Where will Bitcoin be on 9/4/2018?

I think of BTC and Crypto in general like a slot machine. It may have a huge payout or it may fizzle to nothing. (Or it may stagnate).

It is so volatile and basically every long term (and most short term) predictions are wrong, I don't think anyone has any idea of what the price will be at tomorrow let alone next year or five years.

Crypto is alright to put a few dollars in here and there and ride it out to see what happens (if you plan to lose the money, just like a slot machine), but nobody should invest a serious portion of their net worth in it (nobody should treat it as an investment period). And, I say this as somebody who in High School had computer savvy friends trying to tell me that BTC will be the next big thing (back when they were under one dollar a coin), and I blew them off. But, hindsight is 20/20, it is still a very risky investment. And, there is a limited track record (barely over ten years). It is essentially a volatile online currency with currently limited utility.

I am not anti-crypto, I think there is utility (and I think that utility continues to grow) to it, just like most currencies. But, "investing" (buying with the intention of value growth) in currency is rarely wise (unless you have a time machine). Treating crypto as an investment versus something you briefly use for a specific transaction are completely different things. When I go to Canada, I will get CAD to use, but I will not stash leftover ones when I get home in the hopes that it will outperform the USD by a higher margin than the original transfer rate.... Likewise, I have bought BTC for specific online transactions (with the intention of using it).

Currencey investments are just bad investments. If you need to buy some to use it, great, but don't think hoarding CAD or BTC will make you some kind of crazy money in a few years.

Bitcoin is the greatest invention since the wheel.