Should I invest in Bitcoin in 2017? - This is what you need to know!!!

The 2017 started with an explosion, Bitcoin went through the mark of $1000 and no sign of stopping. As a result I have about 2 emails a day from people around the world who ask me a simple question: "Should I invest in bitcoin?"

Before we start, I would like to leave something clear – Bitcoin is not a company or a stock exchange, it is a currency. If you still don't understand that Bitcoin is watching this video. So if you want to invest in Bitcoin you're basically buying the coin. However, there are also other ways to invest in Bitcoin.

What does investing in bitcoin mean?

In order to answer this question the first thing you need to answer is what do you mean when you say you want to invest in Bitcoin. Do you want to buy the coin waiting to appreciate its value?, want to invest in companies related to Bitcoin? Are you looking to trade daily with bitcoins?

Buy and hold

The most common way to "invest" in Bitcoin is to buy the currency by waiting for its value to appreciate (also known as "hodling" look at the origin of the term here). If this is your case then you need to decide for yourself if you think it's a good time to buy. Which means, do you think the price will continue to go up?.

Don't take anyone's advice about what will happen on the coin, do your homework, learn about Bitcoin, and come to a conclusion. Personally I think we are just beginning, but that is my opinion and you should not consider that as an investment council.

Some points to buy and hold Bitcoins:

Never invest more than you are expecting/willing to lose – Bitcoin is a very risky investment and you should have that in mind all the time.
After you buy Bitcoins make sure to move them to your personal wallet and never leave them in an exchange. My personal recommendation is to use a physical wallet (wallet hardware) to store your bitcoins. If you can't afford a physical purse, try a paper purse.
Make sure you buy Bitcoins only from exchanges that have proven their reputation.
Buy Bitcoins through the average cost in dollars – this means not buying all your Bitcoins in a single transaction but buying a fixed amount every month, week, or even days during the year. In this way averages the price in the course of the year. Here we have a short video to explain this concept:

Trading in Bitcoins

Bitcoins's trading is different from buying and holding. When you are trading Bitcoins means that you are actively trying to buy bitcoins with a low price and sell them back with a higher price relatively in a short time interval. A successful trading requires knowledge and practice. The trading market is occupied by a large number of players who expect beginners to enter and throw away all their money to negotiate aimlessly.

If you want to learn more about Bitcoin trading here are some helpful tips that can help you.

Investing in Bitcoin mining

Some people would like to invest their money in Bitcoin mining. In recent years Bitcoin mining is only profitable if it is made on a large scale. This means that you will need expensive mining equipment and with optimism free energy. Therefore, it is usually more profitable to buy Bitcoins with this money than to use it to buy mining equipment.

Some may have heard of all kinds of sites that allow you to undermine bitcoins through them. This is known as cloud mining and those sites fall within these two categories:

They are a complete scam, flee with your money and will not really use it to undermine Bitcoin.
They are not a scam, but they are a bad investment because you will probably get more bitcoins if you only use that money to buy Bitcoins instead of paying the site.
If you want to learn more about the mining in the cloud read this entry.

Investing in bitcoin companies/Grow your Bitcoins/hyips

Finally, every so long I have a question about a site or a company that claims to duplicate your bitcoins, gives you insane daily interests of your Bitcoins or helps you to invest in some kind of complex and obscure scheme. These sites can be categorized mostly as scams or hyips (high-performance investment program).

What these sites usually do is take people's money around the net and promise to give them good returns. They will start by paying those returns through the money they get for new subscribers and create a great stir around the site. They will usually have some kind of referral program so that those users can take their friends. This will continue for about 3-4 months until one day the website is offline and the money disappears. No more payments will be made and many people get angry because they were swindled.

I have reviewed many investment sites in bitcoin over the past 3 years. (for example BTCJam, Bitcoin trader) and I still have to find a site that can tell if it is legitimate or safe to invest. Any site that promises you something that is too good to be true is probably just a façade of scammers trying to steal your coins.

How do you know if a site is a scam for yourself? Very easy, use our bitcoin scam test tool. I can't emphasize any further away from sites that claim they can double your coins or give you a daily interest in them.

Should you invest in bitcoin?

For now you probably think the answer is not that simple. It's not just a question of whether you should invest, but how to invest. As I said at the beginning, start by educating yourself. Learn about the currency, which affects you, what are its advantages and disadvantages, etc. You can get a lot of information through our free Bitcoin course (register at the bottom of this post).

After you feel that you have acquired a basic education it is time to answer this question. Remember – Only you can answer this. You can consult others and read online but never follow someone else's advice blindly.

Good luck!