Fantasy sports and crypto are more similar than you might think. Check out our top fantasy sports tips for buying crypto.
Fantasy sports fans and cryptocurrency investors don’t typically conjure the same image. But as anyone who’s ever spent a season obsessing over every detail of their roster’s performance can tell you, fantasy sports is all about the stats. You know what else is all about stats, averages, and making a smart trade at the right time? Cryptocurrency trading.
So, what can your fantasy sports experience teach you about buying and selling cryptocurrency? A surprising amount, actually. Below, we’ve laid out exactly what similarities and differences exist between sports betting and crypto picking, and how you can use your experience to get an edge on the market.
Just Pick The Better Team, Right?
Sports betting is easy, right? Just pick the better team and win some money. While that’s not entirely wrong, it’s only a small part of the equation. We all know that the Bucks are going to beat the Pistons – no one is even going to offer that bet. Instead, you have to bet that the Bucks will win by at least a certain number of points. This number is called the “points spread”.
Beating The Spread
So, let’s say that you want to bet on the Bucks. You head over to your favorite betting platform and look them up and see that – surprise! – they’re favored to win. Easy money. Not so fast. You notice that there is another number next to the odds, it says “+20”. What does that mean? That’s the spread. It’s obvious the Bucks will beat the Pistons, but will they beat them by more or less than 20 points?
You’re Not Playing Against The House
Conventional wisdom holds that The House always wins, and that’s not totally wrong. But with sports betting, things are a little different. Think about poker, The House doesn’t compete against the players, they just take a small cut of the pot. Sports betting is pretty similar.
The points spread is calculated very carefully, you see. No matter how many bets are placed, the points spread will always be exactly in the middle, meaning that half of all bets are over and half are under. No matter the outcome, half of the people will win and half will lose, and The House takes its cut.
It turns out that groups of people are very, very good at predicting outcomes. As of writing this article, the Bucks currently have a record of 46-25. However, against the spread, they are only 31-38-2. In fact, the Pistons have a better record against the spread at 34-33-3. So, yeah…not quite as easy to pick a winner as it might seem.
What Does This Have To Do With Crypto?
More than you might think. Cryptocurrency investments are also a kind of bet. Again, though, you’re not betting against The House, you’re betting against the collective guesses of the group. But, unlike sports betting, cryptocurrency is an investment, like stocks. This means that you can win not just once, but continually for months or years to come.
Is Cryptocurrency the Same As Stocks
No, not really. But there are several similarities when we think about them as investments. For starters, both are finite. There are only so many Bitcoins in existence and a limit to how many can ever be mined. Further, both can fluctuate – at times wildly and unpredictably. However, over a long enough time, they do tend to rise. All of the same basic principles apply to trading both cryptocurrency and stocks. Things like shorting, standing orders, and hedging are all common on cryptocurrency trading forums.
What Is Cryptocurrency?
That’s a complicated question. Unlike stocks – which are shares of a specific company – cryptocurrency is not technically backed by anything concrete. Instead, it is more like standard fiat currency (paper money). What this means is that any cryptocurrency is worth what we all agree it’s worth. Everyone agrees what $1 is worth, it’s standardized by a central bank and is generally equal all over the US. $1 can always be traded for exactly $1.
If you’ve ever traveled overseas, you know how important it is to get a good exchange rate on your money. One dollar might always be worth one dollar, but it can be worth a wildly varying amount from country to country and day to day. Cryptocurrency is no different. One Bitcoin might be worth $30,000 at breakfast, $40,000 at lunch, and $35,000 by dinner.
When you buy any cryptocurrency, you are betting that its price will go up. If enough people agree with you and buy the same cryptocurrency, then – thanks to the magic of supply & demand – the price will go up. Just like stocks.
Fantasy Crypto And Fantasy Sports
What if you want to try your hand at buying and selling crypto, but don’t feel comfortable risking your hard-earned money? There is a wave of new fantasy crypto contests out there – like StockBattle – that allow you to jump in and start trading without any actual investment or commitment.
What Is Fantasy Crypto Trading?
Just like fantasy sports, you pick your team and see how well they perform. But instead of choosing players, you choose cryptocurrencies. Players can choose to jump into a game of anywhere from 15-60 minutes long and, using real-time data, they can buy and sell cryptocurrency in a purely virtual setting. The better you do in the game, the more points you earn. At the end of the day, players can earn rewards based on their performance.
How Does Fantasy Sports Help?
Fantasy crypto contests reward people who know how to do research. Any fantasy sports player can tell you that research is the key to success, crypto games are no different. Some of the best advice that we can give for any aspiring crypto traders is the same we’d give to a friend running their first fantasy team.
- Go Big Or Go Home
Sure, you can play it safe and go for the sure thing, but the biggest, safest picks are usually going to provide the smallest returns.
- Diversify
No two cryptocurrencies will perform the same. Even if the whole market is down, some will be worse than others – and at least a few will always buck the trend. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.
- Know Your Win Condition
Don’t just start buying up as many different coins as you can, pick and choose. Where do you predict it to go up? Is there a big event on the horizon? Always have an exit strategy for when to collect your winnings.
If you’re a fan of fantasy sports, stocks, or crypto, you should really consider putting your analytical skills to the test. Learn a new skill, earn a few prizes, and maybe gain some insight that can help you to strike crypto gold.
