I Venture Into The World Of Crypto Cloud-Mining

Disclaimer: I do not have a crystal ball and I can't tell if the prices of cryptocurrencies are going to soar or fall. This Post is created for those who believe that price of Bitcoin has not seen it's all time high yet and will eventually push even higher. However, invest/trade/speculate with care and risk only the amount that you can afford to lose. 😀

Why Mining?

Of course, we can just buy directly instead of mining. However, as an example let's assume we bought $100 worth of Bitcoins. If the price of Bitcoin doesn't move after a year, it will still remain as $100 worth of Bitcoins. An alternative would be to use the $100 to pay for a year of Bitcoin mining service.

$99 could get us 450 GH/s of mining power currently with the service that I am using

At the end of 1 year (minimum contract), we could potentially receive $254.96 worth of Bitcoins. Take note this is just a forecast and may not be the actual value. I will cover later how to increase this Profit potential.

The cloud mining service which I am using is Hashflare. Please click on the link or banner below so I can earn some referral fees if you decide to sign up and use their service. I am not affiliated with them though and I paid for their service myself. By signing up through my link, I will also know the information that I share is of value to someone and I am not actually wasting my time blogging and no one is actually taking any actions. 😐 Of  course, referral fees are always welcome and serve as motivation and reward.

Hashflare has been around since April 2015. The company offers Bitcoin and alt coins mining service. Signing up for their service is extremely easy. The time it took me to sign up and pay for a 1 year contract service took me less than 15 minutes.

To start buying a 1 year Bitcoin mining service, choose SHA-256 on the left side of the website. 

Adjusting the slider will show how much HashPower and the Cost that we need to pay

Important Thing To Note:

Minimum withdrawal is 0.05 BTC due to Bitcoin's high network fee. If we fund only $100 for an entire year, we may not earn enough BTC to withdraw. In our earlier example, we only receive roughly 0.02 BTC after a 1 year period. To solve this issue for those with limited funds, there is an option to auto reinvest the daily BTC that is mined. Of course, we can also buy new contracts when we have the money later on. I like the idea of  re-investing and getting more mining power. Re-investing means we are entering new contracts once the mined coins are sufficient to purchase more resources. We can also stop the re-investing anytime by turning it off.

Reinvesting BTC

Daily history logs show how much BTC you received

Purchase

Purchase of 1 year mining contract could be done via credit card. I chose UniversePay and the steps are shown at this link: here. You may wish to try a smallest amount purchase to verify if the credit card is accepted first e.g $2.20. I did not have issue with Citibank Credit Card.

From my understanding, Hashflare recently increased their pricing. However, if you are interested in Bitcoin cloud-mining and don't wish to miss the boat, just take a small portion of your year-end bonus and join in the fun. 😛 Have a Huat New Year!

Limited Stock? True or Gimmick?

Another popular cloud mining service already out of stock for Bitcoin mining

P.S - I will create a Part 2 which cover how to tweak hashflare settings for optimal mining settings and other miscellaneous stuff if there are actual readers signing up through my referral link. Cheers.

An Update On My eToro Account Opening Issue

This is a short Post update on my eToro account opening which experienced long delay in getting verified even though I had already successfully traded. My account has finally been successfully verified. Phew! The referral fees has also been credited into my account. Unfortunately, this amount is too small and insufficient to buy anymore cryptocurrencies without topping up more funds.

In my eToro Post (link: here), I also mentioned that I invested in a cryptocurrency called XRP. The price was around $0.23 then. In less than a month, the price as of today has crossed over the $1 mark. Congrats to those who hold this currency. Hopefully, it can continue to soar higher. Cheers! 🍷

Nice?

My Stocks Dividend Income for Dec 2017 And Overall Stocks Dividend Result for 2017

Stock Portfolio (Cash)

These are the companies that contributed to my December 2017 Dividend Income:

Singtel - $196

Capitaland Retail China Trust - $251.10

Total - $447.10

My Dividends Overview for 2017. Screenshots from Stocks.cafe

Dividends collected for the past 3 years

There isn't a significant growth in dividends collected for 2017 compared to 2016. This is due to lesser funds injected this year compared to last year. The difference in my stock value this year compared to last year was only around $30k. In comparison 2015 and 2016 difference was around $75k. 

Looking back, I made a few mistakes of selling a few company shares too early but I am also glad I made a few firm decisions to cut some losses. If the company is not generating value for investors, it's time to take our "business" elsewhere. For 2018, I wish I could find the time to attend a few AGMs. Perhaps such meetings could help me to decide if the company is still worth investing, or even to buy more shares. Besides learning about the company prospects, we could also get to know the Management Team and how knowledgeable they are in the industry and how professional and detailed they are in  answering shareholders' questions. 

