Is Bitcoin Still A Good Investment In 2018?

The question of whether it’s too late to get into buying bitcoin gets thrown around on online forums and websites all the time – with valid reason, too. Thousands of investors who had the opportunity to get into bitcoin early while it was valued below $200 per coin would have most likely been angry at themselves in December 2017 when the price per coin hit the $19,000 ceiling. Anyone with some background in Trading 101 would have seen that as a massively missed opportunity and would like to take precautions to not let it happen again.

So, let’s answer that question everyone wants to add to their Trading 101 repertoire – is it worth to invest in bitcoin in 2018?

Your Market Expectations

The answer to the question is almost entirely dependent on what you’re in the market for. Most investors only get into something for a simple reason: to get a high return on their investment. However in the bitcoin world there are two major questions to ask yourself – are you in it for the money or because you believe in decentralized financial systems? The reason the answer to this question matters is because it’ll determine your behavior in the face of crypto’s volatility.

Bitcoin is volatile. Extremely so. In 2017 it went from $1,000 per coin to almost $20,000 per coin. From December 2017 to January 2018, that value dropped by 50%. There’s nothing to say whether it’ll spike like that again or if it’ll drop aggressively – hence, volatile. Savvy investors know that there’s money to be made in volatility, either taking advantage of a fast rise in value or if smart, profiting off the loss in bitcoin value. For the investor in the bitcoin game for the sake if profit, this is an opportunity, especially if one takes the day-trading approach to bitcoin and not holding on for too long of a time.

Here’s an example: Bitcoin dropped to its lowest since 2017 on February 5, 2018. It was trading at just below $7000 per coin and experts were freaking out, predicting its entire downfall. One month later on March 4, Bitcoin was trading just shy of $11,500 per coin – so a trader with good timing could have profited almost $4500 per coin in a one-month period.

2018: A Coin Flip?

For the investor that’s in the bitcoin game because they believe in the technology and its potential in the future, 2018 can go either way. Someone that believes in the technology is in it for the long-run, because of that belief. If in it for the long-term, you need to be able to ride out the fluctuation in price without getting a heart attack – you need to hold on for long and hope it’s value goes up significantly over time, even if it drops by significant margins on one day. Of course, the vision is for bitcoin to be used in day to day transactions one day. For this to be possible, the value of bitcoin cannot be dropping or increasing by massive margins within the span of a month. The question for this type of investor is simple – what price point do you believe bitcoin will stabilize and settle at in however many months from now?

At the end of the day, it’s important to err on the side of caution. Like any other type of investment, you need to be prepared to lose money. To really profit from bitcoin you need to be up to date on its happenings day in and day out and understand its trends. Assuming you understand what you’re doing and how to mitigate risk, bitcoin can be a great investment even in 2018 – after all, do you want to be angry at yourself again in 2019 if you missed another great opportunity to make money?