Background: I have been using the cloud mining service HashFlare for just over 1 year now (oldest contract started on 2017-05-29); started with Ethereum, then added Bitcoin (SHA-256). Had been automatically reinvesting my mining proceeds (unless a coupon was released: I would HODL until just before it expired, then make a larger purchase).
My last reinvestment was on March 26th of this year, which was a few weeks after my last STEEM->BTC->mining contract purchase: I had been calculating the total expected revenue, saw that the price at the time (and the direction it was going) was no longer going to be profitable, and decided that it was time to HODL and ride it out. A problem I had was that for the longest time, I was listening to a certain YouTube individual's cost numbers for that service, instead of looking at the actual data myself, and that was my working number for the calculation. Once I took that hard look, I found it was not as profitable as I previously thought: his number was always 17%, and it was that in early January. When I stopped the automatic reinvestment, the cost was closer to 60% (fixed USD cost, paid for by selling mining proceeds at the market price). At its worst, just a few days ago, the cost was 85% of 'earnings'.
So, now I am waiting patiently for my contracts to expire, after which I will cash out my revenue, establish profit-loss numbers, and move them elsewhere.
Blockchain is a great technology, and I still see value in altcoins... just not willing to give my hard-earned digital money to a company where most of my earnings are eaten in operating expenses.
