HODL is purely a mental challenge

[Taskford]

...After all, it's a very important lesson to know that HODL is purely a mental challenge. If you want to HODL correctly, you should know and pay attention to all points mentioned above.  

If you are a Hodler, have you determined the price for yourself when you will sell your Bitcoins, or does hodl not involve selling coins at all?

It's a difficult question but I wouldn't say HODL involves selling coins necessarily. Some people buy Bitcoins for HODL and don't sell, some people sell after some time. I believe, HODL doesn't has any fixed amount of time. But maybe at least 4 years for each halving cycle? It's up to every HODLer.
HODLer's just sell (or don't sell) after an undefined amount of time.

This decision will really depends on the person who decide to do this conditions and usually at the moment people only speculate the halving so most provably Hodlers always prefer the 4 year cycle since the halving event is the only thing they are waiting for. Maybe there are some few people Hodl for long time but there are only few of them and mostly they are the institutions which want to create something big for bitcoin. If someone think they are holder because they hold their bitcoin for one year I think that's fine to call theirself that way as long as they enjoy doing that and just wanna try to see if what happen on their balance on the span of a year. Maybe next to that they could able to hold for more years and can convince other people decide to hold their coins to.

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[Zee27]

Anyone who has ever heard of Bitcoin may have heard of HODL as well. Because HODL is a very famous strategy to speculate on long-term price gains of Bitcoin, whereby "long term" is not defined in detail, how long it really is.


HODL dates back to a Bitcointalk post from 2013, where it was advised not to sell one's own Bitcoins despite losses, but to wait patiently until it rises again.

However, it is indeed essential to wait, because most common errors from HODL are:

- Sold all BTC too early to realize (small) profits
- Sold all BTC too early to minimize losses in case of decreasing prices


Additional mistakes can be dangerous coin storage practices, for example on a file-sharing platform, which is increasing risks of getting hacked. But in my post and for advanced Bitcoin HODLers it is assumed our coins are stored properly, which HODL also invites us to do, because HODL only required to transfer our coins on very rare occasions (if at all), which minimizes transferring or storage errors.

As a conclusion we should keep in mind: most common mistakes of HODL are quick sales of our valuable BTC. So, we have to be aware and know that HODL is purely a mental challenge.

A good HODLer can resist any temptation to make (small) profits prematurely and a good HODLer keeps his Bitcoin.
A good HODLer stays cool even in case of losses. Best we can do is to move our valuable Bitcoin somewhere where it has a high resistance of being sold.
And we shouldn't store it on file-sharing networks anyways and also not on centralized exchanges because we don't have our private key on such platforms (not your key, not your coins).

After all, it's a very important lesson to know that HODL is purely a mental challenge. If you want to HODL correctly, you should know and pay attention to all points mentioned above.  

I agree with you when you say hodling is a mental challenge as you can find yourself in a dilemma of selling or hodling. Personally I invested in some earning products https://www.bitget.com/earn  and only take out my interests without tempering with my initial capital this way I am able to earn without having to sell off my BTC. It's either that, or I have to develop a tough skin against selling off especially when you see prices dipping.

[Z390]

...After all, it's a very important lesson to know that HODL is purely a mental challenge. If you want to HODL correctly, you should know and pay attention to all points mentioned above.  

If you are a Hodler, have you determined the price for yourself when you will sell your Bitcoins, or does hodl not involve selling coins at all? And from my experience, I can add that Bitcoins are most often lost when you try to increase their number with the help of trading.

We all gotta sell at one point on the journey, if you are a good thinker you should know that bull market is the best time to dump all your Bitcoin, this doesn't makes you a betrayer but a smart investor, you just have to wait till the next flush out in bear market and reposition yourself, you will have more money to invest in more Bitcoin by then.

I believe that taking profits is all in the chart, here is my own plan, the last all time high of Bitcoin is always beaten in the next bull market, so my taking profit range is right after Bitcoin grows over $69,000, so I am targeting the 80k range as the max for the next bull market.

It's possible that Bitcoin can do more than 80k but I am not greedy, if bought at 17k and will sell at 80k, this seems fair enough for me, the idea of wanting more have burnt me in the past and I don't won't such to ever happen to me again, it's smart to have a taking profit strategy on the ground.

[letteredhub]

Let's be realistic and keep grammers aside it's ain't easy to hold for a very long period of years, except there's any HODLer here that will say he he is with no any financial challenges for over the years like in the past 5-10years and hasn't tampered a bit with his HODLing. The mental strength in HODLing is not in a HODLer not taking a profit from his long time HODLing buy him not completely selling it all out of fear or due to a little too up profit made. I would rather be that HODLer that can be taking a little profit from my HODLing to meet my financial challenge while I still DCA when am able to.

