding methods common on exchanges. I wouldn’t recommind using this site as it’s very expensive. If anonymity is important, it’s better to buy Bitcoin with cash (see our upcoming article on this subject). Furthermore, the site looks very amateruish and might in fact be a scam.… Read more »1 Reply28 days 2 hours ago

Hi Bertha, I’ve never used the site or heard of it before. I see they have a pretty whopping premium of about $1200 over and above the current price. I also see that they accept Western Union and Moneygram payments (only?) which are both very expensive funding mechanisms compared to bank transfers and other funding methods common on exchanges. I wouldn’t recommind using this site as it’s very expensive. If anonymity is important, it’s better to buy Bitcoin with cash (see our upcoming article on this subject). Furthermore, the site looks very amateruish and might in fact be a scam.… Read more »

For traders that want a traditional bitcoin exchange, BitStamp may be a better option. With BitStamp, you are trading with other users and not the company, which only acts as a middleman. Liquidity is higher and you can almost always find another person to take the other side of your trade. The fees start at 0.5% and go all the way down to 0.2% if you have traded over $150,000 in the past 30 days.

Warren Buffett, the billionaire investor and perhaps the most notable figure of all listed here, called bitcoin "a real bubble" on Oct. 26 during a question-and-answer session he hosts every year.

Also importantly, the new Shellpoint deal will help ensure NRZ is able to keep covering and growing its big dividend. For perspective, the following chart shows that NRZ has been covering its dividend with a healthy margin of safety.

But for the foreseeable future, it will continue to be a "highly speculative, high-risk investment. It's not for everybody," Sorin said. "You don't want to invest your kid's college fund or the resources that you need on a near-term basis. If you are going to invest in this, you need to be prepared to lose your investment."

As we wrote in Blockchain Technology: “Blockchain technology creates information networks. The fundamental rule of networks is that when a new person joins any network, the network becomes exponentially more valuable. As a corollary, each time another person joins a widely-used network, it becomes exponentially harder for competing networks to offer similar value to people. You use Facebook because all of your friends are on the platform. You are less likely to use a new social network because few of your friends would be on it. As a result, networks tend to produce winner-takes-all markets. Facebook, WeChat and a few other businesses, for example, dominate the social networking space. We expect a similar winner-take-all outcome for blockchain technology. So far, founders have created many hundreds of digital coins. They will create thousands more over the next few years. We expect a handful of these digital coins to successfully walk out onto the global stage, while the vast majority of these coins will ultimately become valueless.”

The cryptocurrency can certainly be volatile. Earlier this month, for example, it plummeted 25% over five days after concerns grew that a new currency called Bitcoin Cash, which promises to speed up transactions, would make Bitcoin itself a less attractive payment option.

Over the last decade, China has made it clear that they want to build their own solutions to world problems. I expect this trend to continue into the blockchain world, and expect at least a duopoly platform paradigm (at least one major smart contract platform for the West, and at least one smart contract platform for the East).

GuestMemberKikiClick to flag and open «Comment Reporting» form. You can choose reporting category and send message to website administrator. Admins may or may not choose to remove the comment or block the author. And please don't worry, your report will be anonymous.While reading through this site has already helped enormously, I am still struggling to make a decision. I do little faucets because I think they’ll add up over time, and we are far from the pinnacle of bitcoin value. Is the easiest way to accrue bitcoin investing? Financially we need to invest as little as possible, but are willing to sacrifice a little because we’ve been watching btc all summer. Would you recommend something really newbie friendly like coinbase? It doesn’t seem to be a favorite around here…we definitely don’t have enough for decent mining rig. 1 Reply10 days 15 hours agoMemberMemberSteven HayClick to flag and open «Comment Reporting» form. You can choose reporting category and send message to website administrator. Admins may or may not choose to remove the comment or block the author. And please don't worry, your report will be anonymous.Hey Kiki, Have you read our guide to earning Bitcoin? It mentions several ways to make money which I think will be better than faucets: How to Get Bitcoins – A Guide to Earning Bitcoins Fast and Free in 2018 Signature campaigns and the like could work out for you, assuming you have some spare time for them. As for a good exchange to start, you’re right that Coinbase isn’t too popular among more serious / old-school Bitcoiners. Although Coinbase has a nice interface for newcomers, they’ve pulled quite a few objectionable moves over the years. There are plenty of… Read more »1 Reply10 days 1 hour agoGuestMemberMaimbolwa MuliwanaClick to flag and open «Comment Reporting» form. You can choose reporting category and send message to website administrator. Admins may or may not choose to remove the comment or block the author. And please don't worry, your report will be anonymous.Steven Hay, I like the generosity you have concerning information in Cryptocurrencies. I must say i have benefited from this. 0 Reply4 days 4 hours agoGuestMemberKikiClick to flag and open «Comment Reporting» form. You can choose reporting category and send message to website administrator. Admins may or may not choose to remove the comment or block the author. And please don't worry, your report will be anonymous.Thanks for taking the time to reply! Reading the article now 

DiGiovanni: “I would first have them tell me what bitcoin is, how and by whom it is created, and how its valuation is determined. If they can’t give complete answers to these questions, I would ask why they would ever risk money in something like that.”

This brings us back to the SEC's review of the Winklevoss twins' proposal to launch a bitcoin-based ETF. Such an ETF would have solved at least some of these problems. It would have made trading bitcoin much more liquid, and assuaged many investors' fears of potential theft. Viewed in this light, bitcoin's massive sell-off on the initial news of the rejection and subsequent rise on the appeal of the decision makes a lot of sense.

