What does speculation actually cost you mentally?

[Obim34]

Even if you don't fill it out, curious as to how others here think about both the mental and financial side of speculating.

Speculation does negatively impact some investors, what shouldn't be a problem is now becoming a major problem, especially for investors who are relying on short-term gains over what the long term holds. For traders, there is no way to trade the market without making speculations, It is a big part of how they operate in the market, unlike long-term investors who are supposed to focus on their specific strategies and not build their investments on a theory that is not yet certain, you never know if a speculation will be right or wrong, why take the risk when it is not worth it?

Investments are supposed to be strictly strategic, and not moved by sentiments that are not yet concluded as a fact.

[Sanitough]

We all create different speculations on bitcoin, on the market. But the thing is, we end up with different reactions. Some get easily carried away and monitor how those speculations affect bitcoin, while others act as smart wise and calmly face those speculations like they don't last at all.

Now if you let yourself fall too much or influenced much on your own speculations, I think that's the time you start getting stress and anxiety because your emotions are higher, because you already set those speculations as the real thing in your investment.

But if you chose to be more open-minded with different speculations in the market, the less stress and pressures you'll gained, the more chill and calm you will face the future of your investment, despite of its high uncertainty.

[Crypto Library]

yes, exactly, that has happened to me, you just can't always be on and connected to the market and not be affected. I had to work to make myself disconnect from the market mentally, emotionally and physically.

Speaking from the perspective of my own crypto journey, back when I was a complete newcomer to the space, I was heavily influenced by speculation. I used to follow various speculation-focused channels and groups, placing my trust in the predictions made by the experienced individuals there. In fact, that is how I started my Bitcoin investment; to be honest, the experience was disastrous the market moved in the opposite direction, and those speculations proved completely useless. Subsequently, I also invested in altcoins based on speculation, and I am still bearing the losses from that.

For this very reason, I have gradually stepped away from that approach; since my analytical skills are limited, I have adopted a long-term investment strategy for Bitcoin. I do not rely on speculation here; instead, I conduct my own market analysis and invest accordingly. For instance, while most people currently believe the market is turning bullish and such speculation is circulating widely my personal analysis leads me to believe that Bitcoin will return to a bear market to establish a bear-market bottom price.

From this entire journey and the experience of this story, I have come to realize that speculation primarily impacts newcomers and in most cases, that impact is negative.

[abhiseshakana]

I see explained behavior and action as a sign  that an investment position has not been incorporated into a proper financial management. Based on my personal experiences, investor whose financial planning is not yet well-established usually has below situations that resulting every price movement feeling deeply personal and emotional :

• investment asset bigger compared to financial capacity
• have minimum emergency fund saving
• reliance on portofolio to get income for short term necessity
• unclear purpose of each asset
• no asset diversification and put concentration on single asset
• doesn't defined time horizon of investment
• no plan and risk management for price decline

We should ensuring that we don't let the investment is carrying responsibilities that it was never supposed to carry. Back then, after i have stable multiple income especially productive income from my export business with long term period of emergency fund saving for my whole family, i have little confidence to diversified my assets and I add Bitcoin on my portofolio with full awareness to hold this assets for several years.

[Peanutswar]

So, we talk a lot about strategy, timing (the market), our entries and exits but not much about all the speculation actually does to a person over time. The obsessive checking even when one has bought an asset for the long term (I’m guilty of this, big time), the euphoria when prices go up and our inability to tamp it down in spite of having experienced it before and knowing what’s coming next, and the gut-drop on a loss that just doesn't quite compare to other financial setbacks.
[...]

Well sometimes because of too much exposure in the market is it tend to influence us and sometimes it gives a thought to question our strategy, but you will not experience here at the first place if you know to yourself that you already have built your strategy, you will never doubt yourself if at the first place is where you will entry in the market and even exit right now sometimes people overthink too much with their money even small market dump they get triggered with their emotions and wanted to sell of their investments. I do recommend analyzing the market, learn where you position and enjoy the gains.

[JeffBrad12]

its mentally exhausting when you put your lifesaving into it, tbh if you only put small amount of money, the ones that you can afford to lose and make again easily, you wouldn't mentally burdened.
the bigger your bet, the more mentally burdened you are and for me who dont trade my entire lifesaving, trading is interesting and eye opening instead of exhausting.

[lombok]

Well sometimes because of too much exposure in the market is it tend to influence us and sometimes it gives a thought to question our strategy, but you will not experience here at the first place if you know to yourself that you already have built your strategy, you will never doubt yourself if at the first place is where you will entry in the market and even exit right now sometimes people overthink too much with their money even small market dump they get triggered with their emotions and wanted to sell of their investments. I do recommend analyzing the market, learn where you position and enjoy the gains.

Over stress through all time watching price charts is a usual cause of uncertainty regarding original trading plans. When investors are unable to contain their emotional impulses in cases of minor setbacks, they will get to sell off their assets in a rush. This type of psychological pressure will interfere with rational calculations.

It is advisable to draw up a trading road map in advance that gives proper guidance in finalizing the point to buy and to sell. Measured analysis derived confidence insures against a transient panic on assets as stated in the everyday changes in price. Serenity of mind enables maximum outcomes to be obtained.

[Sulegzy39]

When you are an avid gambler, you may get hooked to this way of life, and it will become a driving force for you. If you considered it a sort of illicit gambling, it has many of the same characteristics of a dependency. You keep pursuing the wins, and if you're not cautious, it may stop being about value and become more about number - you simply keep trying to fuel the day. A good gambler, or better an investor, ought to have extremely rare thoughts to keep the quality high.

When you try to chase a lot of transactions in a short amount of time, then you're more likely to fail and lose cash, but with sufficient practice, certain individuals can make profits. I don't think there is a specific profile of a person who will do such a thing, aside from someone open to exploring every possibility to produce a profit, although most will run out before discovering a profitable.

[Mpamaegbu]

Could this be possible be a holder and also a trader?

Yes, it's highly possible. A lot of people are on this table. Like I said in one of my previous posts, a hodler is also a trader; it's just that it's on a long term. At some point, a hodler will definitely sell off. Maybe sell off to rebuy or sell off to take partial profit and retain a moon bag.

Normally bitcoin should be the only coin people should hold onto because it doesn't pump and dump like other coin and if bitcoin price went dip it will also increase again.

For a coin that would dip to around 70% and you said it doesn't dump? Check historical data and you will see how repeatedly that happened. The only difference with Bitcoin and others is that it has got a very strong and supportive community that trusts deeply in it. Every major dip is eaten up with time. However, that isn't to say that people don't lose money investing in Bitcoin.

[drangos]

I believe that in some ways the greatest loss in the process of speculating is not the actual loss of money, but the loss of your time and feelings. Frequent pricing checking may lead to mood change, difficulty in focus and even impact one's daily activities. I've also come to understand that if you know the market isn't steady, and you know that. But you don't take it in your soul, that's one thing, but if you do that's another. In some cases, the best you can do is to put your head down. And let the market play.

[Tamaperdana]

Snip

If we're talking about the impact of speculation on mental health, I think the most likely answer is fatigue. Yes, fatigue is something that anyone will inevitably experience when trying to think hard, including speculating in the crypto market.

So, it will obviously drain our energy and make us mentally exhausted. But perhaps other, more complex impacts can occur on our bodies if we push ourselves too hard. For example, we may become fearful after experiencing losses, or find it difficult to focus on the end result.

Because, fundamentally, playing with speculative trading is clearly tiring. So, yes, I suggest we make it as enjoyable as possible. Because why