INVESTING - Finance Bulls Club

Is investing in US stocks from India a good idea?

Are you looking to invest in US stocks? If so, there are a few things you need to know before making your decision. First of all, it’s important to understand that the US stock market is different from the Indian stock market. The US market is much larger and more diverse, so it can be more volatile. That means that you could see some big ups and downs in your investments.

Things to know before Investing in the US Stocks

Before investing in US stocks, you should also research the company you’re considering investing in. Make sure you understand their business model and financials. It’s also a good idea to read up on the latest news about the company to get a sense of how they’re doing. Once you’ve done your research and you’re ready to invest, there are a few ways to do it. You can open a brokerage account with a US-based firm, or you can use an online broker that supports international trading.

Investing in the US stocks: Risky or Rewarding?

Investing in US stocks can be risky, but it can also be very rewarding. If you’re willing to take on the risk, it could be a great way to grow your portfolio. Consider these three points to help you decide if this is a good idea or not.

Three points to consider when investing in us stocks from India

Taxation

The first point to consider is the issue of taxation. When you invest in US stocks from India, you will be subject to Indian capital gains tax. This tax can be quite high, depending on the amount of money you have invested.

Currency Risk

The second point to consider is the issue of currency risk. When you invest in US stocks from India, you are effectively investing in US dollars. If the value of the dollar falls against the rupee, you could lose money on your investment.

Political Risk

The third point to consider is the issue of political risk. There is always the possibility that the US government could take action that negatively impacts the value of your investment. For example, if the US implements a new law that makes it difficult for Indians to buy US stocks, your investment could decrease in value.

Final Thoughts: Should You Invest In US Stocks?

When it comes to making investment decisions, there is no one-size-fits-all answer. Each person’s circumstances are unique, and what may be a good investment for one person may not be right for another.

That being said, if you’re thinking about investing in US stocks from India, there are a few things to keep in mind.

First, the Indian stock market is very different from the US stock market, so you’ll need to do your research to make sure you understand how the two work.

Second, there are some risks involved in investing in US stocks from India, so you’ll need to weigh those against the potential rewards.

Ultimately, whether or not investing in US stocks from India is a good idea for you will come down to your personal circumstances and goals.

If you’re comfortable with the risks and feel like you have a good understanding of the market, it could be a great way to diversify your portfolio and potentially earn some good returns.

However, if you’re not comfortable with the risks or don’t feel like you have a good handle on the market, it might be better to steer clear. It is advisable to start with Indian stocks to build a stable portfolio first before dabbling in international stock markets Everything said in this article is a personal opinion of the writer and not to be treated as financial advice.

Pro Tip: If you want to invest in the US Stock market, the best industry to invest in is Technology. Invest in tech US Stocks, and US is far ahead of India in terms of technology and innovation. Some of the US bluechip stocks are: Apple, Microsoft, Meta, etc.

What will be the future of Bitcoin?

Satoshi Nakamoto, a name that is equally famous and infamous at the same time. It was starting of the year 2009 when he published a white paper and officially released BITCOIN. Although it was not the first cryptocurrency unlike eCash (developed by Digicash), this was the one which brought on the fintech revolution across the world.

The very next year, in 2010, he handed over the project to the community by making it open source.

Since then it has seen highs and lows but maintained to survive in the market to retain the title of “Oldest Surviving Currency”.

But the concern is, until when? When will it fall? What would be its future? To find all these answers, let’s dig in.

What development has Bitcoin made?

In his 9-page white paper, Nakamoto started with the title “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System”. The heading itself says a lot about the purpose behind its development. As an organisation, it has innovated as-

Control against fraud

In 2022, cryptocurrency worth 2 Billion USD has already been stolen by hackers. BTC also have a good share of loss in the same. Hence the company focus on a high level of security to protect its user from frauds like chargebacks. It also provides hardware wallet support which makes it even more difficult to steal or lose.

Cost Efficiency

The direct contact between the sender and receiver eliminates the middlemen’s time and cost which makes it more cost-efficient to trade with. It looks forward to reducing poverty by cutting the transaction charge on workers’ salaries.

Multi-signature accounts

Multi-signature allows a transaction to be accepted by the network only if a certain number of a defined group of persons agree to sign the transaction. This has enhanced the functionality of BTC and expanded its reach further to firms where payment is approved by a board of members.

Bitcoin Roadmap

The company witnessed a great journey in its history of 13 years.

The Whitepaper – Oct 2008

Satoshi Nakamoto published the Bitcoin Whitepaper.

Genesis Block – Jan 2009

The genesis block(Block 0) is the first block upon which the rest of the blocks are added. In Jan 2009, the genesis block of Bitcoin was mined

M-of-N Standard Transaction- Oct 2011

Bitcoin Improvement Proposal numbered 011 (BIP 011) facilitates secured wallets, escrow transactions, and multiple signature payment use cases.

Pay to Script Hash- Jan 2012

BIP 016 implemented a new standard for the BTC scripting system and added new rules that were applicable only to new transactions

Hierarchical Deterministic Wallets- Feb 2012

BIP 032 introduced HD Wallets which allow for multiple cryptocurrency wallets to be generated from a single seed phrase.

A Finite Supply for Bitcoin- April 2014

BIP 042 introduced a finite supply of Bitcoin after identifying the bug that would result in an infinite volume of bitcoin.

SegWit- Aug 2017

BIP 148 proposed a transaction format where the witness information would be removed from the input field of the block.

Taproot- Jan 2020

BIP 341 is considered the most revolutionary BIP to date and we will know why in the next section.

Bitcoin Upgrades

As the market is growing, there is a growth in competition every day. To sustain the competition like all the other cryptocurrencies, bitcoin too has regular upgrades. Upgrades are a way of enforcing new features in any cryptocurrency protocol. The most recent upgrade from bitcoin is Taproot Upgrade.

Taproot Upgrade

Earlier, the verification of bitcoin transactions was comparatively slow as each digital signature was validated against a public key. The time was directly proportional to the number of inputs and signatures in the case of multi-signature transactions.

To resolve this problem, the Taproot upgrade allows multiple signatures and transactions to be batched together. This reduced the latency drastically and became a revolutionary bitcoin upgrade. A team of Pieter Wuille, Jonas Nick, Tim Ruffing and Anthony Towns developed the Taproot.

Now talking about the relationship between the market and bitcoin, it has been a roller coaster ride and for the same reason, famous market enthusiasts fear its end be soon.

Is fluctuating market would result in the end of Bitcoin?

Chakib Bouda(CTO, Rambus- a payment firm) said, “We expect in 10 years time, bitcoin will become mainstream and have a remarkably different reputation. ”

There is a clear division among crypto enthusiasts on the future of bitcoin due to the fluctuation seen in the previous 2 years. However, the arguments in favour of the survival of bitcoin sound more reasonable.

Since the launch of bitcoin in 2009, it has been almost a decade. In just one decade, cryptocurrency has gained a market of 2.02 Trillion USD, greater than the economy of many countries and the credit of the revolution still goes to bitcoin. It is predicted that the market would gain a worth of almost 5 Trillion USD by 2030. Imagining such a huge market without Bitcoin is unfair and quite far from reality.
Seeing the potential in the market many big firms already have invested in bitcoin even after the collapse. Paypal has brought crypto custodian Curv, whereas, on the other hand, Tesla bought bitcoin worth 1.5 Billion USD.

Expected Future of Bitcoin

Bitcoin is the most headline-seeking cryptocurrency of all time whether it comes to its illicit use, its controversial rise, its uncertain future and its power to collapse and lift the market.

But the following are some predictions made by various statistical agencies over the future of Bitcoin:

On reading the trendlines of waves of Bitcoin prices, it is predicted to cross the mark of 1 million USD per bitcoin by the end of 2030.
Looking at the 295 Million cryptocurrency users in 2022, the prediction is being made for 1 Billion crypto users by 2030. If we consider the market share of Bitcoin users, there would be more than 300-400 Million users of Bitcoin by 2030.
In 2022, 2.5 lac bitcoin transactions are performed daily which will scale to more than 10 lac transactions per day by 2030.

