How I handle crypto regret

[lelam]

Regret is an inevitable state of mind in crypto at one point or another:-

why didn't I buy that coin when it was $0.50?
why did I sell this coin early?
why didn't I take profits on the way up, only to see the value fall 50% in a market crash? (a lot of us in the last crash!)
why didn't I buy the dip?
why did I FOMO and buy at the ATH and now I'm holding an unrealised loss?
why didn't I buy more of this coin?
We're all going to make "mistakes" that lead to a feeling of regret and self-admonishment.

I have a couple of strategies here to help me dampen the feeling of regret.

1. I have to realise that regret is largely based on a "maximalist"/perfectionist mindset, which is both unrealistic and unhealthy. We are attached to the notion of maximising profits. But what would that involve? It would involve being the perfect, machine-like investor. Always buying low, selling at an ATH, taking profits at the perfect time. It's an impossible standard to live up to.

If I make a profit, I compare my profits to the stock market. If you do THAT, realise you're likely "killing it" even with a "modest" 100% gain (it's ridiculous even to put "modest" here). If you can make a 10% gain a YEAR in the stock market, that's considered a success.

Also realise that the maximalist attitude is largely shaped around only hearing one side of the story of other people's trades. People boast when they're winning, and they're quiet when they're losing. Therefore, you can start to think that everyone's doing incredibly well.

2. I can only compare myself to the other me who didn't get into cryptos at all. That's your baseline to compare to. There really is no other baseline. It's damaging and outright delusional to compare yourself to the "perfect you" that always bought at the exact bottom and sold at the exact top. That you does not exist. It's a damaging fantasy that always leads to you beating yourself up about not making the most optimal decision at each and every turn. Cryptos can quickly lose its fun if you think along those lines.

Are you in profit (as in cashed out your initial investment + profits in fiat)? Then you're winning - you're doing better than the other you that didn't bother with cryptos. Congratulations. You should extinguish any regret, and actually feel contentment at your achievement. Forget the "what ifs?" - you made a decision that has made you better off financially and you've learned a fair amount along the way.

Are you holding an unrealised loss? Then know that it's unrealised and while that can be stressful, you're doing well to hold on and you can be proud that you haven't sold yet. It won't fix the regret so easily, but you have the hope your unrealised loss can turn into a realised profit.

Are you actually making a realised loss in cryptos? Of course, this is the hardest situation of all. All you can do is see it as a lesson you paid for. Nothing is without value, and you will have learned something along the way. You gave something a try, and financially it didn't work out. You may not be out of the game, so you could be in profit in a few days or weeks' time. Or maybe you've just had enough. Fair play. Know that you're actually in a big group of people. Lots of people have faced your situation and come out the other side OK. I lost a fair amount of money in Forex a few years ago. I felt crap for a while, then I stopped feeling crap. Luckily, life moves on. Actually, without that experience with Forex, I doubt I would have found any interest in cryptos - and I have profited from cryptos much more than my Forex losses - so there is that. Plus, cryptos are a LOT more fun than Forex.

I know that everything above is purely based on financial regret, and the counterargument is that "there's more to cryptos than just making a profit" - but when it comes to regret, it's almost always about money.

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[MoonIsBlue]

I just drink untill I can't think.


(just joking)

[Dart18]

One of those I love.
It is really the contentment than will make you lose all those regrets.
Greed will make you fall. Most of the people have this kind of problem.
They want some more and what happens after a problem happens.

[mrbnson]

I just drink untill I can't think.


(just joking)

This is actually the best strategy, nothing that a good few gallons of beer can't solve  OP makes some really good points though, it's really important to take a step back at times and look at things from a holistic point of view, yes you could be much better off if you were god and you knew exactly what was going to happen, but you are not so you just have to do your best and if that leads to a profit then you can be very happy with that. This does not mean we should not be self critical and aim to learn and improve, it just means that it should stop short of chastising oneself.

[1Referee]

I just drink untill I can't think.

That implies that you at least have some thinking capabilities, which doesn't go up for the majority of the people here. They are constantly in a state where they can't think, so there is no need for them to drink. It saves them a few bucks too since alcohol isn't needed.

---

Pretty straight forward and not that bad of a way to handle it for yourself. Most of the people however won't take anything of that to heart since they have the believe that they are doing the right thing already. It's mind boggling how some noobs overestimate themselves in such a way, that they keep ending up with bigger losses, and still don't understand what they are doing wrong. Instead of blaming themselves for their wrong doings, wrong attitude and mentality regarding trading and investing, they blame the market for being manipulated against the users, etc. It's typical behavior for people to blame all sorts of external elements isntead of themselves, and this will be their downfal in this market.

[bbcolex]

Takes time , I had it on my mind for days. Thinking those coins I sold at the wrong time, but the other side of me; telling me you really can't tell what will happen to the market , You gained that's enough. move on to other coin and hodl! I learned to hodl now and not panic. Regrets really happen when you missed a rally or missed the chance to ell at high but nah! I keep telling myself I can't predict all the things and be contented with your gains and accept your loses.

