Now that Bitcoin has surpassed $100,000, what does that mean for the average investor? Is there still time to join Bitcoin's run or have outsiders missed the party?

Considered the first successful cryptocurrency, Bitcoin was valued at zero when it was launched in 2009, according to Investopedia. The digital currency has doubled in value throughout 2024, hitting record highs as it neared $100,000 last month and surpassed the milestone for the first time on Thursday.

Helping fuel the rally has been expectations that a second Trump Administration will create a conducive regulatory environment for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. The latest sign is Trump's selection for Securities and Exchange Commission chairman: Paul Atkins, a crypto-friendly financier and a former SEC member.

All this momentum probably has investors wondering whether it is time to buy into Bitcoin.

"The current impressive run will inevitably attract new interest and a certain degree of FOMO (fear of missing out)," Nigel Green, CEO of global financial advisory firm deVere Group, told USA TODAY in an email exchange.

Whether you have invested in Bitcoin yet, it's safe to say "that Bitcoin is undeniably now a global mainstream, legitimate asset class, evidenced by increasing levels of institutional interest," Green said.

And you can invest – even if it's just a few bucks. Here's how.

Bitcoin had a rollercoaster of a day, topping $103,000, then dipping below $96,000 – and was up about 113% for the year as of late Thursday afternoon.

"People who are on the fence and maybe who are having fear of missing out and think they want to jump in and start investing now … may be wondering whether now is a good time to buy, or they should wait until the cryptocurrency or Bitcoin dips," NerdWallet personal finance expert Elizabeth Ayoola told USA TODAY.

Conventional wisdom is not to invest in something while it's at top value. But Bitcoin, Ayoola said, "is volatile. So we don't know how much higher it will go."

Many predict Bitcoin will continue to rise. Anthony Scaramucci, founder of Skybridge and a former White House director of communications, has said Bitcoin could exceed $170,000 by mid-2025, and Ark Invest CEO Cathie Wood has predicted Bitcoin will hit $1.48 million by 2030, Fortune reported.

Standard Chartered Bank expects Bitcoin to hit $200,000 by the end of 2025, Newsweek reported.

While Bitcoin has a volatile history, it has become an asset many should consider investing in, Scaramucci said Thursday on CNBC.

"I do think it will be part of a long-term tactical asset allocation strategy, meaning portfolios will have one, two, three, 4% in Bitcoin," said Scaramucci, whose new book, The Little Book of Bitcoin, came out Thursday.

Bitcoin just hit $100,000: How high will it go in 2025?

If you are thinking of investing in Bitcoin, you could watch for an upcoming decline in its value. There were small declines in its value in the months of August, September and November.

Green expects to see a "short-term sell-off" as some investors bank profits. After that "temporary pause," he expects Bitcoin to surge "to hit $120,000 in the first quarter of 2025," he said in a note to investors Thursday.

"Naturally, it’s typically better to buy during a dip if it’s a genuine asset class, which Bitcoin is, rather than at the peak," Green told USA TODAY. "This is standard investment practice."

Bitcoin is a slightly different type of asset in that it's digital. Its creator, a person or group known as Satoshi Nakamoto, designed Bitcoin to have a cap of 21 million bitcoin tokens. So far, about 19 million tokens have been released.

Bitcoin is created as crypto miners use their computing work to validate bitcoin transactions on its decentralized blockchain network, essentially a digital ledger meant to prevent fraud. As the crypto miners work, they earn Bitcoin.

Back in April, bitcoin underwent a "halving," which kicks in about every four years to reduce the rate at which new bitcoins are created and released into circulation. As the bitcoin cap of 21 million tokens nears, demand likely increases, according to Investopedia.

If you want to learn a bit more about Bitcoin's creation, the HBO documentary "Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery," looks into the cryptocurrency's creation.

There are several ways to invest in Bitcoin:

• Buy Bitcoin itself. You can buy bitcoin on a crypto exchange such as Binance.US, Coinbase or Kraken. You will create a "crypto wallet" to hold your fractional shares of the cryptocurrency. Unless you are investing in the $100K-range you are going to get a fraction of Bitcoin. The smallest share of each bitcoin is called a Satoshi – after the cryptocurrency's creator – equal to a hundred millionth of one bitcoin, according to NerdWallet. The smallest investment you can make on Coinbase is $1, according to NerdWallet. (However, with the 50-cent fee, you would only get about 50 cents in Bitcoin.)

• Online stockbrokers. Familiar stockbrokers such as Fidelity and E-Trade, and trading apps like Robinhood, let you invest in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Here you can also get in at a low price; Robinhood, for instance, lets you buy a fraction of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for as little as $1.

• Exchange-traded funds: These ETFs – approved by the SEC earlier this year – from investment firms such as Blackrock and Fidelity, another way you can invest in crypto, similar to how you buy stocks. And again you can invest as little or as much as you'd like.

"If you invest in a fund, it can make Bitcoin easier to buy and sell, and it also has better regulations," said Ayoola, adding that NerdWallet has many online resources for investors about Bitcoin. "But if you buy directly from the exchange, you have direct ownership of your coins and aren't restricted to trading on traditional stock exchanges."

If you are going to invest in Bitcoin, consider it within your entire investment strategy – most finance experts recommend a diverse portfolio, with cryptocurrencies not accounting for more than 3%, Ayoola said. "But if you have a higher tolerance for risk, then you may consider speaking with a finance expert before throwing your hard-earned cash into cryptocurrencies," she said. "Bitcoin, is bullish right now, that doesn't mean that within the next week or month that your investment could not dip," Ayoola said. "So you don't want to put money in there that you're going to need in the near future."

Want a Bitcoin investment strategy? Try dollar-cost averaging.

Identify a set amount of money you can afford to invest in Bitcoin, then divvy that up and invest chunks at different time frames, regardless of the price. You could opt to invest even "$50 and divide that by however many months you want to stretch it out to," Ayoola said.

The theory: "the cost will average out over time," Ayoola said. "That might be a way for people to still invest within their means, without putting too much in, and still basically, over time, get Bitcoin at the best price point."

Contributing: Daniel de Visé, Joey Garrison, Jessica Guynn, Max Hauptman, Eric Lagatta, Jonathan Limehouse and Bailey Schulz of USA TODAY, and Reuters.

Follow Mike Snider on X and Threads: @mikesnider & mikegsnider.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Bitcoin hits $100,000 mark. When is best time to buy cryptocurrency?