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Topic: Diversification in cryptocurrency is a bad idea (Read 374 times)

full member
Activity: 854
Merit: 100
I am also of the idea that diversification will either be bad or good depending the kind of coins you are holding or want to hold and how the correlate with each other. If you want to keep more than one coin then I thinks it’s better to keep those who correlate negatively rather than those that move in the same direction.
hero member
Activity: 994
Merit: 515
Get'em boys
I've understood it some months ago. It BTC price goes down, alts and tokens lose more. Better decision for your portfolio is BTC and alts from top-10 according to market cap.

That's true but does not support the title thread that diversification is bad because its not as along as like you say you choose the right and top most coins.
full member
Activity: 206
Merit: 100
Cryptocurrencies are too much correlated to Bitcoin. If he plunges then all altcoins will follow the same path or even worse. For me, buying only Bitcoin is the best thing to do at this moment.

On the link below you have some plotted data:
https://cointimes.com.br/investment-diversification-in-cryptos-bad-idea/

For example:

Correlation between Ethereum and Bitcoin is 0.82 which means a very strong correlation. In 2017 the same correlation was 0.41. For me, if you're diversifying in two types of assets that have the same correlation you're doing it wrong.

What do you think about it?

I can hardly support your opinion just because it is so much easier to hold your money into one perspective coin that to diversified your Investment Portfolio into many coins that are not having any perspectives on that market of ours.
full member
Activity: 195
Merit: 100
I've understood it some months ago. It BTC price goes down, alts and tokens lose more. Better decision for your portfolio is BTC and alts from top-10 according to market cap.
newbie
Activity: 119
Merit: 0
 there is advantages and disadvantages in diversification.I think if you will go for long term investment diversification is not good idea but for short term it is a wise decision.
full member
Activity: 630
Merit: 123
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It is a bad idea only if the market falling. But if you know very well technologies, diversification is a good idea. For sure we have to invest not only in Crypto.
jr. member
Activity: 52
Merit: 10
DAOX ICO 2.0
Diversification in any investment is always a very useful thing. The main thing is to do it correctly, and not mindlessly divide the assets between hundreds of different coins.
legendary
Activity: 966
Merit: 1000
Both Bitcoin and Altcoin influence each other but altcoins have their own value, if the price of Bitcoin falls and the altcoin will be affected, this should be the point of rising of altcoins to defeat the dominance of Bitcoin in the crypto market.
jr. member
Activity: 140
Merit: 1
There are a lot of good coins on the market, but bitcoin is still the most profitable investment. Many coins that have had successful stretches in the past are already falling. It's hard to guess which coin will go up.
hero member
Activity: 2114
Merit: 603
Cryptocurrencies are too much correlated to Bitcoin. If he plunges then all altcoins will follow the same path or even worse. For me, buying only Bitcoin is the best thing to do at this moment.

On the link below you have some plotted data:
https://cointimes.com.br/investment-diversification-in-cryptos-bad-idea/

For example:

Correlation between Ethereum and Bitcoin is 0.82 which means a very strong correlation. In 2017 the same correlation was 0.41. For me, if you're diversifying in two types of assets that have the same correlation you're doing it wrong.

What do you think about it?


Yes but emerging ICOs see a lot of growth, if you have picked  the right ones ofcourse. If you find a coin that you are sure to invest in, correlation does not matter because thats cyclical. In the end a strong altcoin would grow in the long run. Also if you have all your money in bitcoin, you will not be able to earn returns on a short term basis. Smart diversification is always a good idea.
member
Activity: 242
Merit: 10
Perhaps diversification of encrypted currency assets in a declining market could lead to more asset losses, but diversification of encrypted currency is not a bad idea from an industry perspective.
full member
Activity: 350
Merit: 106
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Overall the article is right - the market is still extremely inter-connected. That may have to do that almost all altcoins are traded mostly in Bitcoin.