Most people have their own philosophies and preferences, but they don’t write them down. Writing them out is crucial because it crystalizes your thinking. Tenets are helpful when times are good and indispensable when things get tough. You should debate your tenets heavily with family, friends, and yourself. Below I share five of my cryptocurrency investment tenets:

As with "real" currencies (like the US dollar), you can own one, 10, or millions of bitcoins. Unlike real currencies, cryptocurrencies only exist online and are not backed by any government or central bank.

SummaryBitcoin is "total insanity" according to Berkshire Hathaway's Charlie Munger. It produces no earnings, and it cannot be valued.This article details why Bitcoin is 'fool's gold," and then reviews ten of our best ideas for income and capital appreciation in 2018.Our top ideas include a retail REIT, a Dog-of-the-Dow, a "double-discount" CEF, small-cap value stocks, a "battleground" high yielder, an attractive MLP, and an income-generating options strategy, to name a few.

Bitcoin, the best-known of the upstart digital currencies, is still a mystery to many Americans. But its price is soaring so high into the stratosphere that it's being compared to mega asset bubbles of the past and gaining widespread publicity just like Nasdaq's exuberant internet stock rally back in the late 1990s, and the U.S. real estate frenzy a decade ago.

But, you may be asking, growth to what? The answer is becoming a significant part of the global money supply. In 2017, all the crypto asset markets combined equal half a percent of the world's M2 money supply, and we are at approximately 1 percent of the world's population as users. This is an equivalent adoption level as 1996 for the internet.

I asked readers what they thought of the bitcoin frenzy. M.H. from Maryland said he invested $2,500 each in bitcoin, ethereum and litecoin last week after doing some research.

This growth has pushed mainstream institutions to take notice and capitalize. CME Group, the world’s largest options and futures exchange owner, announced it would offer Bitcoin futures by the end of the year. That move would give Bitcoin a level of credibility that established currencies have, and also provide an infrastructure for developing exchange-traded funds (ETF). Money manager VanEck recently developed indices to track a group of cryptocurrencies’ movements, which could be used to develop index funds. And Mike Novogratz—a former manager at the hedge fund Fortress Investment Group who says he has 10% of his net worth in cryptocoins—recently estmiated it would be six to eight months before investment firms start to offer cryptocurrency products, like ETFs, to their clients. When they do, he added, it will make the buying process easier, allowing for the price “to go much higher.”

He is "very, very happy" with his returns, he added. He's helping to educate others about crypto. Cowerks has started a networking group to talk about cryptocurrencies.

Where do the price and value of bitcoin go from here? Unfortunately, my crystal ball is broken. I personally believe that within a few years, bitcoin could fall anywhere -- from being known as a worthless experiment, to being the greatest disruptive force the financial industry has ever seen.

After much deliberation, in this post, I’ve decided to share my holdings with you. Perhaps more importantly, I’ve decided to also share my underlying philosophy. As a reminder, I know nothing. None of this should be construed as investment advice, and you should do your own research before making any investments. I would be financially okay if I lost all of my invested money: you should make sure you could survive a total loss before investing any funds.

SheetsClick to flag and open «Comment Reporting» form. You can choose reporting category and send message to website administrator. Admins may or may not choose to remove the comment or block the author. And please don't worry, your report will be anonymous.Honestly the money you spend on mining will not be worth the payout during these volatile times. What’s best now is investing in the other cryptocurrencies that are shooting up as of the last few days like verge and ripple. Just educate yourself on the benefits of alternative cryptocurrencies at: **link removed** For example, ripple has a faster transaction speed than bitcoin AND litecoin -1 Reply30 days 17 hours ago

Steven HayClick to flag and open «Comment Reporting» form. You can choose reporting category and send message to website administrator. Admins may or may not choose to remove the comment or block the author. And please don't worry, your report will be anonymous.Hey Kiki, Have you read our guide to earning Bitcoin? It mentions several ways to make money which I think will be better than faucets: How to Get Bitcoins – A Guide to Earning Bitcoins Fast and Free in 2018 Signature campaigns and the like could work out for you, assuming you have some spare time for them. As for a good exchange to start, you’re right that Coinbase isn’t too popular among more serious / old-school Bitcoiners. Although Coinbase has a nice interface for newcomers, they’ve pulled quite a few objectionable moves over the years. There are plenty of… Read more »1 Reply10 days 1 hour ago

On my blog Millennial Money, I've received over 100 emails from readers asking about investing in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. I was even talking to a reader last week who told me he put his entire life savings into bitcoin, buying in at around $11,000. That's a terrible idea.

Tech entrepreneur Bret Morgan, co-founder of Cowerks in Asbury Park, spends a set amount on cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin and Etererum, every time. It's part of an overall investment strategy that also includes traditional stocks.

Earlier this year the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rejected a bid by Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, the twins infamous for claiming that Mark Zuckerberg stole the idea of Facebook from them while they were undergrads at Harvard, to launch a bitcoin-based ETF (exchange-traded fund). The decision from the SEC came nearly four years after they filed for regulatory approval. In the immediate aftermath of this news, the price of bitcoins, which had nearly tripled over the last year, significantly dropped to less than $1,000.

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But there are some  big bears out there. Jamie Dimon, CEO of J.P. Morgan, earlier this fall called Bitcoin a “fraud.” At a recent investment conference, Dimon said" “Right now, cryptocurrencies are kind of a novelty.” His fear is that when people start to lose money, governments around the world will eventually “shut down” exchanges that trade digital currencies. “It will end badly,” he said. 

The problem is that no one uses Bitcoin as a stable store of value today. Additionally, Bitcoin is relatively uncorrelated with the US dollar, so it doesn’t act as a particularly useful hedge. Ultimately, I think digital coins will be strong store of values, but this is far, far down the road. At that point, I find that other cryptocoins are just as likely or more likely to act as global store of values compared to Bitcoin.

