Friday, December 20, 2013

The Master Manipulators are at Bitcoin

The manipulators have invaded the trading at Bitcoin. I read a couple of articles on Bloomberg and Yahoo. They were both slamming Bitcoin. It showed me that the same people who manipulate the stock market were pulling their tricks on Bitcoin as well. They play me for the fool that I am, They drive the market up to appeal to our greed and wishful thinking. Then they drive the prices down sharply to scare us out of the market.
Since I'm trying to catch a trend I am a sucker for these moves. I've been on the wrong side except for a few days ago when I caught a nice move up in my sleep.
I bought a coin named NWC last night. I saw the market move up and couldn't stand to miss the move, It's been fluctuating since then. I'll try to stick with it at least until the beginning of the new year, The Chinese ban on transferring money from banks to Bitcoins goes into effect, then. That might drive the market down. The Chinese people might find a way to buy Bitcoins without banks by then. I'll probably be forced out of the market by then.
Without digital currency I feel rather hopeless. Maybe I'll get back to my plan of going prospecting for gold. I can't get a trailer but I have a van that I can load up with camping gear. I could just live out of my van.
I called Paypal last night to see if I could take Bitcoin for payment for my etchtings. They said that they were working on it but they weren't there yet. I think there is a chance to get high prices for art from Chinese people who will be stuck holding Bitcoins and no way to convert them to currency. At least that is my hope.
On a different subject, we had freezing rain last night. All I've been able to do with it is to spead some salt. I can't even get the car running because I can't get the ice off the windows. I had to walk to the home that I shovel snow for.
Well I have to go.
Later          

Thursday, December 19, 2013

Overtrading Litecoin

I've been overtradiing Litecoin, lately.
The night before last night I made a couple of hundred dollars in my sleep. I sold my digital currency before going to be and placed a buy order at half the price that it was when I went to bed. It was filled and the price  of Lite coin went up from there. Yesterday, I tried to catch trends but I was always on the wrong side of the trades. Last night I tried to repeat my move of the previous night, but I just missed out on a nice move up. I'm still ahead but my trading is hurting me.
Maybe I should just buy and hold. I'm worried about how the government might stop sales of digital currency in China. That didn't seem to affect trading last night.
There is always something to worry about and if a person just sits tight and holds his currency he should be able to ride it out. I wish that I didn't do any trading for the last 2 weeks. I would have been in the same position that I am now. I would have saved on commissions.
One thing I noticed is that Bitcoin seems to lead Litecoin by about 20 minutes. That is Bitcoin does something and 20 minutes later Litecoin follows. Anyway it seems to work that way. I might be fooling myself or grabbing at straws.
I had bad news on the van, yesterday. The mechanic who looked at my van to see if I could put on a trailer hitch told me that there was too much rust under my van to attach the hitch. That puts buying a trailer on hold. I won't be able to tow it.
I bought a tent so I'll be able to camp out in a SHTF situation. I just can't afford this prepping bullshit.
I feel like I'm tied to a railroad track and all I can do is to watch the train coming. That's just the way that it is. It reminds me of my time in the Marine Corps where I never knew when some black guy might kill me.
 I did fairly well in my Spanish class. I got a C+ overall. The final test didn't hurt me as much as I feared that it would. I didn't get as much studying in as I should have. I was busy trading currency over the weekend and Monday it snowed and I had to shovel all day. I don't know how bad I did but I was afraid of getting an F, and I didn't.
I'm thinking of selling my etchings for Bitcoins. I figure that there will be a lot of Chinese who will be trying to get rid of their Bitcoins. I'll look into it. It's worth a shot. They don't seem to move, otherwise.
Later

