Hi Mark. I am currently solidly invested in crypto, mostly in alts. I have read your analysis of a probable crash or significant price drop in the near future and would normally have waited and saved up some cash until a better opportunity. But it so happens I sold some stocks recently and have quite a bit of cash at hand and want to put that into some favorite alts (that have had a pretty big spike recently) before the bull run/alt season.
If you were me, would you have been ice cold and waited for big correction or put some into the dips like the minor one we are seeing now?
You can never go wrong with averaging into alts. Even if bitcoin drops 30% your particular alt may actually go up (it happens sometimes). No point trying to time the market, just keep some cash on hand for the big, market-wide dips, opportunities of a lifetime.
Overnight more Chinese financial authoritarians ( banks and governmental ) all came out declared crypto as illegal. More severe measures are to be put to further eliminate crypto out of the China's financial system, ........ That should be playing as the current headwind. But eventually it is a good thing because the commies are never to be trusted to play a majority role in this
I'm interested in Altcoins and tried to subscribe to the Altcoin insight channel. It says that the channel is part of the Crypto is Easy. But when I subscribed to Crypto is Easy here, I still can't access the Altcoin updates.
It is said the drop is caused by the news that FBI has recovered 60 some BTC Ransome through a private key. Does that mean someone has cracked the code? What is your take? Do you know any behind the door stories? Eager to know more about this.
IDK the FBI didn't say how they did it. Cracking SHA is unlikely, nobody's ever done that. Best explanation I've heard is the hackers used an exchange at some point, and FBI got access to the exchange records e.g., with subpoena or working relationship. They're not going to tell you how they did it. Public court filings show FBI used blockchain explorers to track the movement of bitcoins, so it makes sense they found somebody with the private key to one of the wallets the hackers used. E.g., an exchange that uses a custodial wallet (pure speculation no facts). We may never know.
ETH is a beast. If history is our guide, altcoins should generally outperform bitcoin through the end of this bull market, though some altcoins will not. Bitcoin hype will continue for a long time, currently on target to close its first negative month since September 2020 but that's normal, you want to see that after a six-month parabola.
I pretty much agreed with everything you said and love your caution and focus on the grand picture in this crypto frenzy. However, I still can't wrap my head around Bitcoin and don't understand why people believed it so much in the future.
I do believe crypto is the future and appreciate that Bitcoin showed a new way of finance, economy, and technology. But I’m very confused why so many people claim it will be the future when there are so many other cryptos that not only do the same thing but better in other ways.
In the future, for an ordinary person (non-investor, speculator), if they want to use crypto as a medium of exchange, why would they want to buy bitcoin if they can instead buy Ether (dapp exposure), Menoro (privacy), or even BAT (ads potential, for now).
I know that Bitcoin is the king now is because of the first-mover advantage and people’s familiarity with it. It's the first thing most ordinary people will experience when they want to dive into crypto. But in the long run, the first-mover advantage won’t prevail if it does not evolve with its competition. It will be replaced by those that exceed the first mover. I remember people were complaining about smartphones when smartphones first came out. “It’s unsafe. It may explode. What if you touched the screen by accident. why do you need to listen to music on it. Just get an MP3.” But as time passes by, the technology that offers better utility will always weed out the ones that can’t keep up. Throughout history, the first mover will hardly stay till the last. I'm just wondering, is there anything special I missed about Bitcoin other than its current adoption rate that will prevent it from giving up its crown eventually. I’m not thinking about now or even 5 years. I’m talking about 10, 20, or even 50 years. If crypto truly will revolutionalize the world as you said.
That's a good point and we'll see how things turn out. For now, the whole market follows bitcoin. Altcoins can't go up when bitcoin's going down, and they always go up when bitcoin goes up. Those big shifts in the market always start and end with bitcoin. So we have to pay attention to it.
Thanks for the clarification. Yeah, at least for now Altcoin is tied to Bitcoin. And I think it's because most people still have no idea what's happening in the crypto space and Bitcoin functions as the gateway for people to experience crypto. I'm totally fine with it taking the lead now and will follow it closely for the general market sentiment.
