Investments

[gallsman]

Forget bitcoin, its fourth-biggest rival is up nearly 5,800 percent this year

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/12/litecoin-price-hits-record-high-up-nearly-5800-percent-this-year.html

Bought my current holding of this at 48 euro at end of September and my jaw has been pretty much on the floor all week.

Also, it's not seen as competition for but rather complementary to bitcoin. The "rivals" are the various forks of Bitcoin that currently exist, most prominently Bitcoin Cash.

[macdanger2]

I have used eToro to do some investments in Ripple.  Its just ok though.  You can set ceiling levels of it my investment goes below this amount sell and if it goes above this amount sell.  You can also copy people who are successful trades they have done.  I joined it more to read the comments of different markets - only invested £200 in ripple a few weeks ago - its worth £230 atm.  Ripple is about $0.24 cents each at the minute so the max sell point you can put is 1000% so if it goes to just over $2 each then mine would be sold automatically even if the price goes out to reach $100 each.  However, if you were making 1000% increases on investments you be happy enough.

You can also invest in Oil/Gold most shares on eToro as well but as I say personally I just joined it to read the threads on the cryptos and put in a small enough £200 investment just out of interest.  Also have some BTC and ETH I bought on Coinbase during the summer.  Just ordered myself a USB Hardware Wallet - planning to move my cryto out of coinbase and hold the private keys for it myself - will also buy some more ripple and hold it in my own wallet

Is eToro a spreads platform or actually investing in stocks / crypto?

[macdanger2]

The thing that attracts my attention about Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in general, is where can you actually spend them? I understand firms like PayPal and Microsoft take them, but the majority don't and I don't see a situation where you're going to be walking into Centra and paying for your loaf of bread and bottle of milk with a crypto currency, or paying the barman down the local with Bitcoin for your pint of Guinness. Most people seem to be investing in it simply because the value keeps increasing. I think there are similarities to the dotcom boom in that everybody kept buying and buying, inflating the price further and further before the market eventually recognised that these companies' revenues were nowhere near their valuation, never mind profits. Incidentally, Bitcoin futures started training today for the first time and didn't have the greatest of receptions by the market.

I agree with most of your post except this. Look how much less cash is used now since ten years ago. The missus never carries notes or coins anymore. Most people pay by card and paying by phone is getting much more widely accepted. In another ten years i fully expect cash to have reduced even more as phone and biometric methods of payment take over. In this scenario, your phone "wallet"/fingerprint/chip in your wrist can be linked back to a bitcoin account as easily as any other currency.

I'm the same, I rarely carry cash and just use the tap technology for even the smallest of purchases - however, I prefer that card to be the virtual representation of something physical that is backed up by the state, rather than a relatively unregulated piece of data on my computer that might be worth 200% of yesterday's value but also 400% of tomorrow's value. And I think the vast majority of people think like that, making me doubt the actual utility of cryptocurrencies as anything more than an investment.

We should not let the banks bring in this cashless society as this will give them total control over our money. If it were totally cashless right now we would be sitting with interest rates in the minus and banks charging everybody to hold there money.

Yep, definitely negative rates for the average Joe once we reach that situation not to mention an in-built bailout system.

[Eamonnca1]

If cryptocurrencies keep up this wild value fluctuation then they'll never be useful to the average punter as a means of exchange or storing value. Love them or hate them, we need central banks to keep inflation under control.

[MoChara]

When investing in the likes of these crypto currencies if you want to convert them back to regular cash is there much of a fee to do this?

Also when spending Bitcoin for example is it a % of your shares you are giving or is the currency and the share separate?

[gallsman]

When investing in the likes of these crypto currencies if you want to convert them back to regular cash is there much of a fee to do this?

Also when spending Bitcoin for example is it a % of your shares you are giving or is the currency and the share separate?

Fees vary. Coinbase is the most popular exchange but is very expensive. They have a corresponding exchange called gdax that is cheaper.

Not sure I understand your second question. There's no "share". You own an amount of coin. If you have 1 BTC and buy something that costs 0.5 BTC, you're left with 0.5 BTC.

[MoChara]

When investing in the likes of these crypto currencies if you want to convert them back to regular cash is there much of a fee to do this?

Also when spending Bitcoin for example is it a % of your shares you are giving or is the currency and the share separate?

Fees vary. Coinbase is the most popular exchange but is very expensive. They have a corresponding exchange called gdax that is cheaper.

Not sure I understand your second question. There's no "share". You own an amount of coin. If you have 1 BTC and buy something that costs 0.5 BTC, you're left with 0.5 BTC.

Thanks that was pretty much my understanding just wanting it clarified.

[Frank_The_Tank]

I have used eToro to do some investments in Ripple.  Its just ok though.  You can set ceiling levels of it my investment goes below this amount sell and if it goes above this amount sell.  You can also copy people who are successful trades they have done.  I joined it more to read the comments of different markets - only invested £200 in ripple a few weeks ago - its worth £230 atm.  Ripple is about $0.24 cents each at the minute so the max sell point you can put is 1000% so if it goes to just over $2 each then mine would be sold automatically even if the price goes out to reach $100 each.  However, if you were making 1000% increases on investments you be happy enough.

