My First Crypto Mistake

[Davidvictorson]

One of the first mistakes I made two (2) years ago when I bought my first coin was acting like I knew it all. I didn't want my friends or colleagues to see me as a crypto newbie or an amateur. Boy, was I wrong? I suffered greatly from this foolishness and immaturity. They say, "A picture is worth a thousand words". So, I got two. The pictures below tell the story better.

Picture 1
I sold my most prized possession at that time to buy a coin without doing my own research. “In a month, it would 10x or so I thought”. I followed public sentiments ("to the moon") and accepted the technical analysis of every Tom, Dick, and Harry around me as financial advice. I invested money I knew I couldn't afford to lose. I was dead wrong.

I sold my car and started using my bicycle. Thank goodness I was not married.

Picture 2
Two weeks after, the coin still hadn't gone to the moon. The market took a nosedive. Suddenly, the charts on my Binance App were no longer green but red. Even with my inexperience, I knew red didn't mean growth or positivity. I began to suffer from anxiety, depression and insomnia. At some point, I would check the app almost 20 times at mid-night and an uncountable number of times during the day. One day, I  couldn't take it anymore, I sold it at a huge loss. It was a truly humbling experience for me.

I suffered from crypto induced insomnia, anxiety, and depression.

Even as I write this story, I still consider myself an experienced newbie. Thanks to this forum - bitcointalk, I am wiser, smarter and able to make informed decision. I started all over again. This time with Bitcoin.

Three key takeaways from this experience are:
1). No technical analysis (TA) from someone else can ever replace a DYOR.
2). Do not invest what you cannot afford to lose.
2). Crypto induced anxiety, depression and insomnia is real. Take care of your mental health.

Can you remember your first crypto mistake?

Image source
https://www.instagram.com/crypto.newsglobal/

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[Upgrade00]

Can you remember your first crypto mistake?

Not finding out about Bitcoin earlier   I could have bought when it was less than a dollar and sold at the ATH.

Just kidding; my first crypto mistake I believe was thinking I got in too late and rueing how much I would have profited if I had bought earlier, I should instead have been appreciating that I was still one of the early comers and taking advantage of that. I eventually got a hang of it after playing around with some altcoins and no major loss, but it's something I try to yeah newcomers to Bitcoin now.

Most people believe cause Bitcoin is relatively so expensive, buying $10, $50, or even $1000 worth would not be significant, and they will rather spend that money on a meme coin to get a million tokens for the same amount, instead of a few thousand sats.

[Daniel91]

Davidvictorson, thank you for the story you shared.
Unfortunately, you are neither the first nor the last to have such an experience. It’s all part of the learning process.
My biggest mistake in the crypto is when in 2017 at the peak of the price of btc I decided to invest part of that btc earnings in some altcoins that completely failed in 2018.
I think each of us here has a similar story 

[mk4]

I sold my most prized possession at that time to buy a coin without doing my own research. “In a month, it would 10x or so I thought”. I followed public sentiments ("to the moon") and accepted the technical analysis of every Tom, Dick, and Harry around me as financial advice. I invested money I knew I couldn't afford to lose. I was dead wrong.

The 2017 bull run was sure something else. I initially thought I was above everyone by being a "patient investor" by holding the shitcoins through the drawdowns. Turns out, it was a game of musical chairs. 🤷‍♂️ That's was definitely one way (albeit a painful one) to learn a lesson.

[Davidvictorson]

I sold my most prized possession at that time to buy a coin without doing my own research. “In a month, it would 10x or so I thought”. I followed public sentiments ("to the moon") and accepted the technical analysis of every Tom, Dick, and Harry around me as financial advice. I invested money I knew I couldn't afford to lose. I was dead wrong.

The 2017 bull run was sure something else. I initially thought I was above everyone by being a "patient investor" by holding the shitcoins through the drawdowns. Turns out, it was a game of musical chairs. 🤷‍♂️ That's was definitely one way (albeit a painful one) to learn a lesson.

Wow. Since then, has this happened to you again?

