Recently i downloaded the Armory wallet and the blockchain. That took more than a day, amazing. Now it's chewing on "Scanning Transaction History" but taking it's sweet time. Never seems to get past 86%. Will i be able to complete any transactions while this is going on? Btw, i've been lurking this thread since its inception and was intellectually onboard back in April even before it spiked to $200+. I set out to raise funds over the summer and by August was funded as much as i would ever be. Then something went terribly wrong and, with all the activity i was involved in, i forgot the sense of urgency i felt back in April, and fell asleep. So now i feel i missed the train leaving the station. What do i do? Suck it up and take the bull by the horn and go all in? Or, is it now going to settle out for months like it did after the April spike? Who would take the bull by the horn, and go buy some local bitcoins for cash at $700 to buy-and-hold with 80% capital?
You'd have to be crazy to chase it here. It's quickly losing the appeal as a currency due to the vola. It's value is purely as a vehicle for speculation. I am out of BTC.
This is not bitcoin advice (I have no idea where price will head) but general advice. If you let yourself get so excited by anything that you are willing to "take the bull by the horns" with very large chunks of your capital you will end up gored and, as you try-- in desperation to get even -- you will end up fatally gored. Just like any other rank speculation if you are a bull take a modest position. Be right often enough and the coins add up.
I take no responsibility for the actions of anii. Would be like jealousy of all the beanie baby 'investors'. What happened to decent investments like stamps and coins? Gone with all the decent people, I suspect.
Thanks very much for the general advice. I could have caught a big fish and it got away. It's a horrible feeling. If anyone wants to help me feel better, please remind me there are ways of making avg 50% per month high probability catching a lot of little fish. I guess i just have to roll up my sleeves. I would feel much better, and less likely to grab a bull, if someone would remind me that an avg 50% a month is probably and possible. Even better for some suggestions. My latest idea is to get good at picking leaders on the social trading forums, and follow several with a portion of capital. The other is just to set up a moving average on BTC and go long only. Anyway, thanks.
Then i would be tempted to buy-and-hold BTC longer-term because of my bullish view, and the likelihood buy-and-hold would be easier. I understand there are some fairly reliable options methods that could deliver 25%. Is that what you are suggesting? Btw, i'm trying to transact $100 for bitcoins from a local seller. Will let know how that goes. Armory still hanging with "Scanning Transaction History" and a google has not given a much better answer than redownload software and blockchain. So transaction may not go through.
I usually make 25% a month but I like to sleep late. For those of you that have better work habits, 50% is easy.
My research suggests 50% is doable given good work habits, yes. I had committed to figuring that out, but in the meantime had neglected to store the value of my fiat in BTC much to my regret. Edit: One way to look at it is the higher the monthly expectation, the longer/steeper the learning to get there. If the learning curve is two-weeks or more, i am now convinced it's best to store the value of fiat in BTC.
Your conclusion is incorrect. Face to face transaction were always higher because people had to make an effort to meet personally. Also, the higest price of bitcoin isn't local personal exchanges nor MtGox, but Chinese. Divide the Chinese price by 6 and you get it in US dollars, way higher then anything else....