First and foremost, I hate unnecessary Fear, Uncertainty & Doom (FUD). I hate reading about it on Reddit, Twitter, Medium, or Steemit from writers with an agenda or who just want to get a rise out of our community (which 9 out of 10 times, they do).

Now I understand that there should be cause for concern within the cryptocurrency community, especially if you are only part of this community to make money speculating on coins. After all, almost all coins and tokens, after experiencing huge price spikes during the last 90 days of 2017, are now mostly in the red to start 2018. Most of the declines are being blamed on traditional global financial institutions and governments calling for regulations and bans. While I tend to agree with the aforementioned statement, I also tend to believe that a lot of the declines are a result of new entrants (noobs as we like to call them), who entered in October — December of 2017, and are now cashing out because they showed up to the market while it was peaking, and now, experiencing their first dips and crash, can no longer stomach it.

This brings me to my first point, and again, as someone who hates to operate in a “No FUD Zone”, I am becoming continually bearish on the 1st quarter of 2018. Why? Not because of the bans and regualtion threats (I mean, these have always been out there), instead, I am blaming “Noobs” as the cause of the bear market, and I think the market will continue to decline through the end of March as the market weeds out the weak handed.

Now while that sounds awful for people looking to cash out before then, I see a major turnaround (or return to normal) beginning mid April or so. By this time the shine of cryptocurrency will have dimmed a bit, and the real players will step forward, thus causing a bull run from 2nd quarter through the end of the year.

Of course, there will be dips from profit taking, threats or bans and regulations or other FUD along the way, but if you can stomach the next 70 days or so, things will turn around. Remember, while speculating on price/coin is fun, and in the end can make all of us wealthy, we are really betting on technology, projects, development teams and a new future. Research your coin, read your white papers, and look at a coins community. Sure there will be easy ways to make a quick buck or two in this bear market, but if you really want to set yourself up long term, do your homework.

Finally, the 1st quarter of 2018 is not all doom and gloom. It, in my opinion, is a great time to buy cheap coins. Remember in December when you wanted Litecoin below $200? Well now is your chance. Ripple below $2? It’s sitting there for you. And, Bitcoin below $13K? Grab it.

In closing, try and remember what famous billionaire investor Warren Buffet said:

“Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful”

Now, Mr. Buffet is no friend of cryptocurrency, but he is right. If you are in this market for long haul, now is the time to be greedy because by April 2018, you may have missed your chance.