We've owned units of AmeriGas since mid-March of this year. And while we've experienced some price appreciation, healthy distributions payments, and one distribution increase, we believe this company has more upside ahead, especially considering winter weather is likely to revert toward the averages in the upcoming years, which will be a great improvement for the company. Also worth mentioning, AmeriGas has an extremely low beta (around 0.3) which is good for volatility reducing diversification benefits within a larger income-focused investment portfolio. Investors should be aware of the tax implications of investing in an MLP (e.g. K-1 statements at year-end), but if you are an income-focused investor, AmeriGas' 8.3% yield is worth considering.

Institutional investors, and some of the wealthiest individual investors, already have some options for playing the cryptocurrency market. Through mid-October, 84 new crypto hedge funds that invest in the currencies have emerged, up from 11 in 2016, according to cryptocurrency research firm Autonomous Next. As the numbers suggest, however, these funds don’t have much of a track record. And many of these hedge funds charge hefty management and performance fees (often 2% of assets annually, plus 20% of any profits), eating into returns.

Exchanges are not the only way you can acquire bitcoins. A popular route for buying BTC offline is with Local Bitcoins. The website pairs up potential buyers and sellers. When buying BTC, the bitcoins are locked from the seller in the escrow. The seller can only release them to buyers (in case of a problem, file a dispute after 24 hours). When buying bitcoins offline, you should take the usual precautions as you would when meeting a stranger. Meet during the daytime at a public place and if possible, bring a friend.

You might think that digital wallets are secure, but cryptocurrency exchanges and wallets continue to get hacked regularly. More than $70 million in bitcoin was hacked from NiceHash, a bitcoin mining marketplace, last week.

GuestMemberRoger KalterClick to flag and open «Comment Reporting» form. You can choose reporting category and send message to website administrator. Admins may or may not choose to remove the comment or block the author. And please don't worry, your report will be anonymous.hi there, anybody have experience with E-toro? 0 Reply1 month 6 days agoMemberMemberSteven HayClick to flag and open «Comment Reporting» form. You can choose reporting category and send message to website administrator. Admins may or may not choose to remove the comment or block the author. And please don't worry, your report will be anonymous.Hi Roger, Yes indeed. Check out our full article on eToro here: eToro Bitcoin Trading Review 0 Reply1 month 6 days ago

I further argued that the bigger and more immediate store of value opportunity is “helping entities buy into the global financial system in the first place. In developing countries, for example, many entities are eager to shift local, unstable currencies to stable currencies such as the US dollar to better protect their wealth. Like the US dollar today, the blockchain-backed currencies that facilitate world transactions tomorrow will also naturally act as a store of value. Entities will invest in these currencies as they do the US dollar today. As a result, the same blockchain-based currencies that gain mainstream adoption for payments are also likely to gain mainstream adoption as stores of value.” We will be forever indebted to Bitcoin but 2018 will mark Ethereum passing Bitcoin, the marketing falling, and then ultimately rebounding stronger than before. The age of the Blockchain Platform is beginning.

Great! I love this but have one more tip to add: You gave amazing highlights for great trading. Really, investing in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dash, Litecoin, and more is a huge chance to make money but one should also take care to chose His/Her entry points wisely. Initially when i started trading on Cryptocurrency i’ll come on youtube, watch some videos for guidelines and trade but those where Not my most profitable trade. My best trade this year was an ETH breakout trade. Hit my target within 24 hours and had a 1-7 risk-reward ratio. Thanks to Mr… Read more »

There are other things to consider too. Jeff Vandrew Jr., a lawyer and certified public accountant with offices in Red Bank and Toms River, said cryptocurrencies, especially lesser-known varieties, are quite technical. Outside of Bitcoin and Ethereum, "if you do not have the technical expertise to read a white paper on these different cryptocurrencies, you shouldn't be investing," he said.

Regarding return of capital, investors should understand that many CEFs generate some of their income distributions via a "return of capital" instead of simply via dividends and income. For example, if the fund appreciates more in value (i.e. generates more capital gains), then it may pay a higher distribution (sourcing some of the distribution payments from capital gains). For this reason, we believe CEFs are often more appropriate for income-focused investors simply because they can provide steady, convenient, high income payments for investors focused on income.

Early stage technology. With advances in technology, cryptocurrencies are likely to undergo significant changes in the future. How the existing cryptocurrencies will cope, or benefit, from those changes is to be determined.

One of the bigger concerns with investing in bitcoin is the possibility that it could be dethroned as the king of all cryptocurrencies. We're seeing more than 50 new virtual currencies, along with their underlying blockchains, brought to market each month. Given that the barrier to entry is so incredibly low, it's certainly not out of the question that a superior blockchain or payment facilitator emerges in the coming months or years.

Bitcoins purchased on an exchange or received in a transaction can be stored and accessed in a so-called "Bitcoin Wallet," which is like a bank account. A Bitcoin Wallet lets you receive Bitcoins, store or save them and send them to others. There are apps that allow you to install a Bitcoin Wallet on your computer or mobile device.

Jordan Belfort, the “Wolf of Wall Street,” backed up Jamie Dimonon on Sept. 27 after the latter’s infamous “fraud” comments. Bitcoin hovered around the $3,910 mark throughout the day.

"I think it is perfectly asinine to even pause to think about them… It's bad people, crazy bubble, bad idea, luring people into the concept of easy wealth without much insight or work. That's the last thing on Earth you should think about… There's just a whole lot of things that aren't going to work for you. Figure out what they are and avoid them like the plague. And one of them is bitcoin. … It is total insanity."