Hopefully, 2018 would be another fruitful and bullish year for stock investors. Cheers!

Important: Read This Post Before You fund/Open An eToro Trading Account - Update

In my previous blog post, I mentioned that I opened an eToro trading account to buy XRP. I also said funds could be deposit using Paypal. However, before doing any sort of funding, pls ensure the account name that you use to do funding from is the same as the eToro account. I am using my Alias for Paypal account name whereas eToro account uses my Chinese name. This results in verification issue for my eToro account even though the funding went through! And they didn't contact me about it. My account verification status still shows pending a few days after I had submitted the necessary documents and I contacted them.

Dealing with their customer service is another challenge. I couldn't find a support email. I went to their facebook page and message their support team. I was given a link to their live chat. When I enter the live chat, I was put on a waiting queue. I have to stay on the page to wait for my turn. If I closed the page, I would need to queue again! There were 11 persons in front of me. I actually clicked on another link and I had to queue a second time. There were 10 persons in front for my second queue.

My account verification issue hasn't been resolved. The live support says will contact their accounts dept and get back to me. I could see a lot of complaints on their facebook page. I was actually quite interested in their trade copy service before my account opening issue. However, I am now thinking twice about depositing more funds. I couldn't even find a proper link to open a support ticket. Can't imagine what kind of issues I would face if I want to withdraw my funds. 😞

14/12/2017 Update - Seems like eToro Customer Service is having issues coping with the surge in new clients. Below screenshots are taken from their website. Basically, can forget about opening an account if your deposit is less than $500 now.

Minimum first-time deposit amount has been raised to $500!!!

I added a new Coin To My Cryptocurrency Collection - Update

I am not an expert in cryptocurrencies. However, I can see the huge potential and whether we like it or not, blockchain is here to stay. In recent months, more investors and speculators are jumping onboard this cyptocurrency craze. Thanks to the news media such as Bloomberg and even our CNA who keep reporting on soaring price of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies news. Every single day. Even stock and forex gurus are talking about cryptocurrencies on their websites. It is also possible to invest in cryptocurrencies farming now. Is this the farming of the future? People who shun stocks are also interested in getting a slice of the pie.

I am more of a long-term investor/speculator when it comes to cryptocurrencies. I am aiming for a home run and not looking for short-term profits. With that said, my investment is rather small at the moment. I look at it more like buying a long-term lottery ticket. The way I see it, cryptocurrencies would crash more frequently than the stock market. However, after each crash, they would recover and rise even higher. Everytime there's a pullback in price, I view that as an opportunity to accumulate. When demand returns and surpasses supply, the price would continue pushing higher. Of course, similar to buying stocks, we should not put all our eggs into a single basket. We should diversify into a few cryptocurrencies just to be on the safe side. When we look at a 1 year price chart of bitcoin/usd, the price could go down by the thousands but it eventually moves even higher. With the launch of futures trading for Bitcoin, the price could become even more volatile. Dec is holiday period. We may see even greater fluctuations when Jan arrives once traders are back to work.

XRP

The currency that I recently bought was XRP. It is currently the fifth largest in terms of market cap. It has recently been overtaken by IOTA. XRP is the currency that banks use for payment process.

Should You Invest In Ripple XRP? The Cryptocurrency The Banks Control!

XRP is currently not available for purchase on the 2 exchanges which I recommended in an earlier Post: link here. I found an easier way to purchase XRP and that is through Etoro: link here. Do use my referrer link as it would earn us both USD$20 for your first USD$200 deposit. If you have visted the site before, please clear your browser cache before clicking on my referrer link. The reason why I said it was easy as it accepts PayPal funding too. Other deposit options include Credit Card and Wire Transfer.  Please note you will be asked to provide an alternative payment method to be used in the event that you are withdrawing more than you originally deposited e.g Credit Card or they are unable to return your funds to your original deposit method.

Read my latest post on eToro before opening an account: link here.

Etoro is actually built as a social trading platform where we can choose traders to follow their trades. There are forex, stock and cryptocurrency traders on this platform. There are even funds made up of a number of traders which we could copy. Of course, the copy would be done automatically and when the traders buy or sell, we would follow suit. Some of the traders' results look rather impressive. I have to say.

Things To Note when buying XRP

1.There is no wallet and you will not be able to transfer your XRP bought from Etoro to other Exchanges. Hence, I do not recommend buying other currencies here that's also readily available on other exchanges.