Hey mark. Thank you for all your hard work. My question is that I understand we are overheated in the Bitcoin charts and waiting for inevitable correction. I also understand that signs are nigh for an inevitable alt season. What I was hoping for clarification on is when you think alt season will happen in relation to the bitcoin correction? After all it doesn’t make much sense to scale out of Bitcoin (which most of my portfolio is in) or even to buy alts with usd right now if the price is going to plummet taking alts with it. Unless you think alts and bitcoin will most inverse to each other?
Alts always follow bitcoin but not at the same pace. We've had a few times where alts crashed less than bitcoin, though yes, usually the alts fall harder. I look at altcoin dominance and altcoin market cap charts, which anybody can see on TradingView.
Look at both charts and you'll see two long-term trends: more volume and higher prices for alts, bitcoin dominance getting weaker each time alts fight back.
I wouldn't bet against the trend.
We'll have altseason when bitcoin dominance drops to 61% or lower. Nobody will realize it at that time, especially if bitcoin's falling or not rising. But nobody ever sees the boom until it's already started. Judging on how the trends are converging, that will happen soon.
Thank you for your awesome content. I have a question regarding alt coins. Are there coins currently that you think are a good buy, I ask because of the recent spike. — Ajit
As of August 22, 2020 I wouldn't worry about spikes, prices move too much to worry about that. No use trying to time the market, any single alt can crash 50% when the market goes up and pump 200% when the market goes down. I stand by everything on my list of altcoins regardless of price, always suggest you average in. Set aside an amount of money and buy into the coin bit by bit over a few days or weeks. That way you won't have to worry about the pumps and drops.
Thanks for the kind words, I hope I can continue to live up to your expectations - I will definitely try :-)
Thanks Mark, what you say makes a lot of sense. There are two coins i have recently got interested in, if you have already reviewed them would love to know your opinion. 1. SingularityNET 2. Ampleforth
Sorry Mark, i was trying to search the site to find all the altcoins you recommend. Could not find a list as such. If its not much trouble in one of your future posts can you list the altcoins you are hopeful about.
You could check on API3 also. They initial sale passed for around $1.0 5 per token, now they are trading around $2 on Uniswap, and there is a lot of potential in that space.
I see that you are invested and interested in RUNE, you could check XHV, they are going to be listed on ThorChain and provide algo backed anonymous stable coin.
Hi Yavor. Yes, altcoin recommendations was too overwhelming for me, couldn't keep up a regular pace or look into all the projects people asked about. I needed to move them to a separate service.
I republish shortened versions of my Altcoin Insights recommendations in CIE occasionally, usually months after I recommend them. All my recommendations are long-term awesome projects, applicable for everybody.
For Altcoin Insights subscribers I try to time the recommendation to get in before everybody else does. Once it hits CIE, there's a good chance the price has gone up significantly, though I assume sometimes that won't be the case. Either way, worth considering in your portfolio, but with Altcoin Insights I take the investor view, CIE more about education/information.
Hi Mark. I am currently solidly invested in crypto, mostly in alts. I have read your analysis of a probable crash or significant price drop in the near future and would normally have waited and saved up some cash until a better opportunity. But it so happens I sold some stocks recently and have quite a bit of cash at hand and want to put that into some favorite alts (that have had a pretty big spike recently) before the bull run/alt season.
If you were me, would you have been ice cold and waited for big correction or put some into the dips like the minor one we are seeing now?
You can never go wrong with averaging into alts. Even if bitcoin drops 30% your particular alt may actually go up (it happens sometimes). No point trying to time the market, just keep some cash on hand for the big, market-wide dips, opportunities of a lifetime.
Overnight more Chinese financial authoritarians ( banks and governmental ) all came out declared crypto as illegal. More severe measures are to be put to further eliminate crypto out of the China's financial system, ........ That should be playing as the current headwind. But eventually it is a good thing because the commies are never to be trusted to play a majority role in this
Hey Mark. Thanks for the insights.
I'm interested in Altcoins and tried to subscribe to the Altcoin insight channel. It says that the channel is part of the Crypto is Easy. But when I subscribed to Crypto is Easy here, I still can't access the Altcoin updates.