[tekin_ural]

Just don't look at the stats. Continue your life as before. That makes it easier.

[Sir Cross]

Takes time , I had it on my mind for days. Thinking those coins I sold at the wrong time, but the other side of me; telling me you really can't tell what will happen to the market , You gained that's enough. move on to other coin and hodl! I learned to hodl now and not panic. Regrets really happen when you missed a rally or missed the chance to ell at high but nah! I keep telling myself I can't predict all the things and be contented with your gains and accept your loses.

It's better not to overthink. It'll just stress you out, and there's nothing for you to do anyway. Even if you incurred a loss or missed out from buying a potential coin, then there's always a next time for you to profit. You can learn to be more careful of your decisions and to keep updated so that you won't miss out the next time around.

There's no other way for you to recover from a loss but to learn from your mistakes and experience. At least now, it'll help you make better decisions in the future.

[danniwide1234]

Regret is part of life and even more rampant in the world of cryptocurrency . One will always have days where he will wish he brought,sell or hold a particular coins. One way that has helped me to overcome regrets is to quickly forget the missed opportunity knowing fully well that there are other thousand of opportunity at the same time. Moreover it is not possible to be part of all the opportunities available on a daily bases. FOMO(fear of missing it out) is real and it's the underlying cause of regret in cryptocurrency.

[MiiDoViic]

This post is a copy and past from Cryptocurrency SubReddit . I know you just want to share the information but atleast give props for the writer : https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/7rvkua/how_i_handle_crypto_regret/ .
Overall what he had to say is really helpfull and could work if you really want it to .

[princesocapuyo]

Just like you handle other regret. It's the same. What if you had bought Google shares very early?

[bitbunnny]

There is no use in regret, don't feel sorry for the opportunities you have lost.
You can't know what it would be if you have made the different decision so don't think about it anymore. Move on and think what could be done in the future and how could you avoid mistakes in the future. Don't live in the past, there is no use of it.

[Anonylz]

We all passed from that situation, since we all are on the same bussiness at the moment.

I was holding Tron at $0,02 each, and i sold them all at $0,08 (during the first increase) because i thought that made a huge profit from that.

Do you have any idea of how i regret about that? since one week later it touched $0,26.

[tomahawk9]

I believe that rather than regretting my past decisions, I try to learn from my mistakes I made and look for ways to improve, and then I start all over again looking for new opportunities. I also try to be less emotional when making decisions, for instance, not giving in to FOMO or hype.
Being rational when making decisions is always important, especially in the crypto market, so you have to know the risks of every action you make beforehand, with this mindset you'll be prepared to face the consequences.
Also, the cryptocurrency market always presents you countless of opportunities every day, so we shouldn't overthink too much about why I didn't do this or that.

[Semosuchi Tesongrato]

Regret is the more useless emotion that you can feel, not only in trading but in any aspect of your life: you can suffer and blame yourself, but this won't change the past.
I know it can sound as a new age cliche, but really "life is now": so, use your past for what you can learn from it, and act now.
(or in the future you'll regret that you didn't....)

[Raskolhnikov1]

One of those I love.
It is really the contentment than will make you lose all those regrets.
Greed will make you fall. Most of the people have this kind of problem.
They want some more and what happens after a problem happens.

Definitely, the greed will always be in the way... I was thinking about it the other day, I just entered this world and I already had two coins that I sold very early. Of course, I made a profit, the two I received from airdrop, then everything is profit, but one of them has already valued 4 times and another 8x... I believe it is as the friend said, not having as much ambition, after all, I won anyway. IMO, it's worse not to sell and then lose everything.

[bamboylee]

I just accept that I made a mistake, and move on. There is no point in dwelling on something that you cannot change. I accept the truth, learn from it, do better the next time. That is how you improve. If you keep regretting, you just lost time and focus, not very good in trading.

[nightmanisrightman]

Well said OP many others should have your mindset when it comes to trading. When I began out I kept beating myself up over bad trades but now I realize that is a part of the game and nobody is perfect, hell nobody is even kinda close. As long as I make good trades, have good setups, make profit, and like you said compare yourself to the average joe in life we will be all good! Often times we look at the bottoms and tops of graphs and think man we could have 50x instead we only got 20x. How you should view it is man I got 20x, in hardly any other market in the world right now is that possible! It is all about perspective in this game .

[Firefox07]

Don't regret if you missed to buy a coin when it was cheap. Just move on and think positively. And look for a good coin that have potential to grow. And don't hesitate to buy. When you hesitate again you will regret when the coin grow in the future.

[creeps]

Stop regretting the decision you made that turns to negative specially here in this kind of market because you cannot control this and if you just keep on thinking that way then you'd better keep yourself away from this. Yes we make bad decisions but it doesn't mean you stop from there just keep on learning and what ever decision you made don't regret it.