Before we explore the HODL strategy, let’s find out how this concept came into being. It started out as a spelling error on one of the Bitcoin strategists’ forums. “I AM HODLING,” wrote someone on a forum. Since then, this phrase became an inside joke-turned-into-mainstream-jargon, common among members of the crypto trading community. However, HODL is much more than just a new name for the buy-and-hold strategy. It refers to the mindset of a trader in the game for a longer run as opposed to the conventional intraday trader who buys and sells within the same day–looking to make a quick profit.
With the emergence of more and more cryptocurrencies, we can now draw HODL philosophy parallels for non-Bitcoin cryptos as well. Would it be profitable to hold them or trade immediately? Let us have a look.
#1 Litecoin
The uptrend of Litecoin might lead people into holding their coins. Yet, it isn’t just the rise in value that should determine investors’ decisions.The following factors also matter:
- The Litecoin blockchain is capable of making much higher number of transactions as compared to Bitcoin.
- Faster transactions means faster confirmations, hence it becomes difficult for hackers to infect the system. It just takes 5 minutes to confirm two transactions.
- The mining process is much less power consuming as it can be mined using CPUs or GPUs and is at an advantage as it uses Script algorithm.
With the launch of Litepay, it is quite possible that the revenue of Litecoin reaches new heights. Moreover, with Amazon showing interest in using Litecoin as a payment method, giving it a backing of one the biggest merchants in the world.
#2 Bitcoin Cash
Bitcoin Cash has been one of the most volatile cryptocurrencies in recent months. Investors have been pretty excited about the split of the blockchain as many believe it would be profitable to hold two different cryptocurrencies. The split gave birth to a competition between two cryptocurrencies, hence it is likely for investors to take sides, which could perhaps result in the rise of prices of both. Hence, it is anticipated that the price of Bitcoin Cash could still increase in 2018. Therefore, it is advisable to be patient for now.
Yet, Bitcoin still holds the major support from the market and Bitcoin Cash has been facing a lot of security related vulnerabilities. Hence, it completely depends on your goals as an investor, whether you are satisfied with your profit margin to sell it the moment prices rise or not.
#3 Ripple
Ripple is currently the third largest cryptocurrency. Plus its payment solutions across various networks are very advanced. xRipple is a software solution that enables banks to directly and instantly settle cross border payments with end to end tracking. More and more banks have been constantly using and testing Ripple’s payment solutions. Moreover, Ripple has also reduced liquidity costs and improved its consumer experience. It has managed to partner with about a hundred banks across the globe. This is because these banks have seen the future in Ripple technology embracing the back-end technology that it uses. The management of the Ripple company is doing extraordinary things and has been in constant contact with crypto-verse and its followers. Therefore, with the developments and the progress that ripple possesses, it is perhaps the right idea to “HODL” or you could end up selling XRP too soon.
It can be said that the cryptocurrency industry is still at its very inception. As new technologies appear on the scene it is going to attract many investors and as it becomes more accessible, even an average investor would feel safe in investing in cryptocurrencies.. Through that competition, it could perhaps be decided whether to sell or buy or HODL a particular currency.
You can monitor, purchase and sell different cryptocurrencies using a reliable exchange. Moreover, exchanges such as Unocoin provide you realtime price alerts and resources to become an expert on cryptocurrency trading.
Korean crypto exchange powered by Ripple payments