Thanks for bringing that up! It's a separate service. As a CIE subscriber, I can make an exception for you. Email me mark@markhelfman.com
Just sent you an email. Looking forward to hearing back from you!
Hi Mark, I think I just signed up for your subscription for a. Second time. By mistake
Email me mark@markhelfman.com and we’ll work it out.
It is said the drop is caused by the news that FBI has recovered 60 some BTC Ransome through a private key. Does that mean someone has cracked the code? What is your take? Do you know any behind the door stories? Eager to know more about this.
IDK the FBI didn't say how they did it. Cracking SHA is unlikely, nobody's ever done that. Best explanation I've heard is the hackers used an exchange at some point, and FBI got access to the exchange records e.g., with subpoena or working relationship. They're not going to tell you how they did it. Public court filings show FBI used blockchain explorers to track the movement of bitcoins, so it makes sense they found somebody with the private key to one of the wallets the hackers used. E.g., an exchange that uses a custodial wallet (pure speculation no facts). We may never know.
What is your thought on this drop?
If I have some DOT, will you recommend staking them?
I don't but I would stake any crypto you're not using, tho check the cost and time lock.
Thank you so much!
Mark, CHIA is being touted as the new super star. Can you shed some light ?
Can't find any info on it, can you help me?
https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/news/green-cryptocurrency-chia-less-energy-intensive-bitcoin-crypto-ethereum-altcoins-2021-4-1030373374
The coin is called XPC. Just started trading today.
Looks interesting, are you mining (farming?) it?
A friend of mine is.I joined him in a tiny small way.
Will you let me know how it goes?
Are you buying WAXP?
Already filled my allocation. Also was genesis member, so I'm stocked up. Get some if you haven't yet.
I have. I probably need to buy more.
Any thoughts on Sushi? has been weak.
Solid project, not worried
Mark, it appears that btc stays on a 7-month hype is within reach now. ETH is hitting ATH
ETH is a beast. If history is our guide, altcoins should generally outperform bitcoin through the end of this bull market, though some altcoins will not. Bitcoin hype will continue for a long time, currently on target to close its first negative month since September 2020 but that's normal, you want to see that after a six-month parabola.
I joined a friend of mine into some mining of this coin. Fingers crossed.
Well, BTC is doing it. 7 month up ?
No, closed down for the month. ETH is tearing it up, altcoins will not be denied. What happens next?
I pretty much agreed with everything you said and love your caution and focus on the grand picture in this crypto frenzy. However, I still can't wrap my head around Bitcoin and don't understand why people believed it so much in the future.
I do believe crypto is the future and appreciate that Bitcoin showed a new way of finance, economy, and technology. But I’m very confused why so many people claim it will be the future when there are so many other cryptos that not only do the same thing but better in other ways.
In the future, for an ordinary person (non-investor, speculator), if they want to use crypto as a medium of exchange, why would they want to buy bitcoin if they can instead buy Ether (dapp exposure), Menoro (privacy), or even BAT (ads potential, for now).
I know that Bitcoin is the king now is because of the first-mover advantage and people’s familiarity with it. It's the first thing most ordinary people will experience when they want to dive into crypto. But in the long run, the first-mover advantage won’t prevail if it does not evolve with its competition. It will be replaced by those that exceed the first mover. I remember people were complaining about smartphones when smartphones first came out. “It’s unsafe. It may explode. What if you touched the screen by accident. why do you need to listen to music on it. Just get an MP3.” But as time passes by, the technology that offers better utility will always weed out the ones that can’t keep up. Throughout history, the first mover will hardly stay till the last. I'm just wondering, is there anything special I missed about Bitcoin other than its current adoption rate that will prevent it from giving up its crown eventually. I’m not thinking about now or even 5 years. I’m talking about 10, 20, or even 50 years. If crypto truly will revolutionalize the world as you said.
That's a good point and we'll see how things turn out. For now, the whole market follows bitcoin. Altcoins can't go up when bitcoin's going down, and they always go up when bitcoin goes up. Those big shifts in the market always start and end with bitcoin. So we have to pay attention to it.
