Baron's Crypto Trading Journal

[johnarb]

Ok, just bought .1841 BTC @ $54,801.

Maybe a typo? btc is in the very low $54K range, but you might have purchased last night?

[Edit: Taking advantage of being able to update my post. For comparison of fees on a purchase made a couple of weeks ago purchase at Coinbase pro]

 

[Baron]

Yeah, that was a typo. I meant to say .1841 BTC @ $54,081.

 

[Baron]

Is there a commission involved? Or a bid ask spread? If you wanted to convert back to dollars what would you get?

The commission is about $4 per $1000 of BTC. So the total BTC I could purchase for the $10k is about $9,960 worth.

 

[ph1l]

But because I'm trying to transfer USD in the account from a bank account using ACH, it takes 5 business days and I can only send $5k at a time per transfer. So you can see just from that one example how transferring value in the crypto space is way faster, more efficient, and a lot more convenient than using the legacy banking system. And that's just one tiny example from a million to choose from.

Services like wise.com (formerly transferwise) can pull money from a U.S. bank and send it to a foreign bank in a few minutes. I recently did this and sucessfully sent some money to my niece's bank account in Thailand. So it's possible to send money quickly and cheaply (total cost including bid/ask spread was 0.78%) without waiting days or paying the exorbitant fees and delay for doing it by bank wire.

 

[Specterx]

I am not completely sold on the crypto as a currency idea, but I do see it driving innovation in the financials world. Your example of ACH transfer is an excellent point, and I believe is one of many areas where the traditional finance world has gotten away with using inefficiencies to their benefit. They really had no reason to improve or make it quicker (I believe they all ready can) as most likely they make a few cents on the float between leaving one account and arriving in the other account. Similar to money coming back to your account after a refund or similar transaction. No problem debiting the day you pay, but getting it back is another story. In both cases I get the story they need to make sure the funds are actually available, but again today that should be a less than one day process.
To me the old guard will have to adapt and start playing at the level of efficiency that crypto is offering or they will lose ground and income.

Not to pollute Baron's thread - but slow transfers are a function of the USA specifically being in the stone age, rather than an unmet need for revolutionary technology. I lived in Europe 7 years ago, and instant digital bank transfers were ubiquitous even then. When I'd talk about mailing physical paper checks to settle transactions, people reacted as though I said I rode a horse to work or burned whale-oil for light.

 

[tsznecki]

@Baron I like the journal idea, but do you see it having any value in the age of Youtube gurus, IG influencers and general boomer sentiment on ET? Are you speaking to the right audience?

You have strong proponents of crypto with you here, but the other half are going to rip you apart the first bad trade you have.

 

[OptionsOptionsOptions]

@Baron I like the journal idea, but do you see it having any value in the age of Youtube gurus, IG influencers and general boomer sentiment on ET? Are you speaking to the right audience?

You have strong proponents of crypto with you here, but the other half are going to rip you apart the first bad trade you have.

• I think this is a buy-and-hold type of journal.
  
• Youtube gurus, IG influencers, and general boomer sentiment on ET is mostly quick profits from short term trades of a month or less.

 

[yc47ib]

I'm using FTX.us to be clear and yeah, I'm comfortable with them.

I had unpleasant experiences with FTX.us, Coinbase and Binance.us. I use Kucoin (https://www.kucoin.com/) mostly now, I do not see anything that Kucoin cannot do while FTX can. Just my two cents based on my experience. But I am mostly on Defi now, so a fiat on ramp is all I need. For that, I use the free one, https://invite.strike.me/MKK0LU, it is enough for me, $1000 a week limit. This is the only free real time on ramp from Fiat to Crytpo as far as I know, and it is real time, a few pennies for $1000, sometimes free; I accumulate US dollars in strike, and Dollar Cost Average into BTC whenever there is a dip in BTC to support levels, by transferring the USD to KuCoin, the moment it transfers, it is converted to the BTC at market price.

 

[yc47ib]

WOW!

Underperforming fundamentals? What are the fundamentals in crypto that can be analyzed?

Why crypto and why accumulation only?

I have never had a conversation with anyone that could explain crypto to me as a good investment other than it is going higher. My values/standards are to be able to come up with a back of napkin analysis for an investment that gives strong reasons for future value. For a vaccine company, that might be using expected utilization rates, pricing models, recurring need to come up with sales/profits/market cap. Same thing if it were an auto company. For futures markets, there is worldwide demand for corn or lumber that can be followed and understood. They get eaten or used and need replenishing. For autos people replace aging models with modern tech. But my judgement is that crypto is different and a greater fool trade. I have zero currency experience or exposure.

Thanks for sharing your old story. We need more success stories shared. It has been tough to learn of success in the markets, tough to find real or virtual mentors, and an uphill BATTLE to do well. ET indeed fit the bill of helping with the isolation (though I had to find my own path to success).

Cryto today is 1997 of Internet, back then there were a lot of doubt too, but look at Baron and his story.

 

[Baron]

@Baron I like the journal idea, but do you see it having any value in the age of Youtube gurus, IG influencers and general boomer sentiment on ET? Are you speaking to the right audience?

You have strong proponents of crypto with you here, but the other half are going to rip you apart the first bad trade you have.

I would rather have an audience that can learn about crypto instead of an audience of people who think they're experts. There's a lot of people on Youtube and other social media that run their mouths a lot, but they really have no idea what they are doing. One day they love bitcoin, the next day they say sell your bitcoin because of china, or because of Tether, or because of upcoming regulation, or because of whatever the next doom and gloom scenario they come up with is. Then they are all about NFTs, and then Doge or Shiba, but when bitcoin bounces back up, they are back to being bullish on BTC. It's like this never-ending cycle of chasing what is seemingly hot, but never actually capturing much of any upside moves.

And in terms of people ripping me to shreds when a bad trade happens, don't worry about me. I can take the heat.