Now Entering Bear Territory!
For the past few weeks I have been telling everyone I know that we are in fact in a bubble and it's only a matter of time until it bursts. The recent influx of amateur investors and complete "noobs" into this crypto-sphere has definitely fueled the mania and we reached all time highs last month of +$3000 USD for 1 BTC. Most of these investors have no idea what they are getting themselves into or even what they are buying. Bitcoin, as well as all other alt-coins, is a double edged sword that can hurt you just as much as it can help you.
Lets break down some of the numbers for those of you who haven't been paying close attention:
During the last major bubble in 2013 Bitcoin/altcoin market capitalization, which is price X circulating supply, reached just over $15.7 billion and Bitcoin price was over $1100 each.
For the majority of 2015 Bitcoin and ALL altcoins had a combined market cap of LESS THAN FIVE BILLION DOLLARS... Yes that's right Five Billion.
At the beginning of 2017 the market cap was hovering around 20 billion and didn't break 30 billion until April 24th
In June of 2017 the market cap broke $116 BILLION not once, not twice, but THREE TIMES before finally deciding that it had topped out. BTC had reached new highs of over $3000 and Ethereum had touched $420 briefly.
Current market cap at the time of writing this: $77.7B after recovering $3B in losses overnight. This represents a 33% loss in overall market cap in a little over 3 weeks.
What does this all mean? Well we are definitely in a bear market right now and there is a downward trend. Bitcoin is overvalued in my opinion and is long overdue for a REAL correction which would put it somewhere in the $1600-1700 range. Remember people, Bitcoin was trading in the $200-300 range just two years ago and it did exactly the same thing then that it does now, only now the fees are transaction times are much higher!
Always hedge your bets by diversifying your investments and by never investing more than you can afford or want to lose. To be honest I currently hold some Bitcoin, Ethereum, as well as a handful of other interesting coins/tokens, however I would not advise ANY of my friends to invest money into crypto currency right now since they simply do not understand the true nature of the space. This is a very volatile and dangerous environment for those who aren't prepared for the swings! Good luck out there and Hold On for Dear Life (HODL)
This is great solid information. I'm glad you posted it.
I'm here to help people who are new to the crypto world understand things on a more basic level. I've been involved in Bitcoin since 2013 after hearing about it on NPR (radio) and I constantly research and read about crypto currencies. This is going to be a very important industry in the future but we are barely seeing the tip of the iceberg now.
Hello! I just upvoted you! I help new Steemit members! Upvote this comment and follow me! i will upvote your future posts! To any other visitor, upvote this post also to receive free UpVotes from me! Happy SteemIt!
While I agree that we are entering a bear market.... It is still perfectly ok to buy BITCOIN or ETHEREUM, if one has a long term goal (I mean 2 or 3 years goal).
Like you said @hotsauceislethal, bitcoin has jumped from the 200-300 dollar range to 1600-1700 range now (after market correction)... so then , 2 or 3 years time, shouldn't we expect it to be in the 16,000 to 17,000 range? :) Lol, maybe wishful thinking.. But yeah, invest what you can afford to lose.. this is a very volatile market.
I am holding on to dear life .. for a few years more ... My meagre investment is 1.5 BTC, 15 ETH, 100 NEO and an undisclosed amount of STEEM :)