Thanks for the clarification. Yeah, at least for now Altcoin is tied to Bitcoin. And I think it's because most people still have no idea what's happening in the crypto space and Bitcoin functions as the gateway for people to experience crypto. I'm totally fine with it taking the lead now and will follow it closely for the general market sentiment.
Yea, for now. We have some data showing strong correlations, too.
Hey mark. Thank you for all your hard work. My question is that I understand we are overheated in the Bitcoin charts and waiting for inevitable correction. I also understand that signs are nigh for an inevitable alt season. What I was hoping for clarification on is when you think alt season will happen in relation to the bitcoin correction? After all it doesn’t make much sense to scale out of Bitcoin (which most of my portfolio is in) or even to buy alts with usd right now if the price is going to plummet taking alts with it. Unless you think alts and bitcoin will most inverse to each other?
Alts always follow bitcoin but not at the same pace. We've had a few times where alts crashed less than bitcoin, though yes, usually the alts fall harder. I look at altcoin dominance and altcoin market cap charts, which anybody can see on TradingView.
Total cap: https://www.tradingview.com/symbols/CRYPTOCAP-TOTAL2/
BTC dominance: https://www.tradingview.com/symbols/CRYPTOCAP-BTC.D/
Look at both charts and you'll see two long-term trends: more volume and higher prices for alts, bitcoin dominance getting weaker each time alts fight back.
I wouldn't bet against the trend.
We'll have altseason when bitcoin dominance drops to 61% or lower. Nobody will realize it at that time, especially if bitcoin's falling or not rising. But nobody ever sees the boom until it's already started. Judging on how the trends are converging, that will happen soon.
Hi Mark,
Thank you for your awesome content. I have a question regarding alt coins. Are there coins currently that you think are a good buy, I ask because of the recent spike. — Ajit
As of August 22, 2020 I wouldn't worry about spikes, prices move too much to worry about that. No use trying to time the market, any single alt can crash 50% when the market goes up and pump 200% when the market goes down. I stand by everything on my list of altcoins regardless of price, always suggest you average in. Set aside an amount of money and buy into the coin bit by bit over a few days or weeks. That way you won't have to worry about the pumps and drops.
Thanks for the kind words, I hope I can continue to live up to your expectations - I will definitely try :-)
Thanks Mark, what you say makes a lot of sense. There are two coins i have recently got interested in, if you have already reviewed them would love to know your opinion. 1. SingularityNET 2. Ampleforth
Sorry Mark, i was trying to search the site to find all the altcoins you recommend. Could not find a list as such. If its not much trouble in one of your future posts can you list the altcoins you are hopeful about.
Altcoin Reports linked above https://cryptoiseasy.substack.com/p/altcoin-reports I'll add to the bottom of premium posts.
1. AGI - will need to look into it further.
2. AMPL - Interesting concept, I want to see how people use it in real life (beyond speculating on the rebalance).
Hello Mark!
Thank you for all content and insights that you have provided so far.
I've subscribed last month was advised by a friend.
My question is regarding the:
https://cryptoiseasy.substack.com/p/altcoin-reports
Could I expect to publish more coins in substack, or I have to subscribe to:
https://www.altcoininsights.io/
?
You could check on API3 also. They initial sale passed for around $1.0 5 per token, now they are trading around $2 on Uniswap, and there is a lot of potential in that space.
I see that you are invested and interested in RUNE, you could check XHV, they are going to be listed on ThorChain and provide algo backed anonymous stable coin.
Thank you
Y
Hi Yavor. Yes, altcoin recommendations was too overwhelming for me, couldn't keep up a regular pace or look into all the projects people asked about. I needed to move them to a separate service.
I republish shortened versions of my Altcoin Insights recommendations in CIE occasionally, usually months after I recommend them. All my recommendations are long-term awesome projects, applicable for everybody.
For Altcoin Insights subscribers I try to time the recommendation to get in before everybody else does. Once it hits CIE, there's a good chance the price has gone up significantly, though I assume sometimes that won't be the case. Either way, worth considering in your portfolio, but with Altcoin Insights I take the investor view, CIE more about education/information.
XHV and API3 now on my "to do" list.