But I've observed that the success of a "diversifying" strategy has to do with the phase the market is currently in. So a good observer can achieve advantages diversifying and "un-diversifying" at the right moment.

The stats in the article you linked, for example, show that altcoins often exaggerate mid-term movements. For example, the last bullish cycle in Bitcoin in late 2017 was crazy, but much crazier in most altcoins. In contrast, in 2018 most altcoins fell much deeper than Bitcoin.

This shows us that - in contrast to most diversifying strategies at the stock market - a "diversifying" strategy in cryptocurrencies is not a good idea if you want to protect yourself from price drops. Instead, just in market phases where it's clearly visible that a crazy bubble is happening, it's best to gradually "un-diversify" - that means: gradually swap your altcoins for Bitcoin.

There are very few examples of cryptocurrencies that did better in bear markets than Bitcoin (Decred, for example, is one; Ethereum at least didn't lose as much at others), but it's difficult to predict which they are.

I can't say that I disagree to what you are saying. Because trend of alts are pretty much same as bitcoin. It goes up when bitcoin goes up and vice versa. So diversifying between altcoins may not be a very wise idea until the investor knows when exactly to square off their position.

However, un-diversifying doesn't necessarily mean to swap the altcoins to bitcoin only. I personally prefer stable coin and I always maintain some liquidity in hand to take advantage of any situation. I usually do it uaing stablecoin only without touching the bitcoin in most of the times.

I prefer to buy alts at the bear market using my stable coin and sell those alts at bull market to get back my capital and profits in stable coin.

However, for a person who just want to hold for longer time, the best coin is bitcoin for them. But for a person who is willing to take calculated risk, should not bound themselves only to bitcoin as market presents hundreds of opportunities for them to cash on.


I agree with you, i don’t swap alts just to buy bitcoin i prefer to buy stable coin especially in bear market which is more profitable in the long run when it goes back to bullish market. And i prefer to buy it in bitcoin market because when i sell it, automatically i hold Bitcoin which is higher value than the stablecoin.
newbie
Activity: 154
Merit: 0
cryptocurrencies without hurting the rest. But if you’re focusing on crypto as a virtual currency, I think it would be more convenient to have only one.
legendary
Activity: 3906
Merit: 6249
Decentralization Maximalist
If you want to diversify, you must choose non-correlated assets. Non-correlated coins do exist. Just look at the article's 2017 chart. BCH was not correlated with BTC, so diversifying into BCH was a good choice. This year, however, you will need to find other coins.

i disagree.
altcoins in the long run, they all act the same meaning they go down whenever bitcoin is active. and BCH has not been an exception to this rule either. the difference is that BCH has been new, controversial and advertised to death in the short time it existed so it might have acted a little differently from other altcoins.
In the particular case of BCH I agree with you. I think the reason is simply that BCH doesn't differ from other altcoins in that its trade pairs with Bitcoin are the dominant trade pairs, and so it "costs more" to move the price against Bitcoin (buyers and sellers would have to move their orders) as to "keep it in sync".

There are however cases where some currencies seem to have achieved a sort of "decoupling" from Bitcoin's price. Decred and Faircoin come into my mind, which seem both to be significantly less volatile than BTC. I'm only speculating about the reasons, but Decred has an internal "ticket" market which may be stabilizing the currency as it "freezes" a relative large amount of coins for some time (and so helps to prevent massive panic sells to a certain degree), and Faircoin has a big ecosystem of merchants and some additional, a bit centralized mechanisms that control its exchange rate (for example, a voting system to decide a peg to fiat currencies).

