First of all, thanks for creating this thread. I always wanted to share how stupid I was when I first started crypto investing. So that hopefully people who read about my stupidity could avoid falling into the same trap.
1. Listening to Others
Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO) is real. Super real, it's legit to the max. I remember the time when I was reading forums and reddit threads where people were talking like they knew everything in the world of crypto investing. You see people coming out with super predictions and claim they're rich to the moon by being good at trading small cap coins. They even put up screenshots. And one day they shill this small cap coin and say it's gonna be 10x and now after their "market analysis", they confirm it's undergoing some market manipulation now that "whales" are pushing down the price to accumulate more. They then end with the famous "Buy now, faster buy now or regret when it shoots to the moon after whales are done accumulating"
That's when my stupidity kicks in. Seems like the whales never really finish accumulating until today
To make things worst, that was the period when ETH peak the highest, and I FOMO all in only to really regret trusting others. So my advice is: Take everything you read from the internet with a pinch of salt. If that someone is really a guru investor, he/she is probably chilling somewhere in the beach rather than showing off in the online realm. Well I won't say there's not really anyone who's talented at profiting through trade/investment but the percentage of you meeting that someone is probably very very low.
2. Wishful thinking every projects is going to the moon
When I just started, I read the whitepaper and go through their websites. The fascinating thing is that everything looks almost solid to me, the idea is cool, the design of the website, the community. But now when I look back, seems like 90% of the projects out there are pretty much doing the same thing - TPS, scalability, AI, currency, blah blah. They're all buzz words that people put together and boom. I used to think it'll be faster to get rick quick by throwing my money in every project. Diversified right? Heck no! That's not what you should be doing. To be honest, 90% of the projects out there are crap. I expect 10% to really make it.
The reason is simple. It's not always about the idea. It's about the team, how they execute their plan. Most team from what I see are just coming from a normal 8 to 5 desk bound job and then suddenly they decide to call themselves CEO, CTO and what not. I'm not trying to say they can't make it, but it's a risk I can't afford anymore. Because I was naive and went with this project which turned out to be a scam exit. Who knows? They seems totally legit until the last day. The whitepaper is there, checked. The website is pretty well done, checked. But I missed out the most important thing - the team. Apparently, this CEO guy was recruiting the "team" from upwork, more of like a freelance team. He even went out to find a reputable software team to onboard the project. But never did I know few months later the software team announced they are out of the project and the CEO went MIA with few millions in his pocket.
Well shit happens. So better be careful where you put your money in because not all projects are going to the moon. Cold hard truth that I learnt the hard way.
3. When it's time to flip, flip. When it's time to hodl, hodl.
I had a 10x project that I invested in but I was greedy so I waited and decided to hodl. Who knows many people flip it and get quick profits. If I had cashed out and moved on, I could be smiling in this bear market. But I didn't. Very soon, this 10x becomes 0.2x and I feel like crap. Sometimes, you just have to make judgement to decide if it's better to flip now or hodl on. You have to see if the team is able to deliver their promises and if the roadmap is solid and on point. If they can't get it to work for many times, move on. It's like BGR. If it doesn't work out, be a man and walk out the door. God will always open a new door for you. But having said that, remember, if you don't sell at a loss, it's still on paper. So no matter what, only invest what you can afford to lose.
Hope it helps. I wish you won't be like me and you should know never listen to others, take it with a pinch of salt, not everything is going to the moon, learn to make good judgement call, and happy investing.
