It is possible that we are saying very similar things, even though you seem to be emphasizing the trading angle quite a bit more than me
I think this stuff applies to long term investment as much as swing trading. Investment is all about optimizing your capital. Multi-year drawdowns are a killer in terms of opportunity cost.
If you are retroactively analyzing where you could have been, then maybe you are concluding that the "opportunity costs are killer", and you also believe that you are being objective in your measurements, but if you don't really know what the fuck you are doing, but you are optimistic about the investment, you are probably way better off just engaging in DCA and working on other aspects of your life including earning money or spending time on other interests that you have. Could be more of an opportunity cost trying to study and figure out an investment and then trying to figure out how to trade the BIG swings or whatever strategy that you might retrospectively conclude would have been better, when you could have been earning money or having fun in ways that are preferable to your own interests.
Good for you, but if someone cannot figure it out exactly, s/he may be better to just take action to start their dollar cost averaging rather than wasting their mental energies on trying to figure something out that they cannot really identify whether it is up, down or sideways and they have no fucking clue which way it might go in the short-term future even though they have confidence in it as an investment in the long term.
Not really. Market cycles and entry/exit strategies are just as relevant to investment as they are to trading. I get it, you advocate really strict DCA. There are other ways to invest, however.
Yes.. I agree that there are other ways to invest, but one of the best ways to start is simple and straight forward DCA.. and it can be with a very small amount and the investor/trader can learn those other strategies, too if s/he wants.
Of course, if someone has some trading / investing timing skills than that person might be able to do better than DCA strategy, but that surely is not the majority of people .. I am not saying that they should not try to learn or whatever, but as a basic starting point, DCA is a great starting point absent some inclinations to learn or talent or whatever that might allow for some other non-DCA to possibly work better or to be better suited for some person coming into the BTC consideration for themself.
If you are "investing no more than you can afford to lose" then maybe you should not be giving any fucks, rather than being in "pain" from such short to medium term (and seemingly long term) that ends up going up in the long run..
Spoken like someone who has been around for years, made a lot of money off BTC, and has the benefit of hindsight.
It tends to take a long to to build an investment portfolio.. so, sure there can be some ways to get lucky, but I still tell people the same thing.. and of course, if my strategy has been successful, my strategy gives me more confidence that it works.
yeah when i was in my first 5-10 years of investing, I was struggling to build the size of my investment portfolio, so I have more credibility after I have employed it for a long time.. and I would not really have confidence to say anything when I am in the early years, and I was likely still learning a lot from others, so I really was not in a position to share any information because I was confused about what I was doing and whether it was going to actually work.. but through the years, I am better able to share it, and I am also in a position that I can share it.. and to help people who might be similar to where I was in my earlier years and to give them some ideas to benefit them in their thinking, planning and their confidence regarding what they are doing. Some people may learn methods that are even better than my own, too.
That is why we try to figure out strategies so we do not get ourselves into such a pickle... psychologically or financially.
There's been plenty of times when people should have waited or sold, rather than bought, too. What's your point?
My point is that it is better to create a plan and to act on that plan, even if the plan ends up being waiting, but more frequently, it is better to DCA.. which just means investing right away, even if it is a small amount. Of course, frequently, investors can plan to buy on dips too, but better to act than to wait... and part of acting may well be planning and setting parameters for some of the money.. which would be the combination of DCA, buying on dips HODLing. and sure after building up an investment position then maybe selling some on the way up too.
Let's say that some hypothetical person has $6k that s/he can invest right now, and $6k that s/he knows is coming in through cash flow over the next 6 months that s/he is going to be able to invest. Therefore, s/he has $12k that is going to come available over the next 6 months. S/he can create a plan that involves how to use that $12k over the next 6 months, and sure, the person could just have a plan that waits for a certain price point or the person can combine DCAing and buying on dips.. There is discretion, and my suggestion would be for the person to figure out for themselves what they are going to do and to be able to have a plan either way, and my own plan involves putting some of the money to work right away, and I give less than two shits if the BTC price ends up going in one direction or another because I am trying get a stake into BTC and also to prepare for the BTC price to go either way... I personally have other investments as well, so I understand that the considerations might be different if the person was brand spanking new to investing, so the $12k was the only money that they have... but there are all kinds of scenarios, and sure, I am leaning towards action right away, but I am also accepting that individuals might set their plans up differently, and one of the main things would be to think through various possible scenarios to figure out comfort levels for a variety of scenarios rather than just presuming that you know which way the price is going to go and to put all eggs into betting into a BTC price direction that might not end up playing out.