Even though Joe Oathout lost half a million dollars on bitcoin, he remained faithful.

After seeing a $20,000 investment go up to half a million in 2021 and then almost completely disappear, few would be able to cling on.

Palmer, Alaska native and 45-year-old bitcoin investor expressed his sense of vindication when the cryptocurrency’s price soared beyond $69,000 on Tuesday, setting a new record. Although they are still below the amount he mentioned to The Wall Street Journal last year, his cryptocurrency holdings are back up to $150,000.

Oathout, the owner of a small construction company, described the feeling as more of a “I told you so” than elation. I had a feeling there would be a way back.

Those who own or formerly owned the most popular cryptocurrency can be categorized into two groups: FOMO and told ya. Cryptocurrency investors like Oathout insist their faith never wavered. Meanwhile, some people who didn’t participate in this bitcoin rise are starting to ask when it’s the right time to buy again.

Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are only one of hundreds that have piqued the interest of potential investors. It is the biggest token in a realm that also includes other pup-themed coins like shiba inu coin and dogecoin, which both saw massive price rallies in 2021 and reached billions of dollars. Afterwards, a number of tokens experienced a crash and is still missing today.

Bitcoin has. The fact that it was the first cryptocurrency and is quite significant contribute to its allure. For a long time, it was the simplest to trade. For traders, though, the market’s inherent volatility is an allure, regardless of whether they see it as a means to an end or the future of money.

According to crypto experts and investors, the most recent spike is due to the January approval of exchange-traded funds that hold bitcoin. Anyone with a brokerage account at a firm like Charles Schwab or Fidelity could simply type in a ticker and start investing in bitcoin. Despite the influx of capital into these funds, the magnitude of the rally remains unexplained.

According to data analytics firm Kaiko, a significant increase in bitcoin’s value began last week after a crypto exchange experienced a rush in buying activity. Who or what caused the rally and whether it will last are both unknowns. Bitcoin plummeted after setting a new milestone, plummeting 8.6 percent for the day by Tuesday afternoon.

Among other minor cryptocurrencies, Oathout bought bitcoin when it was at $17,000 and has been buying dips ever since. The only thing he regrets is not investing more during the market downturn.

He even considered getting a home equity loan and pouring a ton of money into it, but ultimately decided against it.

Chad Brewer was envious of bitcoin’s meteoric rise.

For the last year, Brewer—a 34-year-old from Fort Smith, Ark., who works at a center for developmental disabilities—has been investing in hbar, a smaller coin, since he thinks it has great technological potential.

From $5,000 to $7,000, his investment in hbar increased. Even though he pondered investing in bitcoin in late 2022, when its price was below $20,000, he now wishes he had.

The fear of missing out (FOMO) is motivating Brewer to increase his investments in hbar, he claimed.

He expressed his desire to have a larger financial stake in the game. “I feel good about what I’m buying into, but I’m sad I’m missing out on that price action because I don’t have any bitcoin.”

Brewer often increases his daily hbar purchase from $5 to $50.

While this was going on, Anna Naphtali of Savannah, Georgia, abandoned bitcoin in favor of house flipping.

During the cryptocurrency meltdown of 2022, the 42-year-old production designer suffered losses. She claimed that in 2021, she thought cryptocurrency was overhyped but that she could profit from buying low and selling high due to the market’s ebb and flow.

After hearing from a friend that bitcoin’s value was about to explode, Naphtali increased her investment. The site she had been using went bankrupt not long after. She claimed that six months after investing $40,000, she received a payout equal to the market value of her assets due to the subsequent crypto crash.

This present rally doesn’t fill her with fear of missing out, she stated. “There was a lot of press around cryptocurrency. Over the course of his life, my grandpa was an excellent investor, and he never thought that fad things would last.

When asked how much cryptocurrency, if any, should be in a client’s portfolio, financial advisors are often quite cautious.

According to Joshua Escalante Troesh, a financial advisor from Rancho Cucamonga, California, who is still interested in investing, the most amount one should put into it is three percent of their investible assets.

According to him, most of the time, when clients want to experiment with investing or trading for pleasure, we set up a “sandbox account” where they can lose all of their money without worrying about their retirement or other objectives.

Advisors advise those who have kept bitcoin through its price rise to assess whether it now constitutes an unsustainable proportion of their portfolio.

Using a concept of “regret minimization,” Troesh advises clients on how to handle appreciated cryptocurrency. He probes further by asking how they would feel if prices surged after they sold it and if prices crashed after they decided to hold on to it.

Over the course of seven years, Jalen Nelson has invested six figures into cryptocurrency. He intends to maintain his holdings of bitcoin and invest more in smaller tokens in light of the recent spike in the price of the cryptocurrency.

According to Nelson, a tech worker from Medellín, Colombia, who is 28 years old, the recent surge in bitcoin’s value marks the start of a bull market.

Everyone is either on crypto’s side or they’re not after the previous downturn, he warned. I won’t waste my time trying to persuade you. I will not broach the subject with you.