Is Bitcoin a good investment?

Is Bitcoin a good investment?

By Bitcoin.com

Note: This article is not investment advice. Instead, it aims to give you a better understanding of what Bitcoin investment involves.

The basics of Bitcoin investment:

You can invest in both Bitcoin Cash (BCH) or Bitcoin Core (BTC). They’re two separate digital currencies which can be bought and sold online.

There’s no single definition for Bitcoin investment: it depends on what you decide to do. For instance, you might be buying coins to store or trade, or you might try to earn coins by getting involved with Bitcoin mining.

As with any type of investment, do your research before spending any money on Bitcoin-related investments and make sure you never spend more than you can afford to lose.

Is Bitcoin investment safe?

A quick look at our Bitcoin price charts will tell you that both Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Bitcoin Core (BTC) can have periods of high volatility.

That’s because they’re both new investment opportunities and, as market sentiment around the potential of cryptocurrencies fluctuates, so too does the price of every coin within the space.

Predicting these periods of volatility is hard even for experienced traders. But, by doing your research and learning about the different types of Bitcoin investment opportunities (and scams), you can make more educated investment decisions.

Investing through buying and storing Bitcoin

Most new investors simply want to purchase Bitcoin and, once they own it, they store it securely for the foreseeable future (aka ‘hodling’).

The goal here is that the Bitcoin bought will appreciate in value and, if this happens, the investor can sell their Bitcoin on for a profit.

There is no way to predict whether the Bitcoin you buy will increase in value. One of the biggest factors impacting price is usability, so keep up to date with industry news to learn more about the potential of different cryptocurrencies.

To purchase Bitcoin, you exchange fiat currency (e.g. USD) for either Bitcoin Core (BTC) or Bitcoin Cash (BCH).

Investing through active Bitcoin trading

Trading Bitcoin involves buying either Bitcoin Cash (BCH) or Bitcoin Core (BTC) and, instead of storing it, trading it frequently.

The goal here is to buy when the price is low and sell when it rises, meaning a profit is made when the Bitcoin is sold.

Bitcoin traders often do this over relevantly short periods of time, closely tracking the market price to determine when to buy and sell.

Since there is no way to predict the market, it’s wise to trade with caution and be aware that there are never any guarantees of making a profit.

Investing through Bitcoin mining

Bitcoin mining involves trying to ‘earn’ Bitcoin Core (BTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) by lending computational power to the networks.

In short, when a computer successfully processes Bitcoin transactions, it’s rewarded with newly-created coins—meaning the owner of the hardware earns Bitcoin.

To start mining, you can either buy your own mining hardware or you can rent hardware through a cloud mining contract. Either way, joining a mining pool means you’re more likely to successfully mine Bitcoin (i.e. shared efforts for shared profits).

The profitability of Bitcoin mining depends on various factors. Above all, the value of the mined Bitcoin needs to be greater than the cost of running the mining hardware for miners to see a profit.

Avoiding Bitcoin investment scams

As with any financial landscape, the crypto space is rife with scammers looking to take advantage of new investors.

As a rule of thumb, any investment opportunity that seems too good to be true probably is. For instance, if a site or company claims it can double your Bitcoin or offers high interest rates if you ‘lend’ them your coins, they’re a scam.

Likewise, if you’re unexpectedly approached by somebody out of the blue promising to send you more Bitcoin if you first send them some, ignore it.

Many people fall victim to scams—especially when the fraudsters pose as well known figures in the crypto space through fake social media and email accounts.

Before committing to any investment, thoroughly research the company or website involved to establish whether they’re trustworthy.