This constant downward compression we've had since 1/17 really feels like an attempt to wring out every last bit of weak hands.
Mission accomplished?
I would think , they that really cannot handle the pressure are out off most of there money is out for the rest more and more starting too know how the market works or trying to believe “ i know iT Will go up because iT allways do” offcourse Many of them bought in lately or even @ +12-13-14k.... and Just really don’t know what BTC is or the market or anything but Just got in by friends like i have with a few of my friends .... and they Just want to act strong “i know it Will go up again” but meanwhile sending textmessages like whats happening you know something... blabla i Just say keep hodling..... they say offcourse price Will go up for sure.... then i ask Why do you think that?? And again they say because iT allways does while they really don’t know anything about iT , but for these peoples that or still here and even losing money now i think they Will stay on BTC because they seen friends making money and want the same thing and are losing know and Just think WTF there’s No way back anymore ( offcourse those friends like these are smaller investors trying to get rich ). But for what its word i think the really weak and scared should been out most of them not??
I see this too. Even in myself as I am also a "late investor". I started watching and learning about bitcoin early 2017 then finally started buying in mid 2017. That being said, I am a believer and a hodler now. I continue to learn and read up but, still consider myself a noobie. I think there are lots of others just like me. I think the believer and hodler foundation of bitcoin was greatly added to in 2017.
My sister has been a little bit irritating in regard to these hesitancies about bitcoin (buydl, hodl or sedl). I told her and her husband about BTC in late 2014 at around $385, and I sent an initial $10 in BTC - through Circle. They were naysaying me for more than a year while proclaiming that their $10 was worth less than $10, and then a bit more than a year later(in early 2016), I sent them another $30 in BTC when the price was around $420.
They continued to naysay or go in a form of radio silence, and may have even sold most of that initial $40 before the prices went above $1k... which would have been around late 2016. Remember some of the Circle going out of the buy/sell business, and stating all or nothing to customers to withdraw their BTC or to cash out... I think that they cashed out.. for easiness.
Anyhow, she and her husband bought around .5BTC in the $3,500 arena, which would have been August/September without saying anything to me until the price was in the $15k territory - maybe late December, and I think when the price was coming down from $19k, rather than when it was on the way up. At some point, my sister said that they were planning to buy another .5BTC "when the price goes below $10k".. but the price has gone below $10k at least 3 times in the past couple of weeks, and they have been hemming and hawing regarding reasons NOT to buy and even spout out various bearish mainstream media talking points, as if the mainstream media were the experts on bitcoin price dynamics and valuation merely because a bunch of them are saying the same things.
O.k whatever, I can only hold their hands for so long and to attempt to demonstrate how much misinformation is out there about bitcoin, including asserting that a lot of the same talking points have been made for more than the past two years, but BTC prices went up in spite of the supposed experts calling bubble since $250 - go figure.
I remember when I was taking online chess lessons in 2016 from a Serbian chess master - prices were super cheap because Serbia, but Paypal didn't work.. also because Serbia. He would only accept Bitcoin.
My parents were extremely skeptical of the whole Bitcoin thing, but I ended up getting like $100 in BTC back then for lessons.
I started investing the little $ I had in BTC on Coinbase, and asked my parents for a loan, which they refused.
I kept asking them again and again, after doing more research, since I thought it would be obvious to anyone that Bitcoin would be a big deal in the future, but they refused.
As Bitcoin hit $1000, and kept going up and up, they were still skeptical, even up to until it hit $10k in like November or around then.
However, a week or so before the China ban, they gave me $6000 to invest in crypto, which dropped me quite a bit, and they were calling it "the end for Bitcoin" since China banned it.
Of course, we know what happened, and I made a great deal of money from it - much more than any college kid working full-time slavery to pay the bills.
The funny thing is that when Bitcoin hit ~14k on the way up, THAT'S when they FINALLY decided to invest a large amount of money into it - like $50k in total, which is a sizeable portion of their overall investment portfolio.
Of course, everything just went down after some excitement, but my parents aren't worried at all, because now they finally think that Bitcoin and other top cryptos will prosper in 2018, when things recover. They are even buying more at the dips.
Of course, I also believe in the imminent recovery and 25k+ target for the next wave.
I just find it funny how human psychology works...
Actually, your parents seem a bit more reasonable than my sister (except perhaps you maybe had to pull too many teeth before they finally saw the light). Hopefully they can figure out an ongoing reasonable plan that is tailored to their financial situation, views and timeline from here on out.