Buy bitcoin now while it’s still cheap, says cryptocurrency hedge-fund owner

Bitcoin may have reached its bottom this year, Dan Morehead, founder of Pantera Capital Management, told CNBC. So now is a good time to buy.

“All cryptocurrencies are very cheap right now,” said Morehead, who serves as CEO and co-chief investment officer of Pantera.

As a whole, cryptocurrencies have declined about 65 percent from their highs this year, he said.

“It’s much cheaper to buy now and participate in the rally as it goes,” Morehead said Thursday on “Fast Money.”

Bitcoin, one of the most popular cryptocurrencies, reached highs of $19,500 last December, only to dip below $6,000 in February. On Thursday evening at 5:30 p.m. ET, bitcoin was priced around $7,500.

The volatile nature of all cryptocurrencies has left market watchers on edge amid looming regulatory concerns. Cryptocurrency is still a largely unregulated industry.

But this might work in investors’ favor, Morehead said.

“Many institutions are essentially buying the rumor [of potential SEC regulations] and selling the fact,” he said. “Getting invested now so that in three, four, five months when the institutional, quality-regulated custodians that we’re hearing about come online, they’ll already have their positions.”

His tip for investors: Buy a currency once it breaks its 230-day moving average, wait a year and sell.

“Without even thinking about it,” Morehead said, “you make an average of 239 percent.”

The trader said this strategy is best illustrated in bitcoin, a coin in which it “happened about five times in the last six years,” he said.

“That’s the essence of this trade: It rarely ever gets cheap to its long-term average,” Morehead said. “So today is a good day to be buying.”

Pantera Capital Management, which Morehead founded in 2013, is one of the first U.S. bitcoin firms. The company owns about 35 pre-auction ICOs and about 25 liquid blockchain currencies, including XRP, ethereum and bitcoin.