If coins with this kind of mechanisms like Decred and Faircoin, which reduce its dependency to the Bitcoin price, get more popular, then large-scale diversifying might begin to make sense even in bear markets and not only in some bull market phases like I wrote earlier.
jr. member
Activity: 196
Merit: 1
All bitcoin derivatives are not that different from each together. Should we encounter critical mass, I believe these cryptos will either unify as one, or just die. As an investment, diversity is good. Because so long as there is a market and someone is getting value, there can be many co-existing cryptocurrencies without hurting the rest. But if you’re focusing on crypto as a virtual currency, I think it would be more convenient to have only one. One that combines all the strengths of cryptocurrencies. This sounds appealing, correct?
legendary
Activity: 1638
Merit: 1163
Where is my ring of blades...
the point is buying altcoins is not even called "diversification". and the term "portfolio" was introduced last year with all the big pumps happening by the portfolio websites so that they could get more visitors/traffic and earn more money. otherwise it is not a real "portfolio" when someone buys 50 to even 100 different altcoins and tokens thinking they have diversified and then see all of them get dumped at the same time. you can't even manage that many altcoins at the same time!!!

as I always tell newcomers, you need to be a trader if you want to enter the altcoin market. it is a daily market that has good movements in short term but it is terrible if you start looking at it as an "investment".
legendary
Activity: 2114
Merit: 1023
Oikos.cash | Decentralized Finance on Tron
I have lost everything this year that I made the past two years, anything I try doesn't work. Trading doesn't work, the holding doesn't work diversifying doesn't work and going all out in one crypto doesn't work. My portfolio has gone down in value by 99% so I feel a total failure and am on the verge of giving up and a part of me just wants to cash in my last 15 in fiat before I become homeless. I am beginning to lose faith because the crypto markets are really over rigged.
newbie
Activity: 25
Merit: 0
I think we should not invest all in BTC, but we can diversify investment.
Example: I have $ 100,000, I will invest 60% in BTC and the remaining 40% for ICO token (find out before buying)
This is my way of thinking.
sr. member
Activity: 784
Merit: 250
Cryptocurrencies are too much correlated to Bitcoin. If he plunges then all altcoins will follow the same path or even worse. For me, buying only Bitcoin is the best thing to do at this moment.

On the link below you have some plotted data:
https://cointimes.com.br/investment-diversification-in-cryptos-bad-idea/

For example:

Correlation between Ethereum and Bitcoin is 0.82 which means a very strong correlation. In 2017 the same correlation was 0.41. For me, if you're diversifying in two types of assets that have the same correlation you're doing it wrong.

What do you think about it?


You had a point here, eth and btc are closely related in terms of buying and selling. But, you also need to take note of the functions of each type. How each of type of coin has been earned? ETH coverage is wider than BTC. Most of the ICO tokens are supported by ETH only.

Diversity would be good because each coin plays different functions.
legendary
Activity: 1414
Merit: 1039
If you want to diversify, you must choose non-correlated assets. Non-correlated coins do exist. Just look at the article's 2017 chart. BCH was not correlated with BTC, so diversifying into BCH was a good choice. This year, however, you will need to find other coins.

i disagree.
altcoins in the long run, they all act the same meaning they go down whenever bitcoin is active. and BCH has not been an exception to this rule either. the difference is that BCH has been new, controversial and advertised to death in the short time it existed so it might have acted a little differently from other altcoins.
but for instance when bitcoin drop began in December, BCH drop also started with a little delay since it was on a pumping spree with also a delay but the drop happened with the same process.
of course in short term (less than a couple of days) there is always exceptions because pumps happen.

Even more recently, with the bitcoin rises, not all the altcoins were jumping along as well. There's definitely a difference between the coins, but I think there's some truth to the statement that "the movement of bitcoin often influences the movement of altcoins as well."

To back this up, there isn't really much more to look at than graphs. Take a look at coinmarketcap (https://coinmarketcap.com/). You'll notice that a lot of the trends are pretty much the same as Bitcoin, aside from a select handful. Taking a look back at the extreme bullish run and the aftermath in December 2017, you'll notice there's pretty much the same trend. I'm not sure if you can group all altcoins together. I agree that they're all competing against Bitcoin, but they're also competing amongst themselves for the most support from the community.
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