Again, per Blockchain Technology, “ technology can also make physical-world assets more liquid (easier to sell and buy) by making them more reducible. In other words, the blockchain better facilitates ownership of assets across multiple people… while mega-companies (e.g., Amazon, AirBnB) have successfully built their own digital marketplaces in the past, blockchain provides the available-to-all, trust-building, low-cost financial infrastructure via smart contracts, secure transactions, and an authoritative ledger to …Unlike crowd-funding sites like Kickstarter, where early backers receive nothing but a product or service, ICOs let entities actually own part of meaningful ideas.”

"This is the prerogative of the central bank at present, and the central bank has sufficient authority so far. However, in broad terms, legislative regulation will be definitely required in future.”

These datacenters are warehouses, filled with computers built for the sole purpose of mining Bitcoin. Today, it costs millions of dollars to even start a profitable mining operation.

New Residential focuses on investments related to residential real estate, and the company has been doing an exceptional job in recent years to evolve with the evolving residential mortgage market. Specifically, the company was an innovator in the Excess Mortgage Servicing Rights industry following the housing crisis whereby NRZ picked up some of the risky business "Big Banks" were forced to shed. However, NRZ managed the Excess MSR business in a way that allowed it to avoid some of the industry pitfalls (such as legacy lawsuits) while generating strong profits (and huge dividends) for investors.

To be fair, the shares deserve some premium for the convenience they provide. After all, it's significantly easier to buy a share of an ETF than it is to buy and store your own bitcoin. However, the premium commanded by the fund is way too high for any rational investor to accept.

For example, speculation about the Chinese Yuan devaluating has, in the past, caused more demand from China, which also pulled up the exchange rate on U.S. and Europe based exchanges.

▪ If you receive something that’s damaged, how will the seller make it right? Will you get a refund in virtual currency, U.S. dollars or store credit?

Sticking to our small-cap value theme (Triton, above, is arguably a small-cap value stock), small-cap value is poised for strong performance in 2018, and this is an allocation that we believe should be considered for most equity portfolios. Not only does small-cap value have a long history of outperforming other styles (e.g. growth, large cap), but small-cap value has been underperforming in recent years, thereby making now an even more attractive opportunity to invest, in our view. And economically speaking, if the economy remains strong, so too should small-cap value stocks surge ahead as the recovery strengthens.

Steven HayClick to flag and open «Comment Reporting» form. You can choose reporting category and send message to website administrator. Admins may or may not choose to remove the comment or block the author. And please don't worry, your report will be anonymous.Hi Roger, Yes indeed. Check out our full article on eToro here: eToro Bitcoin Trading Review 0 Reply1 month 6 days ago

“I understand how it works, and that the currency is only worth what people think it’s worth,” he said. “But I took money from other investments and decided to take a chance, as this is a very small percentage of our investments.”

“Our view is that, over time, as cryptocurrencies continue to ascend along with their potential, that more people will want to participate via investing,” Horsley told USA TODAY. He says owning a basket of cryptocurrencies is better than owning just Bitcoin. He notes that Bitcoin, which made up roughly 85% of the total cryptocurrency market earlier this year, accounted for about 55% of its total market cap. “You don’t want to be trying to pick the winners,” he says.

Hey, Well, it depends on the person. You are free to take whichever approach best suits you. Personally I hold and accumulate but occasionally cash in small amounts when I feel price is especially high and likely to come down. I then use these for necessary purchases and certain luxuries. It’s hard to give you any more specific advice without knowing your financial situation.

If you don't know, "Dogs of the Dow" is a strategy whereby an investor invests annually in the 10 Dow Jones components with the highest dividend yield. It's often a contrarian in nature strategy because the highest yielders are often the ones that have recently experienced the worst price performance. The idea behind the strategy is that blue-chip companies do not alter their dividend to reflect trading conditions and, therefore, the dividend is a measure of the average worth of the company (the stock price, in contrast, fluctuates throughout the business cycle). For your reference, here is the recent performance and the dividend yields for the 30 Dow Jones stocks (the 10 highest yielders are the "Dogs of the Dow").

In a nutshell, Triton is a growing industry leader with distinct competitive advantages (e.g. lower costs, more extensive coverage) as the industry recovers from significant cyclicality challenges. And Triton's stock price is on a strong upward trajectory as the economy continues to boom and management expects the stock price to keep rising until the dividend yield falls to a level consistent with industry peers (they're NOT planning to cut the dividend, but mathematically as the share price rises, the dividend yield falls). We wrote about Triton in detail in this report (including risks, opportunities, and other important considerations). And if you are an income-focused value investor, Triton is worth considering.

While reading through this site has already helped enormously, I am still struggling to make a decision. I do little faucets because I think they’ll add up over time, and we are far from the pinnacle of bitcoin value.

It’s been a crazy year for bitcoin investors. But as much risk as there is in the underlying price of bitcoin itself, the GBTC trust has an extra layer or risk for both bitcoin bears and bulls due to its steep premium to asset value and its extremely high (and rising) borrow fees. However, when it comes to trading the wild daily swings in the cryptocurrency market, there are GBTC is the only game in town until the SEC approves additional bitcoin ETFs or trusts.

"It's very unpredictable and very wild, wild west," Morgan said. "But I found that the way is to just consistently buy, don't ever sell, just hold on to it, and just hang on and be prepared for wild swings."

For those who may not recall, a majority (80%) of community support was needed to avoid a forking of bitcoin into two currencies. Roughly three-quarters supported an upgrade that would move some data off bitcoin's blockchain to improve capacity and settlement times. Meanwhile, a quarter of the community (what became bitcoin cash) felt that expanding within the existing blockchain was the smarter choice. This inability to hit the desired support level caused a fork into two separate currencies, with bitcoin holders receiving an equal number of bitcoin cash tokens.