Monday, December 16, 2013

Crypto Currencies Crash

Well the crypto currencies are all collapsing. I got caught and lost about $400. I was shoveling snow when the crash happened.
I guess that the lesson is to not trade when I can't watch what is happening on the exchanges. I have to check what the coins are doing every15 minutes or so. No more sleeping while I have money invested. Now that I think about it I was taking final test in my Spanish class while the market tanked. Between shoveling snow and taking the Spanish test I must have spent 3 or 4 hours without checking the price of my Lite Coins.
At least I did better in my Spanish test than I thought I would. A part of the test was me asking and answering questions of my teacher. She said that I did well in that. Some of the test was a complete blank to me. Most of it went pretty well.
I'll know this Wednesday how well I did. I'll check my grades, then. I can get that online.
Tomorrow I'll find out if I can put a trailer hitch on my van. I bought a hitch at Wal-Mart and I'm having a local mechanic try to put it on. There might be too much rust under the van to safely install a hitch. If that happens I'll take the hitch back to Wal-Mart and see about getting another vehicle.
I sent my brother a silver coin for Christmas, today. I overbid on it on EBay. I thought I was bidding on something that was 5 ounces of silver. Instead it was .5 ounces. I was wondering why it went so cheap. It's a nice Canadian coin. It was graded and everything.
They are predicting more snow for tomorrow. Another busy day ahead. I don't really have much else to say.
Later

Saturday, December 14, 2013

Coins going sideways and I'm out

I got out of Bitcoins andLlitecoins this morning. I had a buy order for some Litecoins but I even canceled that.
I'm thinking that the cryptocurrencies will go down on the weekend. They usually do. This week they didn't even come back from last weekend. They've been rather dissolute. Litecoins are bouncing between $29 and $31.Bitcoins are moving more but they tend to come back to where they were. I'm just going to stay out until after the weekend crash. Then I'll buy Litecoins.
I've got to hit the books this weekend. I've got a big Spanish test next Monday. It's the final and I need to do well to bring my grade up. I was thinking about going to Guttenburg to look at trailers but I think I'll put that off. Guttenburg, IA is near Prairie Du Cien, WS. When I go to Guttenburg I'll swing past the Cabela's at Prairie.
Well, it's Saturday morning at Java John's. I'm shoveling snow, occasionally, and drinking coffee. I'm still out of crypto currencies and into fiat (which means the paper currency that the government palms off on us).
I'm waiting for the regularly scheduled weekend crash in crypto currencies. I think I might get back to bitcoin since it seems to be moving the most. It's going down the hardest so it might go back up more as well.
Tuesday, I'm getting a hitch put on my van. I need that to tow a small trailer that I want to buy. Having a trailer would open up a lot of options for me:

  1. I could buy my own land and live on it.
  2. I could travel anywhere in the country and have a place to live.
  3. I could store water, food and ammo more easily.
  4. I could go to my sister, Faye's place in California and have a place to live.
Well I think I'll go back to shoveling snow.
Later.

Saturday, December 7, 2013

Sold Bitcoins, Now in Litecoins

I sold my bitcoins yesterday and bought Russian Rubles. I then bought litecoins after the crash. They seem to be holding up better than bitcoins.
I'm just going to sit on them for a while. I'm doing OK. I doubled my money in a month or so. If I can keep that up I'll run off to Costa Rica in 6 months and live cheaply.
I think the China selling is over. The Chinese government stopped their banks from dealing with bitcoins a day or two ago. It could still be volatile over the weekend. We'll see.
I'm going to Rochester today. Last week I tried to go twice and my car broke down both times. Today the car is working well and I've got gas. So I think i'll go. I have to go to an auction first. They are selling some foreign coins that I might be interested in,
Later
I went to the auction and didn't see anything I would like to buy.
Then I went to Rochester and priced trailers. I couldn't find anything in my price range and weight category. The last trailer salesman that I talked to said that between 1995 and 2009 few small trailers were made.
Therefor, used small trailers are hard to find.  I'll have to be patient and explore all of the options. EBay looked hopeful but I would have to travel across country to pick it up. That means I have to get a hitch on my van before I can haul a trailer.
I'm at Barnes & Noble now.
I just checked the price for litecoins on their wi-fi. I'm down about 10%. That might sound bad but it could have been a lot worse. I'm going to be patient and see if they double in the next month or so.
Later

