under water?
i was on cloud nine when i was a newbie back in 2014 as the price was dropping down from around $500 and reached $200 eventually. it is all a matter of perspective in my opinion. back then i would have given anything to have more fiat to dump and get bitcoin in return but naturally i only had a restricted amount of money to invest.
You're definitely not a typical investor. I've got a broker friend and he agrees, the sentiment cycles that seem to play out in Bitcoin carry through to all markets. Very, very few people will react favorably to their investment dropping 60% in value, and most will sell at huge losses in that situation.
The OP definitely poses an interesting question. Back in 2014-2015, although somewhere in my mind I was a long term bull, there still wasn't enough history that I was
sure that the long term trend would continue. Fortunately I had enough money to gamble with that I kept a good deal of coins cold from years ago. But I did still consider it
a gamble.
After 2017, I'm much more confident.
there are a couple of facts that makes me think this way:
1. the potential of bitcoin and the growth that it can have in the long term. the supply is limited and the adoption is no more than a tiny bit of the whole world (<1%) and it is growing. if you are back in that time seeing price @$400 and know that it has a very good chance of rising to a lot higher than this, you will consider that price a bargain.
2. i said i was happy between $500 and $200, not $1200-$1000. in other words when price has already dropped 60%-70% we are at the bottom. obviously, not being able to see the future, you can't say where the actual bottom is so you have to work with what you are dealt with.
3. i invest what i can afford to lose.
it was not a gamble, it still isn't. it is an investment with a higher risk and a higher reward.