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Comment by rcthompson | Hacker News Reader

So, given that article about a guy that bought $17 in BTC in 2009 and found out recently that it was worth 5 figures, should I feel like an idiot for not getting in on this while BTC were cheap a few years ago? My logic at the time was "I don't really know that much about Bitcoin, so buying some would basically be speculating, which seems like a bad idea."

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If you didn't bet on a roulette table and it came up black, would you say "God damnit I feel like an idiot, I should have bet on black"?

I think you mean: If you didn't bet on the roulette ball balancing on the divider between numbers, would you say "God damnit I feel like an idiot, I should have bet on that!"

The odds of a cryptocurrency catching on the way Bitcoin has are very low. Buying BTCs (or other cryptocurrencies) back in the day would be like investing in penny stocks.

EDIT: For the record I agree with you - there's no point in looking back and saying "I should have done that!"

I don't feel bad about not having invested in it at the time. The only way I would feel bad now is if I had invested, and then sold it before it reached the height of today.

You never know how it's going to develop. I once sold Apple stock after getting 40% profit in a few months. Should I have known that it would continue to climb for a few more years? Usually, getting out while you're ahead is a good idea. It's often better to sell to early than too late.

I guess what I'm really wondering is: just know that Bitcoin existed already put me in the minority. Was there something I should have caught on to that would have told me that it was going to succeed? From this and other answers, it looks like that is not the case. Thanks.

It wasn't so easy back then. I tried to buy bitcoin for a couple weeks as it went up in price from a buck fifty to around four dollars. I ended up having to meet a miner in person with cash.

Such is life with most investing - I'm sure you could have said the same thing about all tech shares.

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