Yeah I think many of us are actually class in that category of holders that do such. I even praise those that were able to achieve such high level of holding,  I mean it's definitely not easy not to temper with your coins because challenges always come although it's advice that a holder needs to have a sufficient means of living so that the thought of tempering with his coins will be at a minimal but even at that I can still say this holding game is still not an easy one

Hodling is like hoping for the best but expecting the worst, and it's much easier to hodl when we keep in mind that challenges will surface and therefore we have to be flexible with our hodling as too much rigidity can make us to be dieing in the midst of plenty when we can just take a little profit to meet our needs and make life easy for us while we keep HODL to stack more in future. There are challenges that can need beyond our means of income to solve them so tampering out hodling isn't a bad idea in such situations.

Hodling can be viewed as It's like savings they are meant for emergency that are beyond our everyday expenses or income to solve, so what's important is being able to continue to o accumulate after taking a little from it to clear out challenges.

[Truthlovecoins]

Let's be realistic and keep grammers aside it's ain't easy to hold for a very long period of years, except there's any HODLer here that will say he he is with no any financial challenges for over the years like in the past 5-10years and hasn't tampered a bit with his HODLing. The mental strength in HODLing is not in a HODLer not taking a profit from his long time HODLing buy him not completely selling it all out of fear or due to a little too up profit made. I would rather be that HODLer that can be taking a little profit from my HODLing to meet my financial challenge while I still DCA when am able to.

Yeah I think many of us are actually class in that category of holders that do such. I even praise those that were able to achieve such high level of holding,  I mean it's definitely not easy not to temper with your coins because challenges always come although it's advice that a holder needs to have a sufficient means of living so that the thought of tempering with his coins will be at a minimal but even at that I can still say this holding game is still not an easy one

Hodling is like hoping for the best but expecting the worst, and it's much easier to hodl when we keep in mind that challenges will surface and therefore we have to be flexible with our hodling as too much rigidity can make us to be dieing in the midst of plenty when we can just take a little profit to meet our needs and make life easy for us while we keep HODL to stack more in future. There are challenges that can need beyond our means of income to solve them so tampering out hodling isn't a bad idea in such situations.

Hodling can be viewed as It's like savings they are meant for emergency that are beyond our everyday expenses or income to solve, so what's important is being able to continue to o accumulate after taking a little from it to clear out challenges.

I saw HODL for the first time here and was thinking it was a typo error until I started seeing it everywhere and ever since I joined this forum
It is interesting to learn what it meant as it is no different from the normal spelling of hold but this 'Hodl' stands to represent saving for a long time or let me say some years before withdrawing the investment.
How to make it till the final year of HODLing is tougher than being said, because in the real world, saving up for the future comes with lots of challenges and bills and denial of gratification, which might be discouraging to maintain in the long run

[BitcoinsGreat]

I saw HODL for the first time here and was thinking it was a typo error until I started seeing it everywhere and ever since I joined this forum
It is interesting to learn what it meant as it is no different from the normal spelling of hold but this 'Hodl' stands to represent saving for a long time or let me say some years before withdrawing the investment.
How to make it till the final year of HODLing is tougher than being said, because in the real world, saving up for the future comes with lots of challenges and bills and denial of gratification, which might be discouraging to maintain in the long run

Regardless of the spellings, HOLD and HODL do mean the same thing, that is not to sell in panic and keep on holding Bitcoin for the long term.

I understand that everyone's life is full of challenges and there are times we need to sell our crypto holdings, in order to meet urgent need, but this is expectation and can be avoided if we invest only the extra money in crypto. However, real holding refers to a situation in which you sell out of panic, you see that the market is dumped and the fear of losing your portfolio makes you dump and sell your coins.

Remember one thing, we only lose when we sell, as long as you are HODLing then there is every chance that prices will recover and you will be in profits.

[tvplus006]

...After all, it's a very important lesson to know that HODL is purely a mental challenge. If you want to HODL correctly, you should know and pay attention to all points mentioned above.  

If you are a Hodler, have you determined the price for yourself when you will sell your Bitcoins, or does hodl not involve selling coins at all?

It's a difficult question but I wouldn't say HODL involves selling coins necessarily. Some people buy Bitcoins for HODL and don't sell, some people sell after some time. I believe, HODL doesn't has any fixed amount of time. But maybe at least 4 years for each halving cycle? It's up to every HODLer.
HODLer's just sell (or don't sell) after an undefined amount of time.

Obviously, each hodler has already determined the price at which they will sell their Bitcoins and this price may not be related to the 4-year cycle. This may explain this behavior of hodlers, when coins on many wallets remain motionless for 10 years. Perhaps they want to sell Bitcoins when the price reaches a million, or have they simply lost access to their coins?

