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I started collecting cryptocurrencies for fun, and now I want to understand the mechanism of the exchange. I did an experiment in this regard.
On uphold it is possible to make changes without fees. Also scheduled changes.
In this period, where we are witnessing a surge in coin prices and in particular the very high transfer fees, the best solution for a small trader is to use uphold.
Uphold is a wallet that can be very useful as it operates exchanges with zero fees. This means that if you have the right coins in your account, you can make the right trades at the right time and earn significantly more than the broker you normally use. The downside, of course, is that it is not possible to make a withdrawal of all the different coins listed on the site, but there is a small circle of money that can be withdrawn.
Personally, I've started using it on BRAVE browsers, and I've also written some articles about it. Thanks to this wallet, when the BAT tokens rose by over $ 1, I was able to sell them effortlessly, earning a significant profit, while a very small part of my BAT remained blocked on Celsius wallet due to the very high gas fee costs. (thanks a lot ETH ..).
How the wallet is made
The wallet in question uses 2 graphical interfaces, since at the time of writing the article, there is a transition from the old layout to a new one, but incomplete of all the features present on the previous wallet. You will often have to go back and forth between the various modes.
The new graphical interface offers boxes on the trend of crypto, on the performance of your portfolio, and the various crypto within the wallet.
(#UPDATE OF 29/07/2021)
Criticisms.
A fantastic wallet to operate on, but the flaws are not lacking in appeal. If a new interface is available to trade the various coins, I find it ridiculous that I find myself forced to return to the old interface as it is in no way possible to withdraw your cryptocurrencies on the new platform. In the FAQ he clearly shows an example, but on my account I have never been able to replicate the example. So this is a big minus point.
The second thing that makes you turn up your nose are the fees that uphold recently applies. If 99% of your users were happy to use the wallet to trade and avoid other wallets with commissions, fees everywhere and withdrawals impossible due to dependence on another currency (e.g. BAT with ETH), now you are about to lose a good chunk of investors. From a recent check I carried out on the platform it is still possible to exchange crypto without commissions in the new version, while in the old version a fee is included in withdrawals. But all is not lost ... if you don't care about converting your BATs (accumulated through Brave Browser), well, invest them.
Investments
Well, if we have previously criticized the system that Uphold has been applying lately, we cannot say otherwise of the investment sector. Here Uphold makes the difference. Using your crypto to invest in the financial market is an excellent move to promote the movement of capital from one side to the other. In fact, there are about 50 options we have available, including companies, funds and ETFs. The options are very few, but this assortment could get significantly bigger in the future.
As for companies that issue dividends, I have found this question all over the internet:
Within the equity sector of the site, you can buy fractional shares. However, your investment must produce at least $ 0.01 in value.
In times of market closure, a small spread may apply.
Dividend Shares to Consider:
- Apple (AAPL) 0.60%
- AT&T Inc. (T) 7.38%
- Bristol-Myers Squibb Co (BMY) 2.85%
- Cisco Systems, Inc. (CSCO) 2.70%
- Citigroup Inc. ( C ) 3,00%
- CMSA Energy Corp. (CMCSA) 1.71%
- Danaher Corporation (DHR) 0.84%
- Exxon Mobil Corporation (XOM) 5.98%
- Intel Corporation (INTC) 2.61%
- Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) 4.24%
- JP Morgan (JPM) 3.60%
- Mastercard (M) 1.76%
- Microsoft (MSFT) 2.24%
- NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA) 0.16%
- Procter & Gamble Co (PG) 3.48%
- The Home Depot (HD) 6.60%
- UnitedHealth Group Inc (UNH) 5.80%
- Visa Inc. (V) 1.28%
- Wells Fargo & Co (WFC) 0.89%
ETF
- Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLF) 1.57% (ER 0.12%)
- iShares Barclays 20+ Yr Treas.Bond (TLT) 1.50% (ER 0.15%)
- iShares Emerging Markets Index (EEM) 1.38% (ER 0.68%)
- iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (HYG) 4.49% (ER 0.48%)
- iShares MSCI EAFE Index Fund (EFA) 2.28% (ER 0.32%)
- iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) 0.83% (ER 0.19%)
- iShares S&P 500 (IVV) 1.31% (ER 0.03%)
- Powershares QQQ TRUST (QQQ) 0.49% (ER 0.20%)
- SPDR S&P 500 Trust ETF (SPY) 1.30 (ER 0.09%)
- Utilities SPDR ETF (XLU) 3.12% (ER 0.12%)
- VanEck Vectors Goldmines ETF (GDX) 0.56% (ER 0.51%)
Growth stocks:
- Adobe Inc. (ADBE)
- Alphabet Inc. Class A (GOOGL)
- Alphabet Inc. Class C. (GOOG)
- Amazon (AMZN)
- Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Class B (BRK.B)
- Tesla (TSLA)
- Walt Disney Co. (DIS)
Portfolio construction
What is the purpose of building an uphold wallet? First, the costs. If we consider traditional brokers, they charge you fees on operations. While on uphold, we can take advantage of the site's exchange to be able to obtain (fractional) shares by investing even a few cents. The purchase and sale operations within the site are free, and this positively affects the construction of the portfolio. The SEPA transfer is possible, and there is also a function within the site that allows you to calculate the taxes to be paid regarding your account. To understand what to include in your portfolio you need to understand your needs.
