I’d have a hard time investing in bitcoin. I think it is extremely speculative. Makes cannibis stocks look like blue chips.
I should start by saying I've never invested in cryptocurrency. But my take on Bitcoin is that it has real value because it's used by... criminals lol. So long as there's crime, I think there's going to be people who really like the idea of anonymous currency. Anyways, my only qualm with investing in it is that I don't know what its value actually is. I look at how much it's trading for and I'm like "uhm, okay - and that's based on what exactly?" I guess I'd like to learn more about it but frankly, I think I missed the boat. The time to buy was a long time ago when it was trading for peanuts. Now a single BTC is worth thousands? Crazy.
As for investing right now, times are absolutely crazy. We saw some big dips when the coronavirus news started going viral. Some stocks we saw dip should have done just that because the companies were going to take a beating. Examples: hospitality, airlines, etc. Others seemed to drop just because everyone was scared, markets were spooked, and lots of people were just selling out of fear. I think there was an assumption on the part of many that the stocks were going to crash and they'd lose everything but we have safeguards in place these days on the exchanges that suspend trading so it's not going to be like 1929 when the market crashed. I mean, that's literally why the safeguards are in place now. What we did see though was some prime opportunities to buy in. I'm just kinda throwing numbers out there from best I recall but we saw, as an example, Carvana dip to around $30 a share and then jump up to $90 a share as it looked like things were turning around. Of course, if you're in the US, things really haven't turned around. The coronavirus is raging right now. The US has borrowed huge amounts of money that taxpayers will have to pay back. All these stimulus checks, corporate bailouts - this is all money that will have to be paid back and it's A LOT of money lol. The unemployment is absolutely crazy too. Combine this and it's a bit unnerving, to say the least. My take on unemployment is that we're not going to see all these jobs come back. Things are different now. The times have changed, and quickly at that. We don't shop the same. People are rightfully scared to go out and live like they used to with the virus completely out of control. I think this will leave a lasting impression in the minds of many, which will, at least for a generation, change the way we live. I think there will be a lot of businesses that take a hit as a result and subsequently, we won't see those jobs returning. This will be a problem for some time. The only real upside here, for investors that is, is that the economy and the stock market are not one in the same.
What I have been noticing quite a bit of lately is companies buying their own stocks. That's somewhat telling. They're not comfortable investing in other companies because there's so much uncertainty, but they know how their own stock is valued and they know what their own forecasts, revenue, etc look like so they feel as if they're undervalued and it's a good time to buy their own stock.
It's definitely a wild time right now. Some risk-takers will win, others will lose. I think one of the big issues though, for the common person, is that there are too many that see opportunity in all this but just don't have the insight to make wise investments. As a result, the real pros are coming in and taking them for all they're worth. Don't be a sucker. If you don't know what you're doing, you might be better off staying out of it entirely or leaving it to a professional to manage your portfolio for you.
With the MJ stocks, things have been pretty crazy. Like someone else noted, there was and is a lot of money pouring into the scene, but that doesn't mean that these companies know what they're doing. There's still the black market to contend with. Adhering to regulations and doing things right costs money, money that black market suppliers don't have to spend. This potentially allows them to undercut the federally approved operations, which is basically what we've been seeing. With the retail cost low, the result of competition, the margins might not be there, especially with flower. Where we might see better returns is in edibles and things of that nature. Another avenue, and perhaps a massive one, is exports. Exporting to other countries might be where some of these companies make their fortunes and make their investors rich. But we'll all just have to wait and see.
Right now, I've lost a bit with some of these MJ stocks, but I'm betting all my chips on one hand here. Hedging is the idea. Have to mitigate risk. These are, in my opinion, risky stocks. I mean, we don't even know what some of them are doing. Look at CannTrust, for example, and all the shady shit they got caught doing. So if you're going to dump some cash into these companies, I'd say you should definitely make sure you're hedging your bets by investing in safer, more tried and true avenues of investment.