You can also invest in Oil/Gold most shares on eToro as well but as I say personally I just joined it to read the threads on the cryptos and put in a small enough £200 investment just out of interest.  Also have some BTC and ETH I bought on Coinbase during the summer.  Just ordered myself a USB Hardware Wallet - planning to move my cryto out of coinbase and hold the private keys for it myself - will also buy some more ripple and hold it in my own wallet

Is eToro a spreads platform or actually investing in stocks / crypto?

More a spreads platform I would say - I invested £200 in ripple on eToro last week - it was $0.24 cents each at the time.  Currently worth around $0.48 cents so my investment worth £407 if was to sell it and then would lose a bit in Fees - plan to leave it though for bit longer and see what it does.  however as I mentioned you don't actually own the ripple cryto so if it went to $80 dollars each or $500 each my investment would already be gone - as the max return you make is 1000% (which you wouldn't complain about) and then it auto sells.  So I assume it would be the same as investing in Amazon shares or Apple shares on there - you won't be actually owning shares in those companies by investing in eToro.

Im planning to probably cahs in my eToro and actually buy that amount of ripple and hold it in my own digital wallet

[macdanger2]

I have used eToro to do some investments in Ripple.  Its just ok though.  You can set ceiling levels of it my investment goes below this amount sell and if it goes above this amount sell.  You can also copy people who are successful trades they have done.  I joined it more to read the comments of different markets - only invested £200 in ripple a few weeks ago - its worth £230 atm.  Ripple is about $0.24 cents each at the minute so the max sell point you can put is 1000% so if it goes to just over $2 each then mine would be sold automatically even if the price goes out to reach $100 each.  However, if you were making 1000% increases on investments you be happy enough.

You can also invest in Oil/Gold most shares on eToro as well but as I say personally I just joined it to read the threads on the cryptos and put in a small enough £200 investment just out of interest.  Also have some BTC and ETH I bought on Coinbase during the summer.  Just ordered myself a USB Hardware Wallet - planning to move my cryto out of coinbase and hold the private keys for it myself - will also buy some more ripple and hold it in my own wallet

Is eToro a spreads platform or actually investing in stocks / crypto?

More a spreads platform I would say - I invested £200 in ripple on eToro last week - it was $0.24 cents each at the time.  Currently worth around $0.48 cents so my investment worth £407 if was to sell it and then would lose a bit in Fees - plan to leave it though for bit longer and see what it does.  however as I mentioned you don't actually own the ripple cryto so if it went to $80 dollars each or $500 each my investment would already be gone - as the max return you make is 1000% (which you wouldn't complain about) and then it auto sells.  So I assume it would be the same as investing in Amazon shares or Apple shares on there - you won't be actually owning shares in those companies by investing in eToro.

Im planning to probably cahs in my eToro and actually buy that amount of ripple and hold it in my own digital wallet

Good man, thanks

[The Iceman]

I wouldn't be listening to any bitcoin fan boys on this but rather the experts out there who have made their fortunes and understand how these things work.
Whoever has them I'd be selling before the bubble bursts..Eamon CA is right on with his quote from Ray Dalio

[gallsman]

You don't really need an economics degree from Harvard to come up with "sell before the bubble bursts" now, do you? Thanks for that.

[Milltown Row2]

I suppose it's knowing when the bubble will burst! As much of a low key gambler I am I wouldn't gamble on the stocks as I've absolutely no experience or time to invest in something and those sites take hefty fees which reduces your profits

Maybe in ten years, once mortgage is paid off and kids are married off I'll dabble as I like the idea of it but I'm glad my wife has the sense

[The Iceman]

I suppose it's knowing when the bubble will burst! As much of a low key gambler I am I wouldn't gamble on the stocks as I've absolutely no experience or time to invest in something and those sites take hefty fees which reduces your profits

Maybe in ten years, once mortgage is paid off and kids are married off I'll dabble as I like the idea of it but I'm glad my wife has the sense

I don't see stocks as a gamble. If you go after individual stocks - maybe. But if you have a balanced portfolio of your own determining or you invest in an index fund from someone like vanguard - realistically hard to go wrong. You'll get a return of at least 6%-8% per year.  If you direct debit into that account every month or every quarter and leave it alone you'll have a nice chunk of money in 15-20 years.  I don't know a whole lot about individual stocks but I've consistently put money into an index fund for the last 10 years and I'm very happy with the return so far.
I think anyone "saving" money in a bank is mad. It's a waste of time - they're just big mattresses at this point when it comes to saving.
There are lots of books out there to help get you started

[rosnarun]

if this does not give people pause for thought about cyrptocurrencies I don't know what will...
Ether is subdivided into smaller units, respectively called finney, szabo, shannon, babbage, lovelace and wei. Each of these units is equal to a thousand times the smaller unit following it. For example, this would mean that one thousand finneys is equal to one ether
that's free advice even though I know I could get at least one szabo finney for it

[TheOptimist]

I suppose it's knowing when the bubble will burst! As much of a low key gambler I am I wouldn't gamble on the stocks as I've absolutely no experience or time to invest in something and those sites take hefty fees which reduces your profits

Maybe in ten years, once mortgage is paid off and kids are married off I'll dabble as I like the idea of it but I'm glad my wife has the sense

The bubble will burst whenever everyone starts selling! One follows the other!