[TakeItEasy]

HODL is all about mental, I totally agree.

The temptation to HODL bitcoin when the price is falling is whether we will continue to hold it and wait for the price to rise again? How long? or do we cut lose?

The temptation to HODL Bitcoin when the price goes up, do we keep holding it until the price is even higher? or will it go down again? we are confused about what price to sell, too early we will regret it, too long the price can drop again

So HODLing bitcoin is about mental strength, long-term goals and good financial condition. Without it, I doubt I would be able to HODL

Hodl bitcoin is too difficult to think of,  the bitcoin previously was at a better position of about 60k$,  but with time to time,  it was going down and now it is 28k$. So,  I was telling that if someone was holding it at a price of 40k$-45k$,  he should have to wait now. And his waiting is from the previous 8-9 months. If he sells now,  he would be in complete loss which is not good for the trader at all.


So,  I think trading need Hodl,  and Bitcoin Hodler should need to be emotionally stable if he wants some decent profit,  selling in the area where one are in loss doesn't make any sense. And also the bitcoin Hodler,  should be the best Hodler if they Hodl it for a long term,  instead of being in pain and sad and sell them in loss.

[1miau]

If you are a Hodler, have you determined the price for yourself when you will sell your Bitcoins, or does hodl not involve selling coins at all?

It's a difficult question but I wouldn't say HODL involves selling coins necessarily. Some people buy Bitcoins for HODL and don't sell, some people sell after some time. I believe, HODL doesn't has any fixed amount of time. But maybe at least 4 years for each halving cycle? It's up to every HODLer.
HODLer's just sell (or don't sell) after an undefined amount of time.

Obviously, each hodler has already determined the price at which they will sell their Bitcoins and this price may not be related to the 4-year cycle. This may explain this behavior of hodlers, when coins on many wallets remain motionless for 10 years. Perhaps they want to sell Bitcoins when the price reaches a million, or have they simply lost access to their coins?

I'm not sure at all here, that each hodler has already determined the price when they will sell.
I'm not even sure if that's more than a tiny percentage, who start to HODL and have a determined price, where they are going to sell.
And yes, "Moon" or "Lambo" is not a determined price. 

Also for me, I have not determined a price, where I'm going to sell my valuable Bitcoin. 
Of course, also some have lost access, probably. 

[Bitcoin_people]

If hodlers don't wait for the 4 year cycle then he can never be a long term hodler. A hodler always maintains positive thoughts and he relies on them for a certain period of time. A hodl is simply a waiting period when a person hodls their money for a long period of time until the bitcoin halving, basically we call them a hodler. Timing is of the essence for every holder as the longer he can hodl the greater the risk of profit. And holders who hold for a long time must pass their time in psychological challenges. I think investing and holding whenever a person does it for a long period of time has to go through a lot of epidemics. So it is not so easy to hodl, it must be for a long period of time, which is not possible for everyone and those who wait for a long time are the real Hodlers.

[Kristiyana]

I agree with you when you say hodling is a mental challenge as you can find yourself in a dilemma of selling or hodling. Personally I invested in some earning products https://www.bitget.com/earn  and only take out my interests without tempering with my initial capital this way I am able to earn without having to sell off my BTC. It's either that, or I have to develop a tough skin against selling off especially when you see prices dipping.

Holdling is totally depends on your mindset or planning, it could only you if constantly watching the price movement which could lure to start panic and sell off your investment but like I said it depends on mindset because for me I plan on buying and holdling for long time and never allow anything to distract me.

[Mpamaegbu]

After all, it's a very important lesson to know that HODL is purely a mental challenge. If you want to HODL correctly, you should know and pay attention to all points mentioned above.  

This is where I thumb up for Satoshi Nakamoto. Whoever they're or whatever entity that's. I give it up to him/them, staying unshaken despite all through the various ATHs; even the one in 2021 and the wallets alleged to be his/theirs still didn't move. It takes a special kind of mind control not to trade that wallet, honestly.

HODL dates back to a Bitcointalk post from 2015...

It's a shame the author isn't around anymore. Would love to hear his story.

The dude was active till June 2022. It's not as if he left that year he made that "whiskey" enhanced post which turned out legendary 😏

[arabspaceship123]

There's fear when you're spending to buy crypto. Investing your savings isn't an easy step so it's a real mental challenge that's when the journey starts. We don't know the future so we can't plan each decision's going to be the best. Every bitcoin's selling for $27k so HODL would've been superb for early investors because they'd be best off in financial terms.

