HODL: The Cryptocurrency Strategy of “Hold on for Dear Life” Explained


“To HODL is an acknowledgment that while a lot of money can be made trading short-term volatility, a lot of money can also be easily lost,” Gagnon says. A good strategy, Morrison says, is to have a strong idea of why you’re investing in something when you buy it. And when you’re tempted to sell it, a key question is whether something about your analysis has changed. The devotion among HODLers comes from the culture surrounding Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, says David Duong, head of institutional research at the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase.

Then, that person is left with “a coin they don’t want at a price they can’t sell it [at].” To make sense of such crypto-slang, CNBC Make It asked Peter Saddington, a serial entrepreneur and early bitcoin investor who runs a bitcoin community called The Bitcoin Pub, to break it down. Saddington first purchased bitcoin in November 2011 when one coin only cost $2.52.

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“HODLers” buy assets and keep them with the expectation that years down the road, they’ll be worth significantly more than they are today. It’s a healthy part of a sensible cryptocurrency investing strategy when combined with serious research into the quality and long-term prospects of your cryptocurrencies. Most of us will do better with a well-researched hodling portfolio than a short-sighted day trading approach. All investments involve the risk of loss and the past performance of a security or a financial product does not guarantee future results or returns. You should consult your legal, tax, or financial advisors before making any financial decisions.

  • GameKyuubi wrote a post to the forum titled “I AM HODLING” and proceeded to pen a semi-intelligible post attempting to explain his new investment strategy while (admittedly) intoxicated.
  • It’s a fun nod to the term and its origins in the crypto ecosystem.
  • However, the difference between long-term value investing and long-term HODLing is the difficulty in accurately valuing cryptocurrencies.
  • HODL helps connect people in the Web3 ecosystem and encourages the crypto community to focus on the positive aspects of blockchain technology.
  • HODLing forces you to think about the long-term benefits of your strategy.

It’s a tricky game and quite challenging for traders to time their transactions exactly right so as to maximize their profits each time. However, as a HODLer, all you need to do is hold on and ignore all market fluctuations. The content of this article (the “Article”) is provided for general informational purposes only.

What Is The Best Coin To HODL?

Instead of buying low to sell high, i.e., timing the market, he would start HODLing onto his currency and not selling. “In a zero-sum game such as this, traders can only take your money if you sell,” he wrote. And if you’re a HODLer, capital gains aren’t the only way you can make money on cryptocurrency.

  • Most of us will do better with a well-researched hodling portfolio than a short-sighted day trading approach.
  • The volatility is more extreme, but the long-term gains have been quite appealing.
  • HODLers are a social bunch—their strategy relies on support from other investors, who urge them along and convince them not to sell if they are feeling unsure.
  • Despite the uncertainty, HODLing can be a powerful investment technique for those with an optimistic view of the future of crypto.
  • But “HODL”, as it has gained popularity among crypto enthusiasts, has come to mean “hold on for dear life”.

Public’s Recurring Investing feature can help you use this strategy by automating your crypto investments. Trading digital currency is risky and the price canfluctuate significantly. On the other hand, the buy-and-hold strategy is widely considered to be a sound investing approach.

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The phrase makes more sense when used to refer to worthless coins or tokens – also called ‘shitcoins’ – that have little to no utility outside speculation. Just like HODL, BTD or BTFD is a term used to encourage more investment whenever an asset’s price corrects during a rally, i.e., it dips. The correction is interpreted as a chance to buy more with the expectation that the price will inevitably rebound to the previous high. The term whale means a very large marine mammal that lives in the ocean.

  • The HODL token operates using the Binance Smart Chain, and HODL token owners can earn Binance Coin rewards.
  • Cryptocurrency has been the best performing asset class of the past decade.
  • Open to Public Investing is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Public Holdings, Inc. (“Public Holdings”).
  • Cryptocurrency is still relatively new and isn’t subject to the same regulation as traditional investing.
  • Investors may have to experience extreme ups and downs of their asset values, which means they should have much larger risk appetites than investors of conventional investment instruments.

Investors may have to experience extreme ups and downs of their asset values, which means they should have much larger risk appetites than investors of conventional investment instruments. They must have sufficient capital capacity to avoid forced sales or meet unexpected liquidity needs. Cryptocurrency is a type of digital currency supported by blockchain technology. It functions as a medium of exchange and can also be held as an asset or investment. Examples of cryptocurrencies include Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, etc.

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Still, if Bitcoin bulls are correct and BTC eventually becomes the world’s universal digital currency and preferred long-term store of value, long-term HODL’ers will benefit. “HODL can be employed, particularly when the market is declining, to assist investors in avoiding the urge to sell in a panic,” Porter says. Harry Turner, founder of The Sovereign Investor, says the key to Bitcoin’s long-term investing outlook is its leading market position and its fixed supply. Value investors rely on fundamental metrics like price-to-book (P/B), price-to-earnings (P/E) and price-to-sales (P/S) ratios to estimate the intrinsic value of a stock.

  • Moreover, in a normal crypto trading environment, people make money by buying and selling coins as their prices fluctuate.
  • The idea is that the value of the stocks would have risen considerably within this period.
  • People who believe cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin will become mainstream currencies may never sell their portfolios, opting to keep their assets until they can spend them like fiat currency.
  • If the strategy works out in their favor, their assets should be worth more in a few years, regardless of the initial price they paid.

