What to Say About Cryptos This Thanksgiving

Family, food, and bitcoin... A warning from a 'Crypto Millionaire'... What to say about cryptos this Thanksgiving... Why a major crypto boom is coming in 2020... Doc's timeless advice for cold and flu season...

It's almost Thanksgiving... and that reminds us of family... food... and bitcoin...

After all, it was Thanksgiving weekend two years ago when the original cryptocurrency first surged to more than $9,000.

Maybe you heard about cryptocurrencies that weekend from your nephew on the couch or at the dinner table. Or maybe you were the one explaining what you knew about bitcoin...

This guy named Satoshi Nakamoto invented it during the financial crisis. I can show you the white paper. No, we don't know who he is (or if it's actually multiple people). Yes, here's how you can buy it.

Folks who had bought bitcoin before that point loved all the attention. More and more people were hearing about bitcoin, and taking an uneducated chance on it...

Bitcoin's price went parabolic in the two weeks after Thanksgiving in 2017. The seemingly endless rise in prices was fun, even for those with a modest stake...

If you were like me (Corey McLaughlin), you were refreshing the crypto app on your smartphone as much as your e-mail. How exactly was this happening? It felt like a fantasy – making money from nothing...

To borrow a phrase from our colleague Steve Sjuggerud, it felt a lot like a 'Melt Up'...

It was euphoric. But it was also a bubble...

Experienced investors know when any asset – let alone a speculative one like bitcoin, whose basic value is debated – becomes talked about among uncles, aunts, cousins, and parents at family holidays, you better be careful.

You can make massive gains during these times – like many folks did as bitcoin soared toward the end of 2017. But the "top" could also arrive at any minute... And things can crash violently and quickly. In this case, that's exactly what happened...

Bitcoin soared to a high of roughly $20,000 in December 2017. Ethereum – another darling tied to the promising blockchain technology – topped out around $1,400 a few weeks later.

At Stansberry Research, many of us also started getting text messages from friends who knew nothing about investing, asking for our favorite crypto recommendations.

The good times were over... They had to be. The sell-off picked up steam in January...

By Thanksgiving of last year, the prices of bitcoin and Ethereum had crashed 78% and 90%, respectively, from their December 2017 and January 2018 highs...

What was the mood like at your Thanksgiving table last year?

A year later, we can imagine some Digest readers happily told their bullish-on-crypto millennial nephews to go eat crow.

Or maybe "Cousin Chris" was really happy because he listened when you said not to speculate in crypto with any money that you couldn't afford to lose. That was our standard guidance here... And it's the same thing our crypto experts still recommend today.

More likely, your know-it-all brother-in-law said he was "all in" on bitcoin, like this guy...

Dan Conway – a 45-year-old ex-middle manager from corporate America and author of the new book Confessions of a Crypto Millionaire – did what many people probably wanted to do.

In the book, Conway describes how he turned his life savings into $13 million in two years by speculating on Ethereum...

He bought roughly 7,000 coins in 2015 with Ethereum at an average price of $14 and sold near the top in January 2018. He never has to work again.

But even this 'Crypto Millionaire' says he wouldn't recommend exactly what he did...

With so much money on the line, the stress of riding the all-day and all-night volatility of crypto prices weighed on Conway.

He recently said in an essay on business, technology, and culture website The Hustle that he was down $300,000 at one point and had borrowed $200,000 on his home. As Conway wrote...

The volatility was a narcotic, shooting up my brain with boosts of dopamine and serotonin... The coins consumed me and changed my entire persona.

In the midst of a particularly volatile week, I found myself in the emergency room, struggling to breathe. The doctor diagnosed me with a panic event. "Is anything making you anxious?" he asked.

His family and personal life suffered. Conway was obsessed with cryptos, and he lost his job of six years while experiencing the unwelcome stress...

I still believe crypto will open up new possibilities for organizing the world in the decades ahead, and I'm confident it will pop again as a result. But I don't recommend that anyone try to replicate what I did.

Luck played a significant role in my success... I banked everything I had on a relatively unproven technology and got out at the right time.

Not everyone can be so lucky.

We share this story to make a public service announcement...

If you want to invest in cryptos, or anything, for that matter – and not have a panic attack – it's wise to be informed...

Hopefully, you've read our extensive question-and-answer pieces about cryptocurrencies and recent Digests from our colleagues, Crypto Capital editor Eric Wade and analyst Fred Marion on the subject over the past few weeks...

If you haven't yet, now is a great time to do so – especially if you want some new material for your nephew, cousin, or brother-in-law during the upcoming holiday break. We haven't read a more comprehensive look at cryptocurrencies anywhere else.

Topics include why bitcoin could hit $1 million, why bitcoin is useful, and the nuances about how the digital currency works.

And Eric and Fred's question-and-answer pieces cover everything you ever wanted to know about cryptos but were too embarrassed to ask. You can find the Q&As here, here, here, and here.

In any walk of life, it's helpful to have a guide... And that's exactly who Eric and Fred are in the crypto world.