Do I need a portfolio that pays dividends? full of growth stocks? mixed?
My answer to this question: the subdivision of the portfolio (at the moment) 90/10. The first, dividends of course, the rest growth. In a normal context I would have reversed the roles, as there would be a better division between "frozen" income and dividends that we can use to build the emergency fund; however in this case the compounding rule applies, ie reinvest continuously. In fact, the enormous value of this wallet is that it unites the two worlds, with many shortcomings of course (there are many equity securities and there are not so many coins in crypto) but we can still get something out of it. In fact, using good browsers you will receive a small part of BAT that you can use to obtain other cryptocurrencies that have a greater variation in price, but the goal of all this is to create a cash flow inside the wallet. How? Obviously thanks to the equity sector, which offers dividends (I remind you that on uphold you cannot staking coins at the moment). In fact, in this period where the market is rising and cryptocurrencies are struggling to recover, the best choice is to focus on dividends.
These in fact allow you to have a good flow of constant liquidity that will allow you to have cash in moments of decline in crypto, in order to take advantage to buy more and more. For example, with an investment of $ 100 in AT&T you could make $ 7.38 every year. They seem few, and it seems ridiculous to say the least to divest from crypto to invest in traditional markets. However, if you don't have a constant cash flow that allows you to actively invest in both sectors, well, the answer can be found in this article.
Let's continue with the example above. Let's say you earned 1000 BAT, which equals about $ 1000 (1 BAT = $ 1 for example) by investing in AT&T you could get $ 73.80 gross. With these, by investing them again in crypto (LTC for example) you could get a return of more than 100%. In 2020 litecoin (LTC) was worth just over $ 50, while in 2021 it was worth around $ 390. An increase of around 780% in just under 6 months. The $ 74 just above would have turned into around $ 650.
What if they were ethereum? Or cardan? This would be a gain of 1100% ($ 888), or in the second case of 2411% ($ 1858.14).
In any case, at the peak of each cycle it is important to convert at least 80% of this gain into equity in order to take advantage of the compound effect, in order to increase dividends dramatically and in a much faster way.
Assuming a growth rate of 100% in the example above and leaving a small part of the yield in crypto, the situation could drastically change, as cryptocurrencies have frequent price fluctuations. In about 12 years, you could find yourself with almost 3 million euros in crypto and around $ 2000 in equity.
You could later withdraw a portion of this money in order to create a 70/30 ETF portfolio, accumulation and distribution on another broker. After 8 years with an annuity of 7% per annum, you can definitively declare yourself financially free and you can dedicate yourself to the life you want.
Conclusion
This wallet is excellent for those looking to invest in crypto and the traditional market. It offers good solutions (some quite immature) but performs better than other wallets while not supporting staking. A real shame, because it would be a godsend to continually reinvest in the same platform without touching any fees, which can sometimes become (in the case of ethereum) prohibitive. In any case, there are other platforms that offer really interesting crypto interests, such as:
- blockfi,
- celsius wallet,
- atomic wallet,
- trust wallet,
- crypto.com wallet,
- nexo wallet,
- mycointainer,
- youhodler,
- argent wallet,
- huobi wallet,
- expresscrypto
- gemini.
These are the ones I know and use every day.
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*cover image: https://www.xrpvi.be/