[Beparanf]

Haha, I can relate on this post. I almost sell my car just to invest more on shitcoins way back 2017 and planning buy back brand new car after I get profit to my ICO investment. Good thing my wife hits me hard and make wake up in my delusion because the ICO that I’m planning to purchase experienced huge dip few weeks after token release. I almost experience that scooter picture If I really invest in crypto during that days when euphoria about getting rich is very contagious.

[mk4]

Wow. Since then, has this happened to you again?

I retained the idea of being a patient investor, but now I'm using that investing characteristic for actual decent investments(and now with proper allocation control) inside and outside the cryptocurrency space and not some dogshit token that doesn't make any sense in the first place lol.

[Davidvictorson]

Wow. Since then, has this happened to you again?

I retained the idea of being a patient investor, but now I'm using that investing characteristic for actual decent investments(and now with proper allocation control) inside and outside the cryptocurrency space and not some dogshit token that doesn't make any sense in the first place lol.

This is some wisdom right here. Thank you 😊

[Mpamaegbu]

Definitely, you aren't the only one in that predicament. I once read stories of those who also sold different properties like houses and vehicles to invest in cryptocurrencies during the period in quote. Those are a typical example of people investing money thye can't afford to lose. Glad you survived it anyway. Even a few who didn't miscarry their profit from Bitcoin into altcoins couldn't wait for Bitcoin price to bounce back. They sold in panic during the persistent dip. For me, my first crypto mistake was thinking BNB wouldn't do more than $30 and then selling off my 270 BNB prematurely. Now, my take home from that experience is never to sell off every asset I've even when I feel it's going to dip. Sell some, hodl some.

[Davidvictorson]

For me, my first crypto mistake was thinking BNB wouldn't do more than $30 and then selling off my 270 BNB prematurely. Now, my take home from that experience is never to sell off every asset I've even when I feel it's going to dip. Sell some, hodl some.

"Sell some, hold some." Cool. Do you have a formula or method for this. Like say 50 - 50. That is sell 50% and hold 50% of the asset or you just do it randomly?

[Rikafip]

Can you remember your first crypto mistake?

Yep. When I heard about Bitcoin for the first time price was a little bit below $1k and since I couldn't afford one whole BTC ( to be more precise I didn't want to invest so much money in something I knew so little about) I bought several altcoins for few dozens of dollars each, thinking that if I can't own one whole bitcoin I can at least own bunch of shitcoins.

It's pretty obvious know how wrong I was but I have no regrets because i bought my first bitcoin (well part of it) later and even if I bought them then, chances are that I would have sold long time ago and i would advise anyone not to dwell on the past and instead focus on acquiring as much bitcoin as possible now.

[Mpamaegbu]

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"Sell some, hold some." Cool. Do you have a formula or method for this. Like say 50 - 50. That is sell 50% and hold 50% of the asset or you just do it randomly?

You're right. I do a 50% first and then watch price to see if it's still going up. Then do another 20% or 30% from the remaining unit if price continues north. Thereafter, I could repeat another 20%. If the asset is on a Cex, I will instantly place a ridiculously low buy order that can buy me all the quantities I initially had with the sale from the 20%. You've to be extremely patient to do that. However, if I suspect there's going to be a huge dump on the asset may be from news, I do a 90% cash out. Then monitor the asset to know if I will buy back. In this case, I don't set up a buy order. I exit the market and be on the sidelines.

[Blue King]

Picture 1
I sold my most prized possession at that time to buy a coin without doing my own research. “In a month, it would 10x or so I thought”. I followed public sentiments ("to the moon") and accepted the technical analysis of every Tom, Dick, and Harry around me as financial advice. I invested money I knew I couldn't afford to lose. I was dead wrong.

A problem for our new users. That is, if we get a little idea from cryptocurrency, we think we are very wise.
I say this because I was in the same situation as you.When I'm new to cryptocurrency.Then I decided not to trade and started trading futures without knowing the subject of cryptocurrency.And eat a loss as big as you. I would not have made such a big loss if I had known a little bit about currency then. And if you trade with a good knowledge of cryptocurrency, you will not lose.

