Mining is definitely not the best thing to do. I personally think it's a waste of time unless you are planning to have a huge rig. It's going to take months just to recover the initial investment but even if you already have the gpus ready, the electricity cost and the fact that you are not going to mine a lot still makes it quite useless. A lot of people mine alt coins hoping they will increase in price but you could just buy them directly instead of mining them.
For trading, really short term can be quite a headache in cryptos. 5-10% moves can happen not only daily but hourly and sometimes within minutes. I prefer swing trading which is a longer term trading, basically you wait for the market to enter a bear or bull trend and you try to get in at the best price setting your stop losses to not be too tight.
Topic: Getting started w/ modest initial investment - Mining, trading and more, worthwh (Read 141 times)
April 29, 2018, 12:21:04 PM
April 29, 2018, 04:45:02 AM
Hello everyone. I thought I'd ask here to get your impressions compared to a forum dedicated exclusively to crypto. We also have some people who are technically (and hopefully financially) knowledgeable.
I've been aware of and on the periphery of crypto for quite some time; I've mined a little here and there years ago, following the technology etc... but have never made a concerted effort or a real investment thereof due to a variety of factors (healthcare expenses come first ). Everything I read suggests that blockchain tech and cryptocurrencies are going to continue to grow as a whole, but the particulars are the issue. Looking back at the missed opportunities is frustrating, so I am trying to figure out if it is still worth stepping into crypto with some sort of investment of time and/or resources.
I've heard lots of stories about how those who start with modest resources and then use their profits to reinvest into expanding their operation, both in terms of mining and trading. However, this is a fast moving world and what was viable in the past may not be presently. I'd greatly appreciate some informed advice on how to proceed in this regard. I'll break things down into mining and trading individually.
Mining - At the moment, I have a pair of computers with mining-capable GPUs - an AMD RX 480 8gb and an Nvidia GTX 1070 8gb. The RX480 can run most of the day mining away with a few exceptions as the PC on which it is used typically isn't doing GPU-intensive work, while the Nvidia 1070 is currently in my primary rig and thus would not be able to work when I was gaming or whatnot. Both of these cards are strong miners from what I've read, but I am curious how to put them to work or if it is possible/advisable to do so at this point. Would there be a way to maximize steady profit? I'm guessing this either goes toward mining one of those "whatever is profitable at the moment and then cashing out in BTC" pools and/or I can actually mine certain currencies directly to exchange and/or HODL and wait for value to rise.
Ideally I'd like to use existing hardware to turn enough of a profit to invest into more hardware for mining, but I am not necessarily opposed to an investment in new mining hardware - but I really will need a clear picture of what can provide a reasonable ROI. Putting out several hundred dollars for a single additional card (I had considered adding a 1080 Ti or Vega, allowing my 1070 to be mining non-stop) is one thing, but if I was to invest in either ASICs or try to build a stand-alone GPU mining rig with multiple cards it would really need to justify the outlay. Given your experience, are any of these mining-related paths worthwhile?
Trading - I've also considered trading in addition to/instead of mining, especially considering certain crypto operate without mining, including some big name ones. For the purposes of starting out, I was thinking of taking between $100 - $1000 (with $250 or $500 likely starting points) as an initial investment, ideally expanding over time with success. Besides "buy low, sell high" what are the principles of trading you follow when it comes to crypto? Do you practice short term/day trading , longer term or both? What guides you in each situation? How do you decide to diversify? How much do you dedicate to long-shot coins with potential for a larger raise in valuation? I've heard of various crypto investment strategies (ie pump and dump) that would not be permitted with other commodities but can be very lucrative though potentially risky - even whole communities who organize time to buy and sell one coin or another? I'm extremely wary of ICOs/premines given that so many of them end up as some sort of scam; I wonder if there is even a way for an ICO can be organized to legally promise something of value, so those behind it can't just take the money and run or let the crypto fall into obscurity.
There are also other possibilities out there in which I'd be interested, such as running a DASH Masternode, but the cost would be incredible as it takes 1000 DASH to run one; expensive even when the coin was $1, but exorbitant at the several hundred dollars a single coin commands. I know there are "shares" of sorts, but most of the time it still requires something like 25 DASH minimum which at current calculation is around $12,000! I haven't even looked into ROI seriously, but I am curious if anyone here owns a Masternode or a shares of one. I'd be interested to hear any ideas or other ways people have invested in the crypto/blockchain economy, especially as we look towards new generations thereof.
