| Ticker | Company | ±% | Price | Invest | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RIOT | Riot Platforms | -2.72% | $11.82 | Buy stock | ||
Over the last year, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have rebounded from their lows in March to reach all-time highs in 2021. As bitcoin continues its run to $50,000 and perhaps beyond, multiple cryptocurrency-affiliated stocks have joined in on the fun.
Riot Blockchain Inc. (RIOT), headquartered in Colorado, focuses on mining cryptos and invests in the blockchain space. This includes a 13% interest in Coinsquare Ltd., a Canadian crypto exchange. Riot Blockchain rebounded from its low of $0.51 back in March of 2020 to a high of over $47 in February 2021 — an unbelievable return of over 8,000%!
Are you thinking about buying shares in Riot Blockchain? Our beginner’s guide below will help you begin this process and launch your investing career.
How to Buy RIOT Stock Summary
Follow these 3 basic steps to become an owner in RIOT:
- Select an appropriate broker. Before you can begin investing in RIOT, you need to make one of the best brokers your partner. To ensure the best investing experience, define your basic goals. If you want to trade right away, select a broker that offers instant access to your deposits.
- Deposit funds. Once you’ve chosen a brokerage and opened up your own account, you need to fund your account. Only deposit funds that you would feel comfortable losing.
- Locate shares of RIOT and hit buy. Since RIOT is a commonly traded stock and listed on the NASDAQ, you can locate shares to purchase through essentially any brokerage. Use a market order if you desire speed and a limit order if you prefer efficiency.
How to Buy (RIOT) Stock
As Bitcoin approaches $50,000, RIOT has expanded its crypto mining operations. The company now runs over 11,000 miners and plans to increase mining operations by year's end.
Buying a stock like RIOT intrinsically tied to the value of bitcoin presents a risk above and beyond most other stocks. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, still a relatively new space, make it more prone to volatility. While more and more companies have invested in bitcoin to start 2021, risks such as government regulation remain a constant threat.
Step-by-Step Guide:
- Pick a brokerage.
To start, you need to select a brokerage service. Almost all brokerages have moved to a commission-free model so you can purchase shares of RIOT free of charge.
Just because brokerages tout commission-free pricing doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t compare other brokers. Define your investing goals and choose a brokerage that best suits them. You may find it helpful to choose a brokerage that offers paper trading so you can get the hang of things before putting your money on the line.
Check into any promos/perks that brokerages offer to new users. Taking advantage of these offers means you could get bonus funds to trade with or you could even tap into free stocks. - Decide how many shares you want.
Once you open up your brokerage account and fund it, decide how you want to invest in RIOT. Consider the volatility of the asset, your overall account balance and your investing timeline.
Investing more than a small percentage of your portfolio into any one stock is always risky, especially when intrinsically tied to the cryptocurrency market. Buy shares conservatively and define where you want to take profits and where you want to cut your losses. - Choose your order type.
Now that you know how many shares of RIOT you want to purchase, you need to determine how you want to purchase them using an order type.
Using a market order is best if you want to take a position in a company as fast as possible. This order type executes immediately at the current market price.
Using a limit order is best if you want to buy into a company at a set price.
Limit orders allow for much more controlled trading, which is especially important when trading volatile stocks such as RIOT. Market orders can result in your buy order filling at an unfavorable price, which can mean instant losses for you. - Execute your trade.
Click or tap the “buy” button and sit back and relax as your broker fills your order. Once your order fills, the shares will appear in your brokerage account.
Best Online Stockbrokers
If you don’t have a brokerage account, you can pick one from our list of favorite online brokers.
- Best For:Active and Global TradersVIEW PROS & CONS:Securely through Interactive Brokers’ website
- Best For:Global Broker for Short SellingVIEW PROS & CONS:securely through TradeZero's website
RIOT Stock History
Riot Blockchain Inc. (RIOT) was originally founded back in 2008 as BiOptix Diagnostics, a technology/biotech company aimed at the detection of molecular interactions. In October of 2017, the company announced its investment in Coinsquare Ltd., one of Canada’s top crypto exchanges. The company also announced its plans to change its stock ticker to RIOT. After the name change, RIOT shot up more than 500% in tandem with Bitcoin’s meteoric rise in December of 2017, making a high of over $46 in December of 2017.
After Bitcoin topped out at the end of 2017 and fell back down to earth, Riot Blockchain’s stock price declined significantly. RIOT finally bottomed out at around $0.51 in March 2020, after Bitcoin and the whole market collapsed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Following in Bitcoin’s footsteps, RIOT reached a high of over $47 on February 12. All in all, RIOT has been one of the hottest stocks of the entire market in 2021.
Pros to Buying RIOT Stock
The cryptocurrency space can be extremely volatile, but an investment in Riot Blockchain Inc. can bring some positives such as:
- Continued acceptance of bitcoin: As the overall market continues to rage higher in 2021, bitcoin and crypto-adjacent stocks have been no exception. Tesla’s recent purchase of $1.5 billion bitcoin and its announcement that it will accept payment in bitcoin means more big companies will follow suit. If this trend continues, RIOT could see future exponential growth.
- Inflation: If we see an uptick in inflation in 2021 and the continued acceptance of blockchain technology overall, more and more investors could abandon gold as their inflation hedge and replace it with cryptocurrencies as a catalyst for future RIOT gains.
Cons to Buying RIOT Stock
While many people agree that the blockchain technology underlying bitcoin is an invaluable advance for finance, the price of bitcoin could be too inflated already.
- Too much speculation: With bitcoin nearly at $50,000, traders might take profits at any time, possibly accelerated by any potential negative headlines. In fact, a recent Harvard study outlined the negative environmental impacts associated with mining bitcoin. If this thesis gains more traction with the general public, a crypto mining company like RIOT could incur significant losses.
- Government regulation: Government regulation of cryptocurrencies poses another risk. Bitcoin and other crypto assets present a threat to the government’s currency monopoly. As a result, Congress could seek to regulate it in a variety of ways. In fact, Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen recently outlined her concerns with bitcoin to Congress, focusing on its use by criminals for money laundering. Were Congress to act on regulating bitcoin, the financial future of RIOT would get much more complicated.
Consider Risks to RIOT
If you’ve launched your own crusade to learn how to buy stocks, you’ve probably already noticed that some have been on fire in 2021. Shares of RIOT have exploded to an astounding 8,000+% from their March lows, likely resulting in more and more traders piling into the trade in search of a quick profit. As more and more companies announce their acceptance of bitcoin in 2021, this momentum could continue.
Note that any stock that rises this much presents an added risk. Focus on only risking a minimal amount of capital and define when you want to get out of the trade. As bitcoin continues to become more and more mainstream, RIOT could continue to make headlines in this already interesting year.