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This form of ledger technology is what’s behind cryptocurrencies and other tech trends. Avoiding the urge to give in to fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) is one of the hardest barriers to overcome. HODLing forces you to think about the long-term benefits of your strategy.
- It is important to know when the right time is because this metric varies from one individual to another.
- This is especially true with all the new Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC) that many governments around the world are developing.
- The HODL strategy is about holding assets over the long term, which means that cryptocurrency investors don’t have to be concerned about timing the market.
- Compared to buying and holding, market timing needs a lot more skills and expertise, meaning beginners have a disadvantage with this strategy as opposed to value investment.
- Our experts have been helping you master your money for over four decades.
- Therefore, traders interested in crypto need to carefully understand what they’re investing in with crypto.
The main difference is that HODLing often involves the support of a community on a crypto forum, which encourages investors to wait out rough periods in the market. The buy-and-hold strategy, on the other hand, has no social component. Today, Bitcoin prices are also down 59% in 2022 as rising interest rates have triggered a sell-off in cryptocurrencies and other risk-on assets.
Related Terms
The cryptocurrency world is full of exciting and interesting eccentricities, including the lingo. Hopefully, by going through this article, you have familiarized yourself with some of the more common unique terminologies used within the blockchain space. The term ‘flippening’ is used within the crypto circles to refer to a hypothetical moment in which the market capitalization of Ethereum surpasses that of Bitcoin. The latter is the oldest and largest cryptocurrency by network value and Ethereum’s market cap has trailed Bitcoin’s for several years. In crypto, the comparable strategy to value investment would be ‘HODLing,’ which works the same way. An investor identifies a project with great potential and invests in it for the medium to long term.
It refers to a situation when a crypto investor has encountered a massive loss by being on the wrong side of a trade. As we have mentioned before, cryptocurrencies are highly volatile assets, and there is a high chance that a trader can lose their investment quickly. HODLing is an investment strategy derived from the traditional financial world where it is referred to as buy and hold.
Pros and cons of hodl
The crypto market crashes that happened in 2018 and 2020 are perfect case studies that support the HODL investing strategy. In December 2017, the price of Bitcoin reached $19,700, but by November 2018 Bitcoin fell to a low of $5,500. Then, from 2018 to middle 2020 the price of Bitcoin (more or less) stayed below $10,000, and rarely broke the $10,000 mark. However, by summer 2020 a bull market began and Bitcoin saw its price go from $10,000 in June to $60,000 by April 2021. It went parabolic, and as a result some day traders made money, but also many people lost out on the action (not the HODLers).
- Stock market investors often use the buy-and-hold approach for long-term investments, which is effectively the same as HODLing.
- Some say you should HODL until your coin is worth a sum that you’re happy with and then sell and take the profits.
- Many crypto coins, maybe even most of the 10,000 or so in existence, may end up worthless.
- In crypto, the term is used to refer to individuals or institutions with an outsized investment in a particular asset.
This material is not intended as a recommendation, offer, or solicitation to purchase or sell securities, open a brokerage account, or engage in any investment strategy. “HODL” originated as a misspelling of “HOLD” (written in all caps), in an online post by an early Bitcoin investor. But “HODL”, as it has gained popularity among crypto enthusiasts, has come to mean “hold on for dear life”. Crypto HODLers, like buy-and-hold stock investors, pride themselves on “holding on” by not selling their cryptocurrency, no matter what happens in the crypto markets. In contrast, other investors choose to time the market, which leads them to make short-term decisions or trades. Compared to buying and holding, market timing needs a lot more skills and expertise, meaning beginners have a disadvantage with this strategy as opposed to value investment.
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This is important as it can help spur adoption of crypto as a payment method. Meanwhile, BUIDL encourages people to roll up their sleeves and build decentralised applications, platforms and tools that improve the crypto ecosystem. The term HODL began as an accidental (beverage induced) misspelling of ‘hold’. He is also a staff writer at Benzinga, where he has reported on breaking financial market news and analyst commentary related to popular stocks since 2014. Mr. Duggan is also the author of the book “Beating Wall Street With Common Sense” and has contributed news and analysis to U.S.
- Even though this is not the original meaning, we think this covers the idea of GameKyuubi fairly well.
- In no time, the term HODL spread like wildfire throughout the crypto world.
- Plus, HODLers can add to their positions during bear markets (when prices are falling) because they believe in the future success of the assets.
- If you’re curious about making HODL a part of your portfolio, we can help you get started.
- JSI uses funds from your Treasury Account to purchase T-bills in increments of $100 “par value” (the T-bill’s value at maturity).
HODLing is an easier and more rational method to take when investing in blockchain projects. Value investors such as Warren Buffett use this strategy when investing whereby they identify undervalued companies, buy the stocks cheap and hold them for several years. The idea is that the value of the stocks would have risen considerably within this period. Others say HODL until your coin becomes a fully spendable currency and you won’t need to worry about having to sell it back anymore. The risk here is that not all coins are created equal, and no one can guarantee the future of any crypto and its ability to become a full-fledged currency. This is especially true with all the new Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC) that many governments around the world are developing.
How hodl works
It doesn’t matter which cryptocurrency is in your portfolio, as long as you hold it for a few years (or more) before selling. The misspelled “HODL” quickly circulated among the crypto community, and soon after turned into an internet slang to indicate when a person holds bitcoin rather than selling it. Use of the term was later extended to include other cryptocurrencies.