Known as the Wall Street’s "Dean of Valuation," Aswath Damodaran, a finance professor at New York University's Stern School of Business wrote on Oct. 25 in a blog post that that he does not think cryptocurrencies would ever be an asset class. Nor could it be a commodity.

Investors and supporters say it's part of the decentralization of the economy. You no longer need a bank or big financial institution to transmit money and verify transactions. Via the blockchain, cryptocurrency can be traded around the world directly from one person to another, 24 hours a day, at only the cost of a very small fee. Some companies are even using cryptocurrency to raise funds for their projects.

Broderick ColeClick to flag and open «Comment Reporting» form. You can choose reporting category and send message to website administrator. Admins may or may not choose to remove the comment or block the author. And please don't worry, your report will be anonymous.Great! I love this but have one more tip to add: You gave amazing highlights for great trading. Really, investing in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dash, Litecoin, and more is a huge chance to make money but one should also take care to chose His/Her entry points wisely. Initially when i started trading on Cryptocurrency i’ll come on youtube, watch some videos for guidelines and trade but those where Not my most profitable trade. My best trade this year was an ETH breakout trade. Hit my target within 24 hours and had a 1-7 risk-reward ratio. Thanks to Mr… Read more »0 Reply17 days 1 hour ago

If you like the ideas included in this article, consider accessing our members-only version within The Value & Income Forum. The members version includes ten additional attractive opportunities (one for each of the ten categories listed above). And unlike this version (where we only own 4 of the 10), we currently own 8 of the 10 additional ideas in the members-only version (and we're close to investing in the other two).

Second, bitcoins are not traded on Wall Street. They cannot be bought or sold through a brokerage. Instead, one must set up a bitcoin "wallet," which can probably best be thought of as a bank account exclusively for bitcoins. Once this account is set up, its holder can link to a traditional banking account and use those funds in local currency to buy and sell bitcoins.

Here’s how the scam works. You are looking to purchase bitcoin, so you search online. You find a legitimate-looking website offering to mine the cryptocurrency for a fee. Unlike dollars, pesos or yen, bitcoins are not backed by a government or distributed by a central bank. Instead, bitcoins are created on the peer-to-peer bitcoin network through a process called “mining.” The website asks you to pay upfront, and bitcoins will be transferred into your account. However, after you make the payment, nothing happens. Attempts to reach anyone at the website prove futile.

Matt brought his love of teaching and investing to the Fool in 2012 in order to help people invest better. Matt specializes in writing about the best opportunities in bank stocks, REITs, and personal finance, but loves any investment at the right price. Follow me on Twitter to keep up with all of the best financial coverage! Follow @TMFMathGuy

Specifically, the company has been challenged by warmer than normal winters across the US in recent years, which puts pressure on the company's revenues. However, despite the warmer winters, AmeriGas recently reported its fiscal year 2017 results (in November) and it grew its full-year adjusted EBITDA versus 2016, as shown in the following graphic.

And just like I said with the premium, management certainly deserves some fee. After all, they are tasked with buying the actual bitcoins and taking appropriate measures to keep it safe. However, a 2% fee is excessive. Commodity ETFs can be found with annual fees of as little as 0.25%.

You’d be in good company in that case, anyway. Jack Bogle’s bitcoin investment advice is pretty simple, and blunt: You should avoid Bitcoin speculation “like the plague.” And this is coming from the guy who founded Vanguard, so he knows a thing or two about investments. The other risk to keep in mind if you plan to invest in bitcoin, aside from the overall volatility of the cryptocurrency, is of a cyber attack. Hackers descended on digital currency exchange Bitfinex on Tuesday, less than a week after cybercrooks made off with $70 million in a separate heist.

"A diversified ETF that has some exposure to cryptocurrencies will likely be somewhat less risky than direct investment," Ben Johnson, director of global ETF research at Morningstar, told IBD. "But that's a bit like comparing the risks associated with juggling knives to those you'd face juggling chain saws."

If you're a "value player", there are currently some attractive "double discounts" being offered in the high-yield CEF space. The discounts consist of assets that are being undervalued by the market, and the "double discount" stems from the fact that they're being held in closed-end funds ("CEFs") that are trading at unusually large and attractive discounts relative to their net asset values ("NAVs").

Another billionaire investor Carl Icahn, also the founder of Icahn Enterprises said in an interview on Dec. 1 that bitcoin looked like a bubble to him, comparing it to the Mississippi land bubble just prior to its collapse.

MemberMemberSteven HayClick to flag and open «Comment Reporting» form. You can choose reporting category and send message to website administrator. Admins may or may not choose to remove the comment or block the author. And please don't worry, your report will be anonymous.Hey Kiki, Have you read our guide to earning Bitcoin? It mentions several ways to make money which I think will be better than faucets: How to Get Bitcoins – A Guide to Earning Bitcoins Fast and Free in 2018 Signature campaigns and the like could work out for you, assuming you have some spare time for them. As for a good exchange to start, you’re right that Coinbase isn’t too popular among more serious / old-school Bitcoiners. Although Coinbase has a nice interface for newcomers, they’ve pulled quite a few objectionable moves over the years. There are plenty of… Read more »1 Reply10 days 1 hour agoGuestMemberMaimbolwa MuliwanaClick to flag and open «Comment Reporting» form. You can choose reporting category and send message to website administrator. Admins may or may not choose to remove the comment or block the author. And please don't worry, your report will be anonymous.Steven Hay, I like the generosity you have concerning information in Cryptocurrencies. I must say i have benefited from this. 0 Reply4 days 4 hours agoGuestMemberKikiClick to flag and open «Comment Reporting» form. You can choose reporting category and send message to website administrator. Admins may or may not choose to remove the comment or block the author. And please don't worry, your report will be anonymous.Thanks for taking the time to reply! Reading the article now 

"If market prices retain any useful informational content, which theory suggests they do, then the 10x run-up in the crypto market capitalization over the last year signals there is something important taking place," ZenCash co-founder Rob Viglione said. "Whether that something ends up being radically transformational, or simply a speculative delusion is yet to be seen."