While the days of accepting a 50 Bitcoin for a pizza and then finding oneself a year or so later with thousands or hundreds of thousands to reinvest are likely over, the crypto/blockchain wave continues and I do not want to miss my chance to get in. There are various coins or projects that I would follow or mine simply as a hobby because I have interest in their underlying tech or ideals, but that isn't enough on its own if I am to make a sizable investment. Any insight or experience is appreciated. Thank you.
I've been aware of and on the periphery of crypto for quite some time; I've mined a little here and there years ago, following the technology etc... but have never made a concerted effort or a real investment thereof due to a variety of factors (healthcare expenses come first ). Everything I read suggests that blockchain tech and cryptocurrencies are going to continue to grow as a whole, but the particulars are the issue. Looking back at the missed opportunities is frustrating, so I am trying to figure out if it is still worth stepping into crypto with some sort of investment of time and/or resources.
I've heard lots of stories about how those who start with modest resources and then use their profits to reinvest into expanding their operation, both in terms of mining and trading. However, this is a fast moving world and what was viable in the past may not be presently. I'd greatly appreciate some informed advice on how to proceed in this regard. I'll break things down into mining and trading individually.
Mining - At the moment, I have a pair of computers with mining-capable GPUs - an AMD RX 480 8gb and an Nvidia GTX 1070 8gb. The RX480 can run most of the day mining away with a few exceptions as the PC on which it is used typically isn't doing GPU-intensive work, while the Nvidia 1070 is currently in my primary rig and thus would not be able to work when I was gaming or whatnot. Both of these cards are strong miners from what I've read, but I am curious how to put them to work or if it is possible/advisable to do so at this point. Would there be a way to maximize steady profit? I'm guessing this either goes toward mining one of those "whatever is profitable at the moment and then cashing out in BTC" pools and/or I can actually mine certain currencies directly to exchange and/or HODL and wait for value to rise.
Ideally I'd like to use existing hardware to turn enough of a profit to invest into more hardware for mining, but I am not necessarily opposed to an investment in new mining hardware - but I really will need a clear picture of what can provide a reasonable ROI. Putting out several hundred dollars for a single additional card (I had considered adding a 1080 Ti or Vega, allowing my 1070 to be mining non-stop) is one thing, but if I was to invest in either ASICs or try to build a stand-alone GPU mining rig with multiple cards it would really need to justify the outlay. Given your experience, are any of these mining-related paths worthwhile?
Trading - I've also considered trading in addition to/instead of mining, especially considering certain crypto operate without mining, including some big name ones. For the purposes of starting out, I was thinking of taking between $100 - $1000 (with $250 or $500 likely starting points) as an initial investment, ideally expanding over time with success. Besides "buy low, sell high" what are the principles of trading you follow when it comes to crypto? Do you practice short term/day trading , longer term or both? What guides you in each situation? How do you decide to diversify? How much do you dedicate to long-shot coins with potential for a larger raise in valuation? I've heard of various crypto investment strategies (ie pump and dump) that would not be permitted with other commodities but can be very lucrative though potentially risky - even whole communities who organize time to buy and sell one coin or another? I'm extremely wary of ICOs/premines given that so many of them end up as some sort of scam; I wonder if there is even a way for an ICO can be organized to legally promise something of value, so those behind it can't just take the money and run or let the crypto fall into obscurity.
There are also other possibilities out there in which I'd be interested, such as running a DASH Masternode, but the cost would be incredible as it takes 1000 DASH to run one; expensive even when the coin was $1, but exorbitant at the several hundred dollars a single coin commands. I know there are "shares" of sorts, but most of the time it still requires something like 25 DASH minimum which at current calculation is around $12,000! I haven't even looked into ROI seriously, but I am curious if anyone here owns a Masternode or a shares of one. I'd be interested to hear any ideas or other ways people have invested in the crypto/blockchain economy, especially as we look towards new generations thereof.
While the days of accepting a 50 Bitcoin for a pizza and then finding oneself a year or so later with thousands or hundreds of thousands to reinvest are likely over, the crypto/blockchain wave continues and I do not want to miss my chance to get in. There are various coins or projects that I would follow or mine simply as a hobby because I have interest in their underlying tech or ideals, but that isn't enough on its own if I am to make a sizable investment. Any insight or experience is appreciated. Thank you.
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