- I’LL TELL YOU WHY,” their message read (this time spelling “hold” correctly).
- It refers to a situation when a crypto investor has encountered a massive loss by being on the wrong side of a trade.
- It went parabolic, and as a result some day traders made money, but also many people lost out on the action (not the HODLers).
- The rewards are generated from taxes collected on transactions made by users, such as sale, purchase, or transfer of HODL tokens.
The HODL token may seem like an attractive source of passive income, but the price of a HODL token is down more than 99% from its all-time high. A 10% tax is applied to each HODL transaction, and the tax is automatically liquified and converted to BNB (BNB). That BNB is then transferred to a reward pool and is distributed every seven days to investors who hold HODL hexn.io tokens in their wallets. Even billionaire investor Ray Dalio said he was wrong about 66% of the time he personally disagreed with the “buy and sell” decisions of his hedge fund’s automated quantitative investing process. The “Oracle of Omaha” famously encouraged investors never to own a stock for 10 minutes that they wouldn’t be comfortable holding for 10 years.
HODL Meaning: Hold On for Dear Life
HODL has since become a strategy used by people who admit they do not have the skills to do short-term trades – such as scalping, day trading, or swing trading. The term HODL has also inspired the creation of a similar term often, BUIDL, which is commonly used by the cryptocurrency community to refer to the many kinds of applications that are being built within the blockchain industry. Even though the word started out as a meme, it has become widely accepted in investing jargon as a word for holding cryptocurrencies with so-called diamond hands, a refusal to sell no matter what happens to prices. Cryptocurrencies are considered to be highly volatile assets, and it’s not unusual to see daily price changes of 20+% in either direction.
Why Should I HODL?
People who HODL crypto must believe their preferred coins will gain widespread adoption (or at least have a net increase in value) while remaining calm amidst significant price swings. The cornerstone of HODL’s appeal is its simplicity—novice investors can understand how to HODL within a few minutes. While big-league investors have the knowledge and resources to capitalize on small price changes and volatility, amateurs are unlikely to predict trends and act on them in time to profit (or minimize losses). When HODLing, buyers research and purchase assets they’re confident in, then hold on to them. JSI and Jiko Bank are not affiliated with Public Holdings, Inc. (“Public”) or any of its subsidiaries.
HODL or…?
Premium users get access to guidance from expert analysts, as well as data from Morningstar’s industry-leading reports. When deciding whether to HODL, consider your own investment strategy and goals, as well as your risk tolerance. Bitcoin investors were taking to forums like Bitcointalk to share their fears and encourage each other to stay the course.
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HODLing might not be the best strategy if the investor is looking for short-term gains. Even though traders don’t often sell their positions at the absolute peak (because they cannot predict it), HODLing over time generally will give you positive returns. Even if you bought in late 2017 at $19,000 and sold in early 2021 at $40,000, you would have had a 110% increase on your investment.
Crypto is still relatively new, so we can’t look back over time and see how the HODL strategy has performed. Although buy-and-hold may be an effective approach when it comes to investing in stocks, we still don’t know if it works for digital assets. It’s important to consider cryptocurrency volatility in your investment decisions.
‘HODL,’ ‘whale’ and 5 other cryptocurrency slang terms explained
U.S. Treasuries (“T-Bill”) investing services on the Public Platform are offered by Jiko Securities, Inc. (“JSI”), a registered broker-dealer and member of FINRA & SIPC. When you enable T-Bill investing on the Public platform, you open a separate brokerage account with JSI (the “Treasury Account”). SPEDN encourages people to use cryptocurrencies in the real world to buy goods and services, or simply to pay their bills with crypto.
HODL, or “Hold On for Dear Life,” is now a widely known concept in the crypto community that refers to the strategy of not selling your digital assets, even amid extreme price changes in the market. And given Bitcoin’s latest bout of volatility, HODL remains relevant a decade later in 2023. It is used in the crypto ecosystem to refer to a strategy of holding onto bitcoin holdings through its various price fluctuations and volatility. The acronym is a misspelling of the word “holding” by a user on an online forum. Typically used by Bitcoin maximalists, a HODLing strategy is similar to the conventional buy-and-hold investing strategy. HODL may also refer to the HODL token on cryptocurrency exchange Binance’s Smart Chain.
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Reference to any specific strategy, technique, product, service, or entity does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by dYdX Trading Inc., or any affiliate, agent, or representative thereof (“dYdX”). DYdX makes no representation, assurance or guarantee as to the accuracy, completeness, timeliness, suitability, or validity of any information in this Article or any third-party website that may be linked to it. You are solely responsible for conducting independent research, performing due diligence, and/or seeking advice from a professional advisor prior to taking any financial, tax, legal, or investment action. Just as with stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and ETFs, investing in crypto is risky. The price of digital assets fluctuates significantly, so it’s important to pay attention to the market and do your research before investing.
Our editorial team receives no direct compensation from advertisers, and our content is thoroughly fact-checked to ensure accuracy. So, whether you’re reading an article or a review, you can trust that you’re getting credible and dependable information. Different countries and parties express different attitudes towards the use of cryptocurrencies. It can significantly hinder their role in supporting international transactions, affecting the value of cryptocurrencies. Unfavorable policy-making and public perspective might drag down the asset value for the long term. Long-term HODLers may use DCA strategies to add to their position, especially during bear markets.