They recently hosted a VIP session at Blockchain Week in Las Vegas, where they mingled with a "who's who" of the top minds in crypto and met with subscribers of their Crypto Capital advisory.

This Thanksgiving, Eric and Fred are calling for a major crypto boom in 2020...

And if you're interested in learning why and how to take the next step with cryptos, you can catch a replay of the special event Eric put on last week with longtime U.S. Congressman Ron Paul.

During the event, Eric shared one specific catalyst that could send the prices of bitcoin and other smaller cryptos much higher almost overnight... and laid out all the reasons why. We encourage you to check out the event now if you haven't already.

If you're skeptical, though, you're not alone...

For instance, Eric recently had lunch in Los Angeles with our friend and Empire Financial Research founder Whitney Tilson. Whitney has long thought of bitcoin as a "scam," and prepared to pepper Eric with all the tough questions about cryptos.

Whitney recounted the meeting recently in his free Empire Financial Daily e-letter...

After a bit of nervous chitchat, as [Eric and I] acknowledged our vastly different views on this sector, we had a thoughtful, hour-long conversation about it. I don't think we changed each other's minds, but it was an intellectually stimulating and enlightening conversation...

Eric agreed that cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and risky, which is why he recommends that anyone investing in the sector size their total crypto exposure equal to a typical stock position...

He also acknowledged the tremendous fraud in the sector, which is why he carefully researches every crypto he recommends to his readers. He looks for ones that are designed for a particular, useful purpose, such that they have a real chance to survive, endure, and grow. That's what I would do if I were investing in the sector.

After learning more about Eric and his work, Whitney came away from the conversation recommending that his readers check out the free event. Again, if you're interested, you can watch it for the next few days by clicking right here.

Finally, here's something else you can respectfully argue with family about over Thanksgiving...

It comes from our in-house doctor and retirement expert, Dr. David "Doc" Eifrig...

It's cold and flu season here in Baltimore, and Doc thought it was wise to share one of his most regular pieces of advice... words that many mothers have told their children...

In short, if you want to lessen your chances of getting sick, wash your hands... and DON'T use hand sanitizer. As Doc wrote recently to readers of his free daily Health & Wealth Bulletin e-letter...

During cold and flu season, I constantly see people covering their hands in hand sanitizer. But here's the problem... They don't kill all germs and are less effective for protecting you against the cold and flu viruses than common sense.

Yes, I said less effective. Good old handwashing is much better. I've said this for years, and a new study this year backs me up.

Doc went on to share the details of this study from the U.S. Department of Agriculture... and why he says 97% of us are washing our hands "wrong." He also laments the bottles of hand sanitizer we have around our headquarters in Baltimore.

(Related, he also says at this time of year, in particular, you shouldn't share utensils... no matter how much your loved one wants to share spaghetti during a romantic night out.)

This is just a small look at the advice Doc shares every single day with the nearly 100,000 readers of his free e-letter. It's health advice, but it could also save you time and money in the long run.

For more of his insight on the markets, how to build and sustain your wealth and health, click here to sign up for FREE to receive Doc's Health & Wealth Bulletin e-letter.

New 52-week highs (as of 11/25/19): Disney (DIS), DocuSign (DOCU), Fidelity Select Medical Technology and Devices Portfolio (FSMEX), iShares Russell 2000 Fund (IWM), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Microsoft (MSFT), Nvidia (NVDA), Invesco S&P 500 BuyWrite Fund (PBP), Flutter Entertainment (PDYPY), ProShares Ultra Technology Fund (ROM), ALPS Medical Breakthroughs Fund (SBIO), Splunk (SPLK), ProShares Ultra S&P 500 Fund (SSO), ProShares Ultra Financials Fund (UYG), and Vanguard S&P 500 Fund (VOO).

In today's mailbag, we share feedback on Dan's most recent Digests about taxes and share repurchases... Do you have a comment or question? As always, e-mail us at feedback@stansberryresearch.com.

"Excellent article on stock buybacks! As a small investor I am tired of getting hosed by the executives and the board. I am absolutely in favor of banning the practice." – Paid-up subscriber Charlie L.

"One point I have yet to see anyone make – either at Stansberry Research or other outlets about any of the proposed changes in taxation (other than those already in the pipeline and signed) – is that any changes would have to get through both the House and Senate. The president can't just wave his or her magic wand and get a tax bill implemented.

"Those out there whining about these proposals need to get a grip – the odds of a [Elizabeth] Warren or Bernie [Sanders] getting elected aren't very high today and then getting a bill through what is almost certainly going to be a filibuster-proof Senate (if not outright a Republican-controlled Senate) just isn't in the cards." – Stansberry Alliance member Chris R.

"I'd say it's funny that Elizabeth Warren was a bankruptcy professor – but maybe tragically funny. Also, for those who don't want financial writers discussing politics... seems kind of like farmers not wanting to hear about the weather." – Paid-up subscriber Gary S.

Regards,

Corey McLaughlin
Baltimore, Maryland
November 26, 2019