The crypto ship is sailing in rough seas at the moment. My advice? Stay away for now. Preserve your capital for after the major crash, and then pick winners from the bones.

The bitcoin and cryptocurrency trends seem to be following the path the internet took back in the very late 1990s. That bubble came at the end of the tech bubble, and expanded by more than 8 times between late 1998 and early 2000. Then it crashed 93%.

Bitcoin has come at the end of the second tech and internet bubble.

It has been up by more than 20 times since late 2016.

And so far, it’s crashed 70% in a little more than two months.

As I was writing this, this Morgan Stanley Research (courtesy of Bloomberg Technology) chart popped into my inbox. Pretty telling…

But that’s not all…

Bitcoin has bubbled up three times now. Once into 2011, again into 2013, and into 2017 as well.

It went up 59 times, going from $0.05 to $29.50 between July 22, 2010 and June 8, 2011, and then it crashed 93% into November 18, 2011 – just five months.

Michael Terpin, who spoke at our Irrational Economic Summit in Nashville last year, and who has created a nine-part cryptocurrency mastery course that will be available to you soon, spoke about being in bitcoin when it was just $0.10.

Bitcoin bubbled again when it went up by 561 times, from $2.05 to $1,329 from November 18, 2011 to December 4, 2013. From there, it crashed 86% into January 14, 2015.

During this latest bubble, it’s gone up 122 times, and over 20 times in just the last year when it bubbled the most.

So, a 90%-plus crash this time around seems highly likely.

The worst-case scenario is that it crashes back to the late 1996 lows (where the bubble really started), between $800 and $1,000. That’s a loss of 95% to 96%… a slightly greater loss than the dot-com crash because bitcoin has bubbled more and faster. In fact, the bitcoin and cryptocurrency bubble has now exceeded even the extreme tulip bubble of 1635 – 1636.

I spoke at Michael Terpin’s CoinAgenda Caribbean Conference in Puerto Rico over the weekend. Most of the people offering investments there claimed that it was NOT for the everyday investor… they know how volatile this market is.

So, again: don’t jump onto this ship just yet. Wait until we’ve seen the seemingly inevitable crypto crash to its conclusion, and then look to buy the larger, stronger survivors.

Ethereum is likely to be one of those, and bitcoin as well.

In fact, just like what happened after the internet crash, there will be several larger companies – that have something real to offer – that will survive.

This chart shows how some of the survivors from the dot-com crash did, both into the 2007 top and the recent top on January 26, 2018.

If you had bought when we signaled a bottom in the tech wreck in early October 2002, Apple would have been up by 262 times into the recent January 2018 top.

For Priceline, that gain would be 224 times.

For Amazon, 78 times (if you had bought Amazon at its earlier bottom in 2001, the gains would have 290 times).

Google, that IPOd in 2004, would have increased in value by 21 times.

That’sif bitcoin and cryptos see a 90%-plus crash ahead. In the meantime, let the crypto traders risk their money on this extreme bubble.

The content of our articles is based on what we’ve learned as financial journalists. We do not offer personalized investment advice: you should not base investment decisions solely on what you read here. It’s your money and your responsibility. Our track record is based on hypothetical results and may not reflect the same results as actual trades. Likewise, past performance is no guarantee of future returns. Certain investments such as futures, options, and currency trading carry large potential rewards but also large potential risk. Don’t trade in these markets with money you can’t afford to lose. Delray Publishing LLC expressly forbids its writers from having a financial interest in their own securities or commodities recommendations to readers.

Recommended Content


Recommended Content

Editors’ Picks

EUR/USD holds gains near 1.0650 amid risk reset

EUR/USD holds gains near 1.0650 amid risk reset

EUR/USD is holding onto its recovery mode near 1.0650 in European trading on Friday. A recovery in risk sentiment is helping the pair, as the safe-haven US Dollar pares gains. Earlier today, reports of an Israeli strike inside Iran spooked markets. 

EUR/USD News

GBP/USD recovers toward 1.2450 after UK Retail Sales data

GBP/USD recovers toward 1.2450 after UK Retail Sales data

GBP/USD is rebounding toward 1.2450 in early Europe on Friday, having tested 1.2400 after the UK Retail Sales volumes stagnated again in March, The pair recovers in tandem with risk sentiment, as traders take account of the likely Israel's missile strikes on Iran. 

GBP/USD News

Gold price defends gains below $2,400 as geopolitical risks linger

Gold price defends gains below $2,400 as geopolitical risks linger

Gold price is trading below $2,400 in European trading on Friday, holding its retreat from a fresh five-day high of $2,418. Despite the pullback, Gold price remains on track to book the fifth weekly gain in a row, supported by lingering Middle East geopolitical risks.

Gold News

Bitcoin Weekly Forecast: BTC post-halving rally could be partially priced in Premium

Bitcoin Weekly Forecast: BTC post-halving rally could be partially priced in

Bitcoin price shows no signs of directional bias while it holds above  $60,000. The fourth BTC halving is partially priced in, according to Deutsche Bank’s research. 

Read more

Geopolitics once again take centre stage, as UK Retail Sales wither

Geopolitics once again take centre stage, as UK Retail Sales wither

Nearly a week to the day when Iran sent drones and missiles into Israel, Israel has retaliated and sent a missile into Iran. The initial reports caused a large uptick in the oil price.

Read more

Majors

Cryptocurrencies

Signatures