Thursday, December 5, 2013

Bitcoin Panic

Well, I panicked this morning and sold all of my cryptocurrencies at a low.
The Chinese government made an announcement that trading Bitcoins through banks would be illegal. That caused Bitcoins and all of the other cryptocurrencies to collapse. I sold everything at a bottom. It's going up now so I bought back in. I could have just left it alone and it would have come back on it's own. I over-trade. I always panic and pick bottoms to sell into. Then I don't get back in, in time to make back my losses.
That brings me to a point that I've been thinking about. Does anyone have enough information to actually trade for money?
The individual investor simply doesn't have the information sources that are available to the large investors.
When I watch Jim Cramer on CNBC, people call in with a stock pick. He usually tells them that their stock is not "best of breed" meaning that it's not the best stock in that sector. I don't know how to get the information of what stocks are "best of breed". It seems to be known on Wall Street but not on Main Street.
There are times that I don't think Jim has enough information as well, Yesterday he was complaining that the Dow went down in spite of good news. I feel that he ignored the approval of Detroit's bankruptcy. I think that is what drove everything down yesterday. It portends more state and municipal bankruptcies. That could collapse the whole "house of cards" that is the world economy.
Back in 1989 I got into trading commodities because I felt that stocks were just too hard to understand. Now that I've traded stocks I feel that all the more. But I learned that commodities are too difficult as well. I'm trying cryptocurrencies because I think I'm in ahead of the crowd. Only time will tell.Maybe there is no way that an individual investor can have enough information.
I suppose we are all damned to cleaning toilets or loading trucks for a living. There just doesn't seem to be any way out of the "working class trap". The more I try to get out the deeper I seem to fall.
Enough rambling for now.
Later

Sunday, December 1, 2013

The Coins are Down

My investments in the various digital currencies are all down about 10% today. Everything moved up so strongly last week that this might be expected.
I'm going to move some more money from the bank to invest in Bitcoins tomorrow if it keeps going down. The trouble with that is that it will take 3 days to move money from the bank account. Everything will be different by then. That always happened with trading on E-Trade. Maybe I could use a credit card. We'll see.
I'm tempted to go to Rochester and shop at Barnes & Noble. They sent me 3 coupons that I would have to use by today. I wanted to go Friday but my car broke. I got it fixed yesterday. Nothing is stopping me, today. I think I'll go right away. I'll continue this posting from there.
Well, my car didn't make it to Rochester. There was a loud whining sound (I think it's the serpentine belt) but it could be something worse. I turned back and I'm now having lunch at Culvers.
The prices of digital currency kept going down. I see it as a buying opportunity. I just don't have a way of moving money fast enough to take advantage of it. That's one of the advantages of digital currency. You can move it much faster than the banks can. Instead of 3 days it usually takes me 30 minutes. But to get dollars to the Bitcoin account takes 3 days.
So much for my fantasies of buying a trailer and more silver. I have to face reality and be grateful for the snow next week so I can make money shoveling it. In a year or two I might be able to get out of debt. For now I'm just stuck in poverty and a low paying job.
I was watching G4Title on YouTube, today. He talked about how people get caught up in the negativity surrounding the Prepper movement (especially concerning the financial collapse). His point was to not get caught up in the negative thought that naturally surrounds this stuff.
I think he's right but I feel that I'm being caught between a rock and a hard place. I know that the financial collapse is coming but I don't have the money to take steps to prepare for it.
Digital currencies were giving me some hope but that might be a delusion. I'll know in the next month or so. I'll either be quite well off for me or down about $1000. I know that I'll be pouring more money in if they go down because I see this as an opportunity. Well, at least I have a job and snow shoveling to bring in more income. Later