Is Bitcoin a Currency or a Bubble?

• (0:30) - Bitcoin Value Triples in 2017
• (2:00) - How To Buy Bitcoin and Who is Buying It?
• (7:20) - How is Bitcoin Impacted By Ransomware
• (9:40) - How Does Bitcoin Have Value?
• (12:20) - Bitcoin V.S. Ethereum
• (14:00) - How To Invest Into Bitcoin
• (20:55) - Marijuana Cryptocurrency, Initial Coin Offering and Block Chain Tech
• (25:40) - Episode Roundup: Podcast@Zacks.com

Welcome to Episode #86 of the Zacks Market Edge Podcast.

Every week, host and Zacks stock strategist, Tracey Ryniec, will be joined by guests to discuss the hottest investing topics in stocks, bonds and ETFs and how it impacts your life.

In this episode, Tracey is joined by Dave Bartosiak, editor of the Zacks Momentum Trader and Home Run Investor, and who also hosts Zacks Live Trader, which trades options on YouTube, to discuss a topic that is getting a lot of interest on Wall Street: the Bitcoin trade.

Bitcoin is a digital currency which has tripled in value in 2017. It hit as high as $3,000 before pulling back.

Whenever something triples in a short period of time, you can be guaranteed that people are taking notice and want to get in.

What IS Bitcoin? Tracey knows it from the ransomware attacks but it's more complex than that. Dave breaks it down.

How Can You Play the Bitcoin Trade?

1.       Buy Bitcoin using the Bitcoin wallet.

2.       If you qualify, buy the Bitcoin Investment Trust (GBTC), which is called the "ETF of Bitcoin" even though the SEC has turned down the Winklevoss' attempt to actually launch an ETF. The SEC has been concerned the market is unregulated. The GBTC trades on the OTC market.

3.       Invest in hedge funds that buy Bitcoins.

4.       Buy into companies that are developing the back end, such as Microsoft's MSFT cloud business, Azure, which just won a contract with India's largest banks to host the nodes that will relay transactions on their distributed ledger systems. Amazon AMZN is another option as its cloud business has been pushing blockchain for over year.

Investing in Bitcoin is difficult. Trading it is pretty easy.

The industry reminds Tracey of the marijuana trade, which is also hot but hard to invest in. She and Dave did a podcast earlier this year on the marijuana stocks: Can You Get Rich Off the Marijuana Stocks?

Is Bitcoin the new tulip mania?

Will it crash and burn or is there something to this rally?

Find out the answers on this week's podcast.

[In full disclosure, Tracey owns shares of AMZN in her personal portfolio.]

Want to Learn How to Trade Options?

Have you always wanted to trade stock options but are unsure where to begin or what to look for?

Each week, Zacks' Dave Bartosiak will bring you a detailed explanation of the trades "live" on YouTube.

Watch him go through the trade as he answers your questions in real time.

Become one of Dave's minions. Join the Zacks Live Trader community today.  Click here for a free 14-day trial >>>