Investing in itself is a mental challenge. Like, even the best stock/asset picker can perform really badly when he/she's not mentally ready for actual 'investing' a.k.a. long-term holding. Like, even me myself — I'd be far better off financial today if I just held everything and never sold since the first time I held BTC.

[Antotena]

Obviously, each hodler has already determined the price at which they will sell their Bitcoins and this price may not be related to the 4-year cycle. This may explain this behavior of hodlers, when coins on many wallets remain motionless for 10 years. Perhaps they want to sell Bitcoins when the price reaches a million, or have they simply lost access to their coins?

People have mind or maybe they have much more than they really invest in bitcoin, I'm really puzzle how they developed that kind of mind because thinking bitcoin will reach 1 million before selling is going to be a forever waiting, like it might not happen and even if does, the moment people detect the bitcoin held for many years start moving, the market will react to it and it will be so quick to crash again. Where does that now lead?

[arabspaceship123]

We don't know why many of the wallets which haven't been motionless are in that condition. Losing access to coins isn't hard to believe because we know incidents like these occur. If they're under pressure they'll make mistakes so some hold on for longer than expected or sell early because they can't handle it.

Obviously, each hodler has already determined the price at which they will sell their Bitcoins and this price may not be related to the 4-year cycle. This may explain this behavior of hodlers, when coins on many wallets remain motionless for 10 years. Perhaps they want to sell Bitcoins when the price reaches a million, or have they simply lost access to their coins?

[ice098]

I think it is not only a mental challenge but also it is an emotional challenge.  Many have the mind set of hodling but most of them give up on emotional challenges due to fear of lossing when Bitcoin plummets to a certain degree.  Also, we know that in an investment and trading, not only mental capability is important but also the emotional capability plays a significant role in how a trader maintant their composure in Hodling.

Many investors gave in to fear and became weak hand, selling their stash the moment the price of Bitcoin take a dip.  FUD will never be called FUD if it does not affect the emotion of a trader.

Yes that is actually correct. Having a good mental and emotionally stable health is a must needed in this kind of market. If you are old or trading long time in crypto your patience is already been stretch and you are get used to it. The bear and bull market is too hard to understand at first especially if there is a FUD coming from some people , new people in the market tend to believe in this and at the end of the day they will panic sell.

[goxcraft]

If hodlers don't wait for the 4 year cycle then he can never be a long term hodler. A hodler always maintains positive thoughts and he relies on them for a certain period of time. A hodl is simply a waiting period when a person hodls their money for a long period of time until the bitcoin halving, basically we call them a hodler. Timing is of the essence for every holder as the longer he can hodl the greater the risk of profit. And holders who hold for a long time must pass their time in psychological challenges. I think investing and holding whenever a person does it for a long period of time has to go through a lot of epidemics. So it is not so easy to hodl, it must be for a long period of time, which is not possible for everyone and those who wait for a long time are the real Hodlers.

Most of the holders don't have that mental strength to keep on holding. And when they see the price dropping, they sell in panic. It's not their fault either. They don't have enough funds to hold for 4 years. In my opinion, mental strength is not the only thing that requires for holding. Knowledge and experience are also important. Good holders don't panic or expect small profits; rather, they wait long-term for huge profits. 4 years!! Yeah, it's a long period of time. But those who kept up holding for these years hit the bullseye.

[1miau]

Most of the holders don't have that mental strength to keep on holding. And when they see the price dropping, they sell in panic.

Yeah, maybe we say it easily right now "let's HODL for a very long time" but it's really a different situation, once our stash of Bitcoin has hit 1 million US Dollars or even more. It will be very tempting to sell because after selling it, we would be insanely rich.
So, we can see, it's not easy at all to be a good HODLer. 

In any case, I would always try to keep at least a fraction of Bitcoin.
Never sell everything. 

[The Cryptovator]

I am a hodler too, but honestly, it's a hard task. I need a lot of patience for that, and it is hard to control emotions. We know emotional decisions aren't the perfect move in crypto. However, I am still a holder, though I am not sure how long. My habit is to take advantage of the volatility and buyback again. So I have some extra funds that help me in my daily life. That's the reason I store my funds in hardware devices and keep them far from me. So easily, I can't sell emotionally. I need to have more patience, to be honest. So I am still practicing this. I hope I will be a great handler rather than just a holder.

[Sandra_hakeem]

You're correct.
You seee, it actually looks very insensible to allow your coins to read down bellow, believing that it'll definitely go up...that's where hope plays a vital part..
Sometime in the past, I use to ask questions like; what if it doesn't go up anymore? What if this is just manipulated to suck up the world's investment and die in a twinkle of an eye?.. at the end, I decided to dig deep, investing my time in personal tutorings ECT...
I've grown to discover how wrong I was.

Sandra 🧑‍🦰