The Cryptostorm Has Subsided- Time To Unfurl The Sails- Full Steem Ahead!

Disclaimer- I am neither a cryptocurrency expert nor a financial adviser- ALWAYS do your own research before investing and discern for yourself! For what it's worth I do have a BS in Finance and spent several years in the financial services industries. That being said.........

It would appear as if the cryptoseas have calmed down a bit over the past couple of days. Yes I know everybody hates to see a dip, aside from those of us looking to buy, but that's inevitable in every market. I tend to look at the past few days of relative price stability (Bitcoin, Etherum, Steem) as a positive and perhaps establishing a very solid lower level of resistance that becomes stronger the longer these prices hold their steady course. The 7 day charts below reflect the storm subsiding and hopefully the establishment of a strong lower resistance point.

---

---

Personally I think it's a good time to buy in and I put my money where my mouth is and established an account with Coinbase (https://www.coinbase.com ) which allows me to purchase Bitcoin, Etherum, and Litcoin using withdrawals from my regular checking account. I'm sure their are better alternatives with perhaps lower fees as well as a greater variety of coins to purchase however this was a safe play in my part in choosing a well established entity to facilitate my transactions.

I also established an account with Poloniex (https://poloniex.com) so that after my Coinbase coin buys go through I can then use those coins on the Polonex exchange to purchase many other coins not offered through Coinbase. As far as I could see (remember I'm a novice and very open to being corrected so please do if I am wrong) Poloniex doesn't facilitate the actual purchasing of cryptos via bank account/USD but is instead an exchange that you must first purchase coins elsewhere which you can then exchange for lesser known coins on the Poloniex exchange.

I'm disappointed that it looks as if my Coinbase transactions won't be fulfilled until about 7 days after I pulled the trigger in the order but will be executed at the coin prices at the time I authorized the purchases to occur via withdrawals from my checking account. My intention is once this transaction goes through is to transfer some of the BTC, ETH, LTC purchased on Coinbase to Poloniex so I can further diversify into other coins.

I intend to make at least 25% of my crypto portfolio in what I'll call penny cryptos- or cryptos that are currently trading for pennies or better yet a fraction of a cent. These are most likely far riskier investments than Steem, BTC, or ETH BUT the upside is of course that you can buy many shares of these penny cryptos for a relatively little amount. Makes sense to me to choose 2-4 of these penny cryptos in hopes that at least one emerges and lands a nice home run. Like any other market I think it wise not to be a one trick pony (with the exception of physical silver in the precious metals markets) - diversify, diversify, diversify.

One of the 'crypto penny' coins I've had my eye on is Siocoin- this is apparently a block chain offering cloud based services that has had some issues in the past but has enjoyed tremendous growth over the past couple of weeks and in percentage terms outpacing many other coins- with that of course comes greater volatility. I'd be very interested to hear any feedback on the longer term outlook for siocoin specifically as well as other 'penny cryptos' that anyone feels compelled to share in the comments.

---

Summary- IMHO it's a good time to buy as the crypto market seems to have stabilized and may very well have established new lower resistant points. Diversify- if the crypto market in general is heading far north over the next several years as many of us think it will be sure to diversify in order to enjoy the overall growth the crypto market has to offer while not suffering as much of the inherent volatility associated with this asset class. Good to own the blue chips like BTC and ETH but do not overlook the tremendous groth potential of what I will classify as 'small caps' such as Steem that offers tangible applications to replace existing social media platforms that are proven winners- there is most likely greater growth opportunity in a 'small cap' like Steem than you will find in the BTC/ ETH 'blue chip' category. And don't forget to throw a little change at a few of those coins in the 'penny stock' class- with a relatively small amount of $ you can load up on thousands of shares of these pennies with the potential of hitting a grand slam down the road- best I think to select at least 2-4 of this variety as the odds of steady growth in this class is far lower than with the blue chips or small caps.

Any feedback regarding wallets superior to Coinbase or exchanges superior to Poloniex are much appreciated- again I selected these as my initial trading tools primarily due to being well established and reputable. And again any info on the viability of particular 'penny cryptos' would also be much appreciated.

Enjoy the calm in the storm- get your sunglasses on- load up- and STEEM ON!

PS- IMPORTANT- when establishing these accounts such as Coinbase and your Steemit account be sure to print off your passwords- I allow my Mac to generate highly secure passwords- and put the hard copies in a safe place like a firebox. I would even sent copies to a trusted family member like mom or dad and ask them to file away hard copies. If you lose your passwords you may well have lost your cryptos- BE SURE TO DO THIS or some other means of making sure you always have your passwords!

Adding this as a result of comments/suggestions from @preparedwombat - why a paper wallet is critical and how to create one.......... http://www.coindesk.com/information/paper-wallet-tutorial/