Over the last six months, I've been using the online blogging platform StockTwits and have spent weeks and weeks trawling through hours of comments to work out what is actually going on. Fairly hard to work it out, so many people just pumping stocks or spreading negative sentiment because they have a 'short' position. What has amazed me most is just how much the stock market is MANIPULATED by the market-makers themselves!
One of the most interesting things I have learnt is to start being aware of how much my decisions are informed by my emotional state. Investing is such a whirlwind of greed and fear, I love the following stock graph joke - it's rings so true to me:
After six months of work, I am still losing money, I am now trying to make my investments smaller and more long-term. That way I don't have to have a crystal ball to get in at the bottom and out at the top. If the company is really good and I stick in there for the long-term, it won't matter so much what price I get in at.
I've learnt the hard way not to use stock options as in my opinion this is ' glorified gambling' and unless you really know what you are doing (or are very lucky), you're gonna lose money as you are up against the professionals!
Luckily one of my friends on StockTwits turned me on to CryptoCurrency and I discovered Blockchain - WOW! For the last few months I have been studying project after project and learning about the technology, its benefits and it's limitations. I was a big part of the internet network as it first got going in the UK and this is the blockchain is the most exciting innovation I have seen since the 1990s!!
Now I have a cryptocurrency portfolio which I keep track on with a really useful free portfolio service on:
https://www.cryptocompare.com/portfolio/
Finally, today, my portfolio has broken even. I've learnt from my experience on the stock market and I am trying to make a balanced portfolio of tokens that I think will appreciate over the long-term irrespective of what they'll do in 3 months, 6 months or even 1 year. I've actually called it my Retirement Portfolio (wishful thinking!). I've gone for:
35% BitCoin,
35% Ethereum,
16% Steem,
10% EOS (crowdfunding for @dantheman 's incredible new venture is on this week!) and
5% BAT (Basic Awareness Token)
I'll be spending my time trying to earn money through posting in order to get my percentage of Steem up to my largest holding.
What I love about Steem, is that with all other investments it seems to me that you can end up working very hard with no guarantee of actually making any money, whereas with Steem you are always rewarded for your time and effort, however small!
Then I can spend a lot more of my time just sitting on a bench enjoying the sea breeze ;-)
Would be interested to hear about your journey in crypto investing and the selection you've made. I plan to add some Ripple in September once I get a Ledger hard wallet to hold the tokens! So many more people are investing in Crypto that ledger have none to sell and have back-orders of three months, that surely has to be a sign that this is no way the peak of the bubble, but that it's only just getting started.
Sending you all my best wishes for happy investing and happy steeming,
Will