2. Minimum purchase amount for XRP is USD$200. You will need to deposit money first before choosing XRP or other products to buy.

3. Do note the default stop loss and take profit settings when you buy. I adjust the stop loss to a low setting and take profit to much higher value. It's either win big or go home for me.

4. It is perfectly normal after clicking buy, you will immediately see a loss of 3-4% which is due to fees.

5. As with all investments, do your own due diligence before investing. Read up more on your own before deciding if you want to invest in a particular currency. Only Invest with money that you can afford to lose. Have fun!

12/12/2017 Update - Litecoin has just dethroned both IOTA and XRP(Ripple) from their fourth and fifth position respectively. While people has been focusing on Bitcoin during this period, Litecoin's Market Cap has jumped up by over 60% in a single day (as of time of blogging)!!! The price has gone up by more than SGD$100 in a single day. It's not even a thousand dollar coin. Congrats to those who have taken actions on this coin. Whether to sell now and lock in profits or continue holding and wait for the next home run is up to individual. Cheers. 😊

My Dividend Income for Nov 2017 - Updated

Stock Portfolio (Cash)

These are the companies that contributed to my November 2017 Dividend Income:

SATS - $60
EC World REIT - $144
Ascendas Hospitality REIT - $273
Lippo Mall Indonesia Retail Trust - $86
OUE Hospitality Trust - $136
Tai Sin Electric - $64
Starhill Global REIT - $108
Total - $871


I am actually quite keen in accumulating more shares of a few companies in the above list. Not revealing first. I put my money where my mouth is so I won't say if I haven't buy. My motto is: I see, I like, I buy, I post. Have to stick to that. 😛 Even when I post, I will have to do sufficient research. There were a few company shares which I bought without doing sufficient research and reading up. Therefore I do not cover them. That explains why some companies suddenly show up contributing to my dividends.

Screenshot from Stocks.cafe

Bond Portfolio (Cash Inv, Unit Trust)

For the month of Nov 2017, I have achieved my goal of reaching $1k of dividends per month for my bond portfolio. However, I am not receiving the dividends in cash. The dividends are actually reinvested back into the funds. My bond portfolio is actually not doing well currently. Since I am looking at it as a mid to longterm investment, I just take it as an opportunity to receive more Units during this downturn period. If the bears decide to come out and play, I will likely redeploy my bond funds into stocks instead. I believe I will be able to get more dividends from stocks if the bears decide to strike.

Bond Dividend for Unit Trusts= $1010.74

Total dividend income for Nov 2017 = $871 + $1010.74 = $1881.74

Total dividend income for Oct 2017 = $788.58 + $983.61 = $1722.19

Total dividend income for Sep 2017 = $144.66 + $966.17 = $1110.83

Updated - For the month of Dec, I will cover my whole year's dividend result. Do stay tune for that for those interested! Will publish towards end of the month!

Would I Be Comfortable Buying This Company's Shares Now?

Background

ComfortDelgro made a major announcement yesterday that it would be buying over 51% of Lion City Holdings from Uber's car rental business. Lion City Holdings runs Lion City Rentals and own a fleet of about 14000 vehicles. ComfortDelgro's taxis and Lion City Rental's private-hire cars will now come under a centralised fleet management system using Uber's booking and dispatching technology.

Technical

Screenshot from Chartnexus. Downtrend supported by high volume spike.

Financials

Closing Price as at 8-12-2017 was $1.91. Current dividend yield is 4.08% as shown below. Although the DPU has been increasing over the past few years, the payout ratio has also been increasing. This means that they have been paying more and more out of their earnings. Would it be sustainable to further increase DPU moving forward?

 Screenshot from Stocks.cafe.

Increasing Payout Ratio. Screenshot from SGX website

The Partnership

ComfortDelGro chief executive Yang Ban Seng called the partnership between CDG and Uber a "win-win" situation. I am not quite sure about that. If you are joining forces with a company that's making money, it's good. Uber lost $1.46 billion last quarter. Ouch! Source here. Would you do business with someone whose business keeps losing money? Unless ComfortDelgro is able to fix Uber's business where it went wrong. Let's look at what analysts and cab drivers think about the partnership from the article here.

My Thoughts

At a dividend yield of 4.08% per year, it's not attractive enough to make me invest in CDG as a longterm stock. There's still intense competition with Grab and I believe their overseas taxi business also face tough competition. Let's not forget potential future disruptions such as driverless cabs  and taxi drones. Unless CDG revamp their taxi business model and embrace new technology fast, I will remain on the sideline for this company.