One in which long-term profits are sought, trying to get the maximum benefit from the cryptocurrencies they have. Moreover, in a normal crypto trading environment, people make money by buying and selling coins as their prices fluctuate. However, it’s actually this trading activity that causes  cryptocurrency markets to fluctuate, this is because they’re largely based on the forces of supply and demand. Increased demand pushes prices upwards while significant selling pressure drives prices lower.

‘HODL,’ ‘whale’ and 5 other cryptocurrency slang terms explained

The author admitted to being a ‘bad trader’ and decided to hold onto his Bitcoin investment regardless of the bear market, thus becoming one of the earliest Bitcoin investors to promote this strategy. HODLing is simple to understand, but it requires a lot of patience, discipline, and conviction. Suppose a buyer isn’t fully convinced about the future of their coins. In that case, it’s challenging to HODL through market downturns—particularly because cryptocurrencies are among the most volatile and speculative asset classes.

HODL Culture

Investors who use DCA regularly buy small amounts of their preferred crypto assets over a long period. Some people purchase crypto at regular intervals (e.g., weekly), while others buy coins whenever they fall by a preset percentage (e.g., every 10% drop in a 24-hour window). In either case, the goal of DCA is to lower an investor’s average cost per https://hexn.io/ coin. However, most HODLers keep their crypto for a minimum of a few years before selling. People who believe cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin will become mainstream currencies may never sell their portfolios, opting to keep their assets until they can spend them like fiat currency. HODLing means buying cryptocurrency and holding on to it long-term.

HODL or Sell

Even though this is not the original meaning, we think this covers the idea of GameKyuubi fairly well. As he said himself, in a zero-sum game like trading, they can only take your money if you sell. Low cap coins are ideal for pump and dump schemes since instigators do not need to make huge investments to achieve the desired price action. Bag holder is a negative term used to describe anyone in possession of a significant amount of coins or tokens whose value has fallen to a level that it is unprofitable to sell. The strategy has proved right for the most part, as some of the larger assets have seen incremental value gains over a number of years. However, if an analyst could zoom into the monthly price action of most of these assets it would be evident that most experienced wild rides in short-term durations.

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We do not include the universe of companies or financial offers that may be available to you. It’s been demonstrated that the post’s author made the correct decision. The price of Bitcoin began another surge in mid-2017 and reached a historic high of $19,167 at year-end. However, the price fell again after the 2017 surge; it hiked again during the COVID-19 pandemic and hit a new high of over $58,000 in early 2021.

It’s impossible to argue that long-term Bitcoin HODLers have not done well. Since its debut in 2009, Bitcoin’s value has climbed from just pennies to more than $60,000 at one point. So, a long-term buy-and-hold approach would have returned traders many times their initial investment, because the strategy prevented them from selling when things got tough. Whether you’re new to crypto or a seasoned investor, it’s important to make informed decisions about strategy—and that means knowing your options. Anyone interested in crypto’s future should understand what HODL means.

What Does HODL Mean?

These schemes are often orchestrated through apps like Slack or Telegram, he adds, and advises curious chatroom readers to beware of such gimmicks. An investigation into “pump and dump” schemes by Business Insider found the practice to be an “open secret among many cryptocurrency traders.” “A whale is someone who owns a lot of cryptocurrency,” Saddington says.

HODLing is a cryptocurrency investment strategy not unique to crypto but rather a rehashed term made to appeal to the eccentric crypto community. The term HODL emerged from a 2013 message board post on the Bitcointalk forum as an errant misspelling. With a relatively short history compared to other types of assets and fiat currencies, cryptocurrencies face a future with lots of unknowns. Without surveillance from a central authority, cryptocurrencies can be used for fraudulent activities, such as illegal transactions and money laundering. Hodling crypto only works with long-lived digital currencies that can build value over time. When you hodl one of the short-lived cryptos, that promised trip “to the moon” turns into a deep-sea dive with no return ticket instead.

What is ‘HODL’? 10 Crypto Slang Terms Explained

Investments in T-bills involve a variety of risks, including credit risk, interest rate risk, and liquidity risk. As a general rule, the price of a T-bills moves inversely to changes in interest rates. Although T-bills are considered safer than many other financial instruments, you could lose all or a part of your investment. The above content provided and paid for by Public and is for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to constitute investment advice or any other kind of professional advice and should not be relied upon as such.

Some investors choose to HODL after buying during price drops, while others continuously invest over time, a strategy known as dollar-cost averaging. While some HODLers store their virtual currencies on centralized crypto exchanges (platforms for buying and selling cryptocurrency), many prefer to move their assets to self-custodial hardware wallets. A self-custodial wallet is strictly managed by the wallet holder, meaning there’s no centralized intermediary between the trader and their crypto. Keeping assets in a “cold” hardware wallet, like a USB drive, prevents hacking and theft— and unlike a centralized exchange, it’s completely offline. Although hardware wallets are less convenient to use, HODLers are hanging on to their assets for years, so they only have to worry about keeping the device safe until it’s time to sell.


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