Stellar is a platform that wants to make it really easy for companies to ICO (versus using Ethereum). Stellar is ultra-focused on this use case, but that’s okay, because this use case is massive.

Two days later on Sept. 21, John Hathaway, a gold investor with Tocqueville Asset Management referred to cryptocurrencies as “garbage” during an interview, saying they were not taking attention or investments away from gold.

Bitcoin uses blockchain technology to record its transactions. Essentially, the blockchain is a publicly distributed ledger for certain financial transactions. It is currently mostly used for bitcoin, but many believe it could be used in a wide variety of financial applications in the future.

Don’t take anyone’s advice about what will happen with the currency, do your homework, learn about Bitcoin and come to a conclusion. Personally I believe we are just starting, but that’s my own opinion and you shouldn’t consider that as investment advice as well.

As of recently, investors can also buy bitcoin futures, which has only added to the hype surrounding it. Bitcoin investment sites are struggling to keep up with the surge in demand.

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However, earlier this month, shareholders of the Bitcoin Investment Trust must've assumed Christmas came early. Grayscale announced that it had assigned a third party to liquidate the bitcoin cash tokens it received as a result of the summertime fork in bitcoin into two separate currencies: bitcoin and bitcoin cash.

Bitcoin is a global craze. Even my barber, who has no idea what a blockchain is, is buying it. Because so many new people are buying it (and so quickly!), it's impossible to accurately value. When the price of anything fluctuates 20-30 percent in one day, it's obviously unstable, so you could lose all of your money very quickly. Especially if you need your money in the next year, don't buy bitcoin. With the insane short-term fluctuations, bitcoin is short-term gambling, not investing.

Because Bitcoin is on the internet, they are even easier to steal and much harder to return and trace. Bitcoin itself is secure, but bitcoins are only as secure as the wallet storing them.

I decided to buy as a long-term experiment and used less than 1 percent of my net worth at the time to buy into bitcoin. Sure, I wanted to make money on it, but if I lost everything, it wasn't going to change the course of my life.

Overall, we believe NRZ's dividend is well covered and its business continues to have growth opportunities thanks to management's consistent smart decisions to evolve with the evolving industry. For more information, members of The Value & Income Forum can read our recent members-only article about NRZ. We continue to own shares of this big-dividend battleground REIT.

Unfortunately, due to the fact it's currently the only bitcoin trust of its kind out there for investors, traders have driven the price of the GBTC way above the value of the bitcoin it holds. In fact, the GBTC trust has consistently traded at a 50 percent premium to its assets under management.

Finally, the unique way of buying and selling bitcoins not only contributes to its illiquid nature, but has also contributed to higher rates of fraud and theft through uninsured bitcoin exchanges. While these problems were far more prevalent in years past, it should still be mentioned that none of the bitcoin exchanges have yet established a long business track record.

He doubled down on his belief in cryptocurrencies as his MVP1 fund had increased its weight on bitcoin and bitcoin cash to nearly 50 percent. In mid December, he said in a podcast that his fund bought in around 2013 and 2014 when the bitcoin price was at $350 in average. At that time, the bitcoin investment only accounted for 5 percent of the pool.

KikiClick to flag and open «Comment Reporting» form. You can choose reporting category and send message to website administrator. Admins may or may not choose to remove the comment or block the author. And please don't worry, your report will be anonymous.While reading through this site has already helped enormously, I am still struggling to make a decision. I do little faucets because I think they’ll add up over time, and we are far from the pinnacle of bitcoin value. Is the easiest way to accrue bitcoin investing? Financially we need to invest as little as possible, but are willing to sacrifice a little because we’ve been watching btc all summer. Would you recommend something really newbie friendly like coinbase? It doesn’t seem to be a favorite around here…we definitely don’t have enough for decent mining rig. 1 Reply10 days 15 hours ago

In this environment, selection and filtering is key. I suggest selecting just as a venture capitalist would. Vet the team, call them up, are they competent? Check their tech, read their source code, is the tech stack useful? How big can the market grow to? What are the token dynamics, is the token designed for high velocity or low?

Beginning on Nov. 6 and lasting for 32 days, the agent for Bitcoin Investment Trust liquidated the bitcoin cash tokens it received as part of that fork. The result, according to a press release from Grayscale, was a cash remittance of $113.195042 per share for shareholders on record as of Dec. 12, after administrative and agent fees. While not exactly a traditional dividend, this cash payout resulted in a bonus yield of around 7%, based on the share price of the Trust on the day of the announcement.

While proponents extol the fraud-proof safety of blockchain technology, wallets have proved vulnerable. In the latest mishap, an estimated $280 million of Ethereum ether coins were locked up after a user accidentally deleted the code needed to access digital wallets hosted by Parity Technologies. The freeze affects all multisignature wallets created on Parity after July 20.

As he speaks around the country, Borg asks folks whether they’ve bought bitcoin. Then he asks where they got the money to invest, and some admit to having used a credit card or a home equity line of credit. These folks have put themselves in a perilous position.

Bitcoin (BTC) is a decentralized cryptocurrency payment system designed by Satoshi Nakamoto. The software-based currency was released to the public in 2009. Since then, updates and improvements have been made by a network of developers, partially funded by the Bitcoin Foundation.

Bitcoin is "total insanity" according to Berkshire Hathaway's Charlie Munger. It produces no earnings, and it cannot be valued.This article details why Bitcoin is 'fool's gold," and then reviews ten of our best ideas for income and capital appreciation in 2018.Our top ideas include a retail REIT, a Dog-of-the-Dow, a "double-discount" CEF, small-cap value stocks, a "battleground" high yielder, an attractive MLP, and an income-generating options strategy, to name a few.

The SEC determined that the proposed bitcoin ETF failed to meet these standards because the markets for bitcoins were unregulated. Of course, the primary problem for future bitcoin-based ETFs is that by their very nature, bitcoins will always trade on an unregulated market. It was surprising then, when just a couple of months later on April 24th, the SEC agreed to review its decision on the creation of a bitcoin ETF. In the four months since the SEC's decision to review its earlier rejection, bitcoin prices have rallied an amazing 163%.

If I knew investors who wanted to purchase a small, speculative position in bitcoin, I wouldn't try to talk them out of it. However -- and I cannot stress this enough -- nothing should be invested in bitcoin currency that an investor isn't comfortable losing.

There are a few primary concerns surrounding bitcoin that potential investors should be aware of. First, it is not backed or regulated by the good faith of a government or other entity. This stands in stark contrast to the dollar, yuan, pound, and other forms of currency used around the globe. So, many people view bitcoin as something akin to Monopoly money, because it is neither a fiat currency nor is it based on something of tangible value like gold. In other words, a bitcoin is worth exactly what people perceive its worth to be. While, in a sense, this is true of any currency, the value of a bitcoin is much more fickle than other forms of currency because of its unregulated nature.

"You know it is one thing to think gold has some marvelous store of value because man has no way of inventing more gold or getting it very easily, so it has the advantage of rarity. Believe me, man is capable of somehow creating more bitcoin. … They tell you there are rules and they can't do it. Don't believe them. When there is enough incentive, bad things will happen."

When the price of anything fluctuates 20-30 percent in one day, it's obviously unstable, so you could lose all of your money very quickly. Especially if you need your money in the next year, don't buy bitcoin. With the insane short-term fluctuations, bitcoin is short-term gambling, not investing.

After painstakingly working through my tenets, I’ve researched many of the cryptocoins available today. Based on my personal investment philosophy and this research, I’ve made several investments over the last month. Here’s my positions as of January 11th 2018:

Worth noting, the company has a standby equity commitment on hand if it needs extra cash to support its business (and the big distribution payments to investors). However, the company explains it is not currently needed, and the relatively colder winter we've been having so far (versus the last two years) helps ensure the company will have plenty of cash flow generated by operations.

Cryptocurrencies with names such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Ripple have captured the attention of people willing to take a chance on the latest investment craze. The market is blazing hot, unregulated, volatile and not for everyone.

Before we begin, I want to get something out of the way – Bitcoin is not a company or a stock, it’s a currency. If you still don’t understand what Bitcoin is, watch this video. So when you want to invest in Bitcoin you are basically buying the currency. However, there are also some other forms of investing in Bitcoin.

In 2013, they called bitcoin drug money. In 2017, they called it a bubble. It’s not in a bubble. We're on the path of digitizing the world. We are seeing the final phase of the Post-Industrial Revolution which started in the 1960s-1990s with the invention of the microprocessor through to the expansion of the internet.

It may sound boring to some, but one of the best ways to play small-cap value is with the Vanguard Small-Cap Value ETF. Not only is this a very low-cost ETF, but it is very efficiently managed and it can be used to plug any small-cap value holes that may exist in your personal investment portfolio. This ETF is based on the CRSP research database (which stems from my alma mater, University of Chicago), and I often invest a small portion of client assets in style-specific Vanguard ETFs such as this one.

Notice: Information contained herein is not and should not be construed as an offer, solicitation, or recommendation to buy or sell securities. The information has been obtained from sources we believe to be reliable; however no guarantee is made or implied with respect to its accuracy, timeliness, or completeness. Authors may own the stocks they discuss. The information and content are subject to change without notice.

PreMarket Prep is a daily trading ideas show hosted by former floor trader Joel Elconin and prop trader Dennis Dick. You can listen to the show live and participate in our chatroom every day from 8-9 a.m. ET here. The show is also available on YouTube Live. The podcast is available on iTunes, Soundcloud, and Stitcher.

For example, one income-generating options trade that has been working well for us is selling put options on Simon Property Group. Simon has been a "battleground" stock as it fights against the negative narrative that the internet is going to put all brick-and-mortar stores out of business (Simon is a retail REIT). It is this fear and uncertainty that has at times increased the premium income for selling Simon puts in recent months. And considering Simon is one of the high-quality property REITs (as we discussed earlier in this report), we'd be happy to own shares if/when the share price pulls back significantly. So far, we haven't had any Simon shares put to us, but we have generated a lot of attractive income from selling the puts. Members of the Value & Income Forum by Blue Harbinger receive an email alert every time we place a new options trade.

Traditional currencies aren’t a vehicle that most mainstream “retail” investors own. You don’t take a large stake in Euros, for example. State-sponsored currencies tend to move with inflation while the primary goal of long-term investing is to beat inflation. Some mutual funds own positions in currencies as a way to hedge against the impact of exchange rates on their returns, but the currencies are seldom used to actually generate returns.

We continue to own ADX because we believe it continues to have many of the attractive qualities we look for in an ETF (e.g. conservative leverage, relatively low expense ratio, attractive holdings, and a big distribution yield, as shown in our CEF table below). Also, if you are looking for additional CEFs, we also really like some of the REIT focused CEFs right now (e.g. (RQI), (JRS) and (IGR)) because they're offering attractive "double discounts" (i.e. they're attractively discounted versus their NAVs, plus the real estate sector is trading at an attractively discounted price because its conservative nature has been unduly shunned in favor of aggressive growth stocks this year). For your consideration, here is a more comprehensive list of CEFs that you may want to consider.