[cheezcarls]

My biggest mistake in my cryptocurrency career was that I was too complacent and not having a “second thought” mentality before dealing with that hacker/scammer. As a result, I fell for this trap by engaging with that malware and then I lost $12k of my assets combined in those 3 Metamask/Trust Wallet accounts.

I was having bigger plans during that time, but that one tiny mistake had ruined it all. Since I cannot get it back anymore because the blockchain is irreversible, I’ll just treat it as my “penalty fee” to the hacker for not doing good enough to prevent myself from getting hacked. It’s my first time to experience getting hacked in crypto and for sure I won’t be forgetting that day. However, it’s time to move forward and get back to business as usual so that I could refocus myself to slowly recover.

[Rruchi man]

Can you remember your first crypto mistake?

This question triggers a lot of regrets of what could have been. I was a part of the first participants in a scheme that turned out to be a ponzi but was centred around crypto as at the time when crypto just started becoming a thing. It was a pyramid scheme and had already been allotted 0.03btc pending another 0.03btc from my supposed downline. There was an option to move this crypto i had already to another wallet from this platform while I waited for the remaining 0.03btc, but i didn't rather i wanted to move all at once. While waiting to receive the other one, the site crashed and never came back up! my btc lost till date.

 My first & biggest mistake remains not moving the crypto i had as my intuition wanted me to.  

[sunsilk]

Always be open to learn not just new things but almost everything related to cryptocurrencies and investments. Those experience of yours are common for the majority who got in during the hype.

I can't remember the actual first experience that I've got but one memorable is when I didn't sold during the peak and then the crash has came. But good thing is that I'm firm with holding and was able to recover.

[FatFork]

We've all had similar experiences, you are not the only one to go through that.  In the past, I have also read stories of people selling different things to invest in the markets, from cars to flats. In fact, I read an article about people who had sold their houses, invested in cryptocurrency and lost all their money to it. It really is a rollercoaster ride. And, not only the market can cause problems, but the whole technology is not without its own problems, and if you're not careful, you can easily end up investing in a scam and lose money.  But, if you do manage to ride out the rollercoaster, the rewards can be great. A lot of people are attracted to this industry because they are investing in something completely new, something that others don't understand.

As always, the best thing to do is be vigilant, and remember not to put all your eggs in one basket.

[Mpamaegbu]

My biggest mistake in my cryptocurrency career was that I was too complacent and not having a “second thought” mentality before dealing with that hacker/scammer. As a result, I fell for this trap by engaging with that malware and then I lost $12k of my assets combined in those 3 Metamask/Trust Wallet accounts.

Ouch! That will surely hurt, no doubt. It's a big loss no matter how we look at it. I've been using both wallets you mentioned for quite some time now but I haven't had any issues with them. Nonetheless, I will love to read about your incident. Besides, narrating what happened to you on the day will also help alert newbies and prevent them from falling victims to such deceit.

[Markinzo]

Smiles .... As hilarious but captivating the first picture was it does at the same instant send a strong message borne from experience.

How hurting! But I think it's out of personal experience and those of others the we really learn getting better and wiser at what we do.

Thanks for sharing this experience it's an eye-opener to many, as it would help them not to learn from personal experience but from yours through your shared story.

[tranthidung]

I don't call any people who sold their Bitcoin or cryptocurrency to take profit and by something to enjoy their lives from car to real estate or other assets are stupid or make mistakes.

It is only meaningful for your life if you can enjoy it. Owning 1 or 10 Bitcoin or millions of dollar in altcoins and never sell it to take profit, enjoy life are something wrong. I don't recommend to do so. Because you can not know what will happen in future. So make sure when you see a good profit, take it, enjoy your life but also make sure to reserve part of your portfolio for higher All time highs. If new ATHs reach, ok you can take profit and get more money. If there is no new All time high, nothing is wrong, you already have profit in hands and actually enjoy your life with your profit.