According to my opinion made after studying the view of many economists, industrialists, tech enthusiasts and statisticians, I believe:

Very soon it would be centralised.
It has a dazzling future with huge profit margins for its holders.
Mass-market will embrace crypto payments like UPIs today
Countries across the world would approve Bitcoin as a legal tender.
It would be one of the most technically developed, efficient, fast and secure cryptocurrencies of all time.

Things to Know Before Investing in Digital Gold

Gold can still be used as money even though it is no longer in use as money. In actuality, gold has been used as a store of wealth for almost three thousand years. Much longer than any other form of cash. Gold is presented to sacred temples on practically all important occasions in India since it is thought to be God’s money. India is becoming the world’s biggest gold importer as a result. Indians have discovered a new way to invest in the yellow metal known as Digital Gold despite the fact that the world is now experiencing a pandemic. Being able to buy gold online has proven to be the ideal answer for many investors, as individuals are reluctant to visit jewellery stores and gold dealers.

Digital Gold: What is it?

The golden metal can be purchased and invested in virtually through the use of digital gold without needing to hold any actual gold. Online shopping is an option. Additionally, there is a rupee buy or sell minimum.

Key characteristics of digital gold

Safety Assured

As opposed to actual gold, which must be physically purchased, there is no risk of theft or high storage costs.

Sell at any moment from your house

You can sell whenever you want, without having to leave your house, and get paid right away.

Change to actual gold

Anytime, on our website or in our store, you may turn your digital gold into real gold in the form of jewellery.

Purchase for as little as $100

In order to purchase digital gold, a little sum of money is needed. Based on your budget, you can purchase.

Pros of Purchasing Digital Gold

Any app on the internet allows the purchase of digital gold. You can purchase Digital Gold at the going rate for gold and sell it anytime the value increases.
The maximum investment varies depending on the application, however you can choose to make one for as little as $100. Purchasing digital gold is thus incredibly simple.
Without purchasing physical gold, you can benefit from the gains of digital gold. It is possible to turn the digital gold into actual gold. You can get the actual gold delivered right to your door. Physical gold can be created from digital gold extremely quickly.
Digital gold is quite liquid; you can turn it into cash with only a few clicks, whenever you choose.
Unlike the price of actual gold, the price of digital gold is consistent across all states in the nation.
You don’t have to worry about storage at all if you use digital gold. Your gold is kept by the vendors in a safe place.
The smartphone application makes it incredibly simple to purchase digital gold.

Cons of Purchasing Digital Gold

When purchasing gold, consumers must pay a 3 percent government tax. This is so that you may understand that when you own digital gold, you also own physical gold that is securely kept on your behalf by the seller.
Approximately 2–3 percent of the price of gold must be paid in additional spread costs, which include handling fees, transaction fees, and storage fees. These two fees only apply to purchases of gold; they are not applicable to sales.
The percentage you pay also depends on the vendor you select. Regardless of the type of investment you make, transaction fees apply.
The majority of businesses also require their investors to sign time-limited agreements or bonds.
The investor is required to sell digital gold at least or convert it into physical gold after the designated time period. In the event that this is the case, the company has the right to deactivate the account, which would damage the gold investment that is stored under the same.

Taxes must be paid under two categories:

Gain in the Short Run

It will be regarded as a short-term capital gain, for instance, if online gold is sold before three years have passed. It is subject to taxation in accordance with the applicable income tax bracket.

Gain in the long run

It will be regarded as a long-term financial gain if digital gold is sold after three years. 20 percent tax and 4 percent CESS with indexation are due on that. By protecting your profit from high tax rates, indexation protects the investment amount’s profit. This indicates that if you bought gold earlier, when the price was lower, your income would have been very high. Consequently, you must make a significant financial contribution. However, indexation claims that at the time, the inflation rate was likewise lower, and that it is currently also high. As a result, it avoids paying substantial taxes.

All investments are subject to taxation in India, and whatever instrument you choose to invest in will incur additional fees. Service tax, brokerage fees, and other additional costs are among them. A wise investment is one that generates significant returns while outpacing all additional costs. Such an investment is gold. Invest in the asset class whose benefits outweigh its drawbacks. Digital gold is a fantastic option because its drawbacks are greatly outweighed by its benefits.