Using virtual currencies comes with risk. Their value goes up and down — sometimes sharply — depending on demand. In addition, payments made with virtual currencies aren’t reversible and don’t have the same legal protections as some traditional payment methods. Once you hit send, you can’t get your money back unless the seller agrees. That’s why it’s important to know who you’re buying from and what policies they have regarding refunds, returns and disputes.

Just because exchanges like Coinbase have $200 million in venture funding and a nice shiny marketplace doesn't mean that they can't get hacked either. Because there is no central governing body guaranteeing your bitcoin, if you lose it, it can be difficult to get back. If it gets stolen, then you are out of luck. Hacks will continue to happen.

Critics warn of a bubble. "The relatively high volume of cryptocurrency turnover, against limited real-world use, suggests that many buyers are seeking speculative gain, never intending to use cryptocurrencies to make a real-world transaction," UBS analysts said in report quoted by CNBC.

I like Ripple, and particularly the focus on getting customers. Like many others, however, I am concerned about the difference between the highly-valuable Ripple Payment Protocol and XRP as an investment vehicle. I also see in-house blockchain development from large institutions as meaningful competition.

I’m not a financial planner. But I do have a lot of common sense. If you can afford to lose every penny you invest and not lose any sleep over the loss, do what you want. However, if you have a regular job, a mortgage, kids to put through college, credit card debt, a pitiful emergency fund and a lackluster retirement account, don’t even think about buying bitcoin. The currency may be virtual, but the investment risk is very real.

The following week on Nov. 2, CEO of Credit Suisse Tidjane Thiam, weighed in on the topic at a press conference, where he noted that bitcoin’s ability to facilitate anonymous transactions made it a challenge. At the time, the cryptocurrency was floating around the $7,000 mark.

By now you can probably see that the answer isn’t that simple. It’s not just a matter of should you invest, but also a matter of how to invest. Like I said in the beginning, start by educating yourself. Learn about the currency, what affects it, what are its advantages and disadvantages, etc. You can get a lot of basic education through our free Bitcoin crash course (sign up at the bottom of this post).

Believers in Bitcoin say it’s the money of the future, a digital alternative to the dollar or euro or yen. Non-believers say it’s not real money. After all, you can't dig into your pocket and pull one out like a $10 bill.

Litecoin is a good example. Sure, bitcoin has an early mover advantage, but it was created to buy and sell things online securely, which no one is doing right now because the price is so insane and transaction costs are skyrocketing.

CryptoInvestorClick to flag and open «Comment Reporting» form. You can choose reporting category and send message to website administrator. Admins may or may not choose to remove the comment or block the author. And please don't worry, your report will be anonymous.Guys check out the profitability of the BTC contracts on Hashflare, with the enormous rise of btc the returns are very high! Hashflare had to do maintenance due to the increasing traffic on Hashflare, a lot of people are buying these contracts now so get in before they’re sold out. Hasflare website: **affiliate link removed** 0 Reply1 month 6 days ago

The Trusts represent speculative investments and involve high degrees of risk. The shares of each Trust are intended to reflect the price of the digital currency held by each Trust. However, none of the Trusts currently operates a redemption program and any of the Trusts may halt creations from time to time. As a result, there can be no assurance that the value of the shares will approximate the value of the applicable digital currency held by each Trust, and indeed, the shares may trade at a substantial premium over or discount to the value of such assets. Moreover, the prices of the underlying digital currencies are derived from a third-party index, and no assurance can be given as to the accuracy of these prices and no liability is accepted for reliance thereon. The Trusts are passive investment vehicles and the shares may be adversely affected by losses that, had the Trusts been actively managed, might have been avoidable. Shares of the Trusts are not insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency.

Roger KalterClick to flag and open «Comment Reporting» form. You can choose reporting category and send message to website administrator. Admins may or may not choose to remove the comment or block the author. And please don't worry, your report will be anonymous.hi there, anybody have experience with E-toro? 0 Reply1 month 6 days ago

Steven HayClick to flag and open «Comment Reporting» form. You can choose reporting category and send message to website administrator. Admins may or may not choose to remove the comment or block the author. And please don't worry, your report will be anonymous.Hi Bertha, I’ve never used the site or heard of it before. I see they have a pretty whopping premium of about $1200 over and above the current price. I also see that they accept Western Union and Moneygram payments (only?) which are both very expensive funding mechanisms compared to bank transfers and other funding methods common on exchanges. I wouldn’t recommind using this site as it’s very expensive. If anonymity is important, it’s better to buy Bitcoin with cash (see our upcoming article on this subject). Furthermore, the site looks very amateruish and might in fact be a scam.… Read more »1 Reply28 days 2 hours ago

Maher considers any of his clients investing in Bitcoin or the funds “the risk takers,” among his client portfolio, even though he owns Bitcoin and Ethereum himself. Maher often responds to those who want to take a stake by offering the thoughts of Mark Cuban. If you want to invest in cryptocurrency, Cuban said, then “pretend you’ve already lost your money.”

MemberMemberSteven HayClick to flag and open «Comment Reporting» form. You can choose reporting category and send message to website administrator. Admins may or may not choose to remove the comment or block the author. And please don't worry, your report will be anonymous.Hi Bertha, I’ve never used the site or heard of it before. I see they have a pretty whopping premium of about $1200 over and above the current price. I also see that they accept Western Union and Moneygram payments (only?) which are both very expensive funding mechanisms compared to bank transfers and other funding methods common on exchanges. I wouldn’t recommind using this site as it’s very expensivehttps://www.cryptocynews.com/invest-in-bitcoin/