5L patterns are still selling around 30+- here at NP, so nothing to lose, really!!!
It's highly likely they'll become more valuable before they devalue, seems a natural expectation once the heat from the
bulk of 3/4L and 3/4/5/6N etc has died down and all 5L are registered. But let's not forget that while a lot of the price increases and thus popularity and sell-ability is due to end users buying (Chinese), a lot of it is also investors registering and buying/selling to each other.
It could be that once the Chinese buyers are satisfied with these (5L etc) and domainers have finished buying/selling them the "heat" dies down on 5L, 6N etc, and the prices drop drastically given domainers trading between each other does generate some activity.
Or, perhaps if they are still sought after (which I think is more likely), the ones people held on to and no longer
masses of them available and for sale everywhere could become even more valuable. I certainly think they'll
always be worth more than reg fee, as they're sought after to Chinese buyers
now, so no reason they would suddenly stop wanting them.
It's a funny old game, and I fear I've come into domaining (a few months ago) at a weird time to learn the market. I've essentially learned about a bubble and Chinese investments, and less about Western, as nearly everywhere you look on the forum (markets, discussions) for the last 8 weeks is "4N/4L" "5L" "5N" "CHIPS" "Chinese bubble", even extensions which were previously almost dead are being discussed as potential for CHIP investment.
Still, this is a new thing to even seasoned domainers, and even with previous experience and similar experience being able to be applied to this new venture, there is still a fair bit of uncertainty and "guesswork/luck".
Hopefully everyone at least makes some profit from it, and the Chinese get domains they desire, win/win
My prediction is everything from 6N and 5L and upwards will slow right down in 4-6 months, and of course the Chinese market will remain in the global domain buying/selling industry from then on, but will be, as with Western, more about valuable domains such as Pinyin and 2, 3, 4, L and N.