Bitcoin Forum

Good morning all,

I'm hoping to create a guide for new investors detailing 20 or so commonly made mistakes when first investing in cryptocurrencies. With this in mind I'd like to invite the community to come together and share any big mistakes they made in their first few months of investing. I will then bring the best responses into one document and repost on the forum / our website as a guide on the key things to avoid for newcomers. I'll kick us off with one of my biggest downfalls:

Overselling and a lack of patience.

One of my biggest mistakes and was definitely overtrading and selling investments far too early. During my first few months using exchanges I lost a lot of my BTC vaulation by investing in great projects but selling them far too soon.  I was using the correct research, due diligence and was investing in the right projects but greed, lack of experience and impatience led me to sell out of positions at completely the wrong time.

Experience has now led me to have patience and be able to time the market better. When trading the fundamental strategy of buying low and selling is simple but extremely important, it is very rare that I will now sell out of a position at a loss. Having patience to ride the volatility, HODL a lot longer and to sell out of a position high is something I wish I was better at during my initial trading days!

Patience is definitely one of the most valuable tools available to an investor!

As legendary stock investor said: " patience is a device transferring money from impatient to patient", right? May I ask you guy, supposedly, you spent most of your money to buy btc at its ATH ($20k). Now, you are jobless and don't have enough money to have a breakfast. And a fortune teller said that, BTC will reach $100k in 2030. Do you have enough patience with an empty stomach???

Well i'd answer that one by saying yes I could wait as investing in a speculative markets is risky and I would never encourage people to not invest all of their savings into crypto. Perhaps a good lesson learnt for new investors who came in when Bitcoin when it was at its ATH would be another great saying.


Perhaps this could be our second example of a common mistakes made.

Patience is the Key. Holders always win . Holders never lose.

but surely not the one.
is the HODL strategy enough for investing? if evereybody makes that simple step than all will be in profit?
i see that patience is not equal to HODL, now, lol. useful reading

It's not just about patience, learning from mistakes and coming back stronger is important.
It does not matter how much money you have gained as much as it is an important experience that will help you get back faster.
Sometimes keeping some currencies for a long time is a waste of time. HODL LTC. but learning to take advantage of losses and turn them into profits is the most important thing. "how to earn from shit-coins."

---

Is an investment without a plan or a goal

My biggest mistake was buying bitcoin when the market was bullish. After buying, the next day market dipped and is yet to equal the amount I invested. I learnt  a big lesson from that mistake. Patience is one of the needed a qualities needed to be successful in crypto trading.

1. Rush does not find out
2. Do not research yourself, but often rely on or hear others say
3. Desire to get rich quick (virtual syndrome).
4. Do not engage in trusted communities
5. Believe in good words
6. Not to mention risk
7. Do not look for wallet protection measures
8. Put money on trading floors

Thanks for all of the input so far guys.



I completely understand the frustration of buying high, this has to be one of the most common mistake made for early investors. Selling low after a market drop is also another!


Points 2, 3, 5, 7 and 8 are great and will all be going into the guide with some elaboration.

Has anyone got any examples of errors made in real world situations?


For example I was scammed by a fake Bitcoin Gold online wallet when i imported a private key from exodus. The wallet was supported by the offical page so i presumed I was safe. As a result it was hacked and all of my BTG from the fork was removed. (this was after a good 8 months of experience). Luckily I only lost BTG and not precious BTC. - Lesson learnt, never trust online wallets with your private keys and do not share them with anyone!

At the beginning, I made three serious mistakes: borrowing money for investment, lack of serious knowledge, and especially overheating. wish no one like me

Totally agree with OP, patience is something i really missed in the beginning of trading
Usually panicked and sold all my coins on lower price

great post i agree with you first time mistake is the big guider and make people more careful and strong  for the next time...

Thanks for the responses guys.

To summarise header suggestions we have so far for 'common mistakes to avoid when first investing in cryptocurrencies'


1. Investing with without a long term goal.

2. Overselling and making short term trades without a clear plan.

3. Buying high and selling low.

4. Investing without the appropriate research and due diligence / relying on poor sources.

5. Lack of patience and a desire to get rich quick.

6. Leaving your investments on exchanges / storing cryptocurreny insecurely.

7. Investing more money than what you're willing to lose.

8. Borrowing money to invest.


So far so good. Any more suggestions?

Just wondering , if you are holding bitconnect or Davor coin. 
 If you need profit you need to sell at one point of time. Word "HODL" never meant that you will always hold. It just meant to be patient , not to be weak hands. If everybody hold the BTC then it will have no worth. It got worth because people traded it , bought goods from it.

The common mistakes the newbies make are that they do not study about the cryptocurrency in which they are investing in. They watch a couple of youtube videos and they think they have become an excellent trader. Share your thoughts on it.

They do not made any research about the coin or ico project they are investing in, without any knowledge about the coin you will investing in ,its like putting all money in a risk situation.

the most common mistake is Fear of missing out..

Just make sure you buy in the Dip and do Technical plus fundamental analysis..

Always do your own research...

FYI : 80 percent of short traders loose money..


So be a investore mindset, not a day trader..

Always go for the long term..

I like your points, but I disagree with that one. If an investment looks like it is going to lose money, you should sell it, even if you sell at a loss. Going down with the ship is never profitable.

I have some suggestions:

1. Not having a plan, or not adjusting the plan when the circumstances change.
2. Basing investment decisions on the past and not on the future. For example, refusing to sell at a loss.
3. Hope, prayer, and wishful thinking.
4. Not understanding the concept of Gambler's Ruin (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gambler%27s_ruin).
5. Not understanding the concept of Sunk Cost (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunk_cost).
6. Getting information only from sources that you agree with.

The very common mistake people made when investing in crypto currency is their mindset that it will make you rich the easy way. People are here because they are hoping to get bitcoin/alt coins to help them get some easy money for whatever reason or purpose it may cause. By these, their emotional quotient is greatly affected, in which leads to different badly behavior, e.g. frustration, lack of thinking about the pros and cons of crypto currency, sleeping routine, and other behavior that help contributes in losing their investments. When you think differently, perhaps it will help you gain more; mistakes are inevitable, learn from it.