How to bet on bitcoin, without the crazy volatility? Here’s one idea

Amid what appears to be widespread fatigue among traditional investors, excitement is booming in the wild, wild west of cybercurrencies right now.

Over on Reddit, one forum dweller said they were ready to drop $20,000 into bitcoin BTCUSD, +0.33% — after doing some research and concluding the only way was up for the crypto cash. It beats “$20k sitting in a safe-deposit box,” the poster said.

“Only invest what you are willing to lose,” was one response.

For those who are willing, Rupert Hargreaves, blogging for ValueWalk, offers up a “less volatile way” to bet on cryptocurrencies over just buying bitcoin or ethereum -- though there’s still plenty of risk involved. He says there’s big money being made on cybercurrencies... and where there’s an opportunity, there are hedge funds.

Hargreaves took a deep dive into the Crypto-Currency Fund Index from Eurekahedge. The data firm uses the index to track the performance of five actively managed hedge funds with holdings in bitcoin, ethereum and other digital cash.

His findings? The Eurekahedge index not only beat traditional hedge funds, it even blew bitcoin itself out of the water.

–– ADVERTISEMENT ––

Between June 2013 and April this year, the index shows eye-popping cumulative returns of 2,152.32%, versus 1,408.11% for the Bitcoin Price Index. Looked at annually, that’s a return of 125.35%, compared with 102.96%.

It should be noted that while “less volatile” than a straight play on bitcoin or another cryptocurrency, the level of volatility for the index itself “is off the chart,” Hargreaves notes in his blog post.

In its report on performance, Eurekahedge said that “over a period of 14 months between December 2013 and January 2015, the Eurekahedge Crypto-Currency Fund Index lost almost 73% of its value from its 2013 high. In contrast, the Bitcoin Price Index lost almost 81% of its value,” according to Hargreaves.

Whether we’re on the edge of a South Sea Bubble or greatness for the cybercurrency faithful, bitcoin and its pals have been bringing the drama.

Popular rival ethereum suffered a flash crash Wednesday, plunging from more than $317 to briefly trade as low as 10 cents in a flash cash on the GDAX exchange before rebounding. In a post, GDAX Vice President Adam White said a “multimillion-dollar market sell” order was placed on GDAX’s ETH-USD [ethereum-U.S. dollar] order book, which resulted in orders being filled from $317.81 to $224.48—for a slippage of 29.4%. That, in turn, began a cascade of around 800 stop-loss orders and margin-funding liquidations, which sent the price temporarily as low as a dime, he explained.