already read through a bunch of topics and some of it doesnt seem to be clear so figured i would ask some questions
new to all this. Bought a few litecoins and they are just sitting around at the moment. figured maybe i should start mining, not so much for the immediate profits (if any) but for the longer term holdings. through my research of crypto currencies it seems like there are a lot of crap ones but there are a few main ones that will most likely stick around in some fashion, litecoin being one of them.
So… going to be buying a used A4 dominator with power supply and everything, with the boxes and manuals for $1400usd inc shipping off a friend of a relative. Apparently he is buying an antminer l3+. anyways… from what I understand, as the price of the litecoin goes up in value, the harder it is to mine? is that correct, sort of? second question is does buying an A4 at this point make sense? doing profitability checks, at various websites today i should make about $350 usd/month at $0.12/kwh. does 2to 3 litecoins a months seem reasonable running the A4 24/7 in a mining pool?
just wondering if it seems like a stupid idea or not to buy mining equipment at this point or did i miss the boat. i dont work in the tech sector but do have a technical hands on job so im pretty sure i can figure out how to set up and mine. any info/insight is appreciated.
I bought an A4 Dominator months ago and I think it was worth it. I was making about 4-5 LTC with it a month, obviously decreasing overtime, 2-3 LTC is reasonable for now.
The machine itself is durable, I run it and get about 250Mhs consistently, very set-it-and-forget-it, it gives me no trouble. Calculate your ROI at 240Mhs to be on the safe side. I don’t think the A4 Dominator is a stupid idea but I do think it’ll take you 1.5 - 2 years to break even so only do it if you’re looking for a new hobby. (If you’re trying to strike it rich, probably better off buying the underlying asset with your $1400.)
Lately, I overclocked it and I get the 280Mhs as advertised and it still stays pretty cool even though I don’t have it in a chilled data center. (Just in my basement.) I watched A4s on eBay for about a month before I got one at a good price at auction, I think 1400 is a great price, next month, 1300 would be good, next month, 1200, etc… I think at this point, getting an A4 would not be stupid but it will not make you rich either. If you don’t have an isolated place where you can run it and let it be loud and hot, then you probably don’t want to get it. It’s hot and loud.
Think about the economics for a bit before you get into mining. For me, I mine because I like computers and I do it for the sport of it as well as the service I provide to Litecoin network. (I just started running my own node and mining solo.) I’ll answer some of the questions you got and let others correct me where I’m wrong.
Not exactly, as the price goes up in value, the more people will want to mine, the more miners that are mining, the more difficult it is to mine. This is because the difficulty is adjusted to maintain the time to find each block at 2.5 minutes. As blocks are found faster (say 2.1 minutes because there are a lot of people mining) the difficulty increases. The difficulty is no influenced by the price, the difficulty is influenced by the network hashrate. (Which happens to increase as the price increases)
Depends, why do you want to mine? Think about the economics for a bit before you get into mining. The miner requires a fixed electricity cost which for you is going to be like $75/mo. The reward you get each month will be 2-3 Litecoin (maybe 200-300$/mo) but will be declining. And the value of the machine will depreciate (i.e. you will be able to resell it but for much less that you got it).
For me, I mine because I like computers and I do it for the sport of it as well as the service I provide to Litecoin network. (I just started running my own node and mining solo.) So it makes sense for me becuase I enjoy it, I value that enough that I’ll keep my miners runnning as long as I break even on my electricity costs.
Sounds about right but remember that will decrease every week and there’s a good chance it could decrease by 50% in 3-6 months.
Personally, I like the A4 Dominator, I think the machine is a work of art. I like the A4+ better, I would recommend going all in and getting the A4+ if you have the means. Don’t waste your time with second hand equipment. Your friends selling theirs at 1400 because they’d rather take that 1400 and put it into crypto than mine… If the machine was such a money maker, why wouldn’t your friend keep it? He knows that the difficulty will make the machine useless in 6-12 months so he’s selling while the hype is high, I’m thinking of doing the same with my A4 Dominator since I have a better machine now. (And my better machine is better than the L3+!)
yea sent the money out today. should have it in a week or two depending on the crazy christmas shipping that goes on with the mail system.
as far as reasons for mining, i do find the concept interesting, more so, the more i read into it on various threads and forums. As of now though my main goal is to just make as many coins as i can until it starts feeling pointless or i get bored and then sit on them (maybe for years) and see what happens then try and sell the A4 for whatever i can get for it. my other idea is just go till february-march 2018, sell the A4 for whatever i can get and use my tax return to buy 3-4 L3+(or A4+ or whatever looks good and depending on cost) and just keep going. it honestly depends on how much i get obsessed with it over the next while. i tend to either dabble in things and forget about it or i get fully obsessed and take things to the extreme over time. as an example i got into diesel trucks 5-6 years ago and loved them, now my Ram is pushing 900hp at the wheels… obsession… haha other example is i used to play with broken window shaker A/C units for fun and now I’m a refrigeration mechanic by trade dealing with massive refrigeration systems like at cold storage warehouses and large grocery stores. i guess im really hoping my obsession takes over and i go all out with this, but time will tell!!
Well if you’re anything like me, you’ll end up using more than just your tax return to buy mining gear I’m keeping an eye on the A4+ LTC Master, might put in an order for 3. Twice the price of the L3 but mine is getting closer to 680mhs normal mode, 715mhs+ overclocked, and 750W.
wow those have some power, that’s awesome! Yea will have to see how much cash I have in the new year. have a bunch of marijuana stocks which keep shooting up so maybe cash out on some of those before the final legalization in Canada next year and buy a bunch of mining stuff… see what happens i guess haha take over the office at home with a bunch of noisy machines and piss the wife off.
Yes indeed… like to jump in with both feet. I have 6 stocks total but the 3 with the majority of my cash are: Aurora Cannabis Inc (ACB.TO), Supreme Pharma inc (FIRE.V). Wildflower Marijuana Inc (SUN.CN). The other 3 only have a couple hundred dollars each in them and i don’t think they will do much. THC Biomed (THC.CN). Cannabix Tech Inc (BLO.CN). Emerald Health Therapeutics (EMH.V)
It’s up and down but there is no reason why they shouldnt gain more in the coming months. I’m really banking on Aurora Cannabis taking off like Cannimed. They are slotted to be the #2 grower in canada if some deals go through and they are also into the European market. they really know whats going on and they have massive amounts of capital (as far as drug dealers go haha) and i can’t find anything in my research that has made me second guess anything they have done. i’m +115% give or take for my portfolio and im sure it will grow more. I’m in Canada btw… if that wasnt obvious. all those stock symbols are canadian market… think some are on the OTC in the usa though.
Looks like as Bitcoin rockets higher Litecoin trends downward with Etherum. I know a lot of people had $200 price targets for the end of theirs year but at this rate that might not happen. Would love to see another bull run, I’m holding for now, yesterday I did sell some for BTC, I might eventually buy back into LTC if the price really dips.
I’m running my A4s full time now, dips just mean slower difficulty increases which is a good thing. As much as I like seeing the price jump, I prefer stability because it means more stable difficulty for mining. While it always increases, single digit % gains are way better to see than double digit difficulty increases that come with big price jumps.
Also sold my A4 Dominator for exactly what I bought it for so for me, the A4 was worth it. And in USD, it makes just as much today as it was making for me a few months ago.
As long as the difficulty and the LTC/USD rate stay around their current levels, I do think the A4 dominator is a good buy, I would not pay more than 1500 USD though (including power supplies). I see them going for almost 3k on eBay, that’s not worth it.
I’m keeping an eye on the A4+ LTC Master, might put in an order for 3. Twice the price of the L3 but mine is getting closer to 680mhs normal mode, 715mhs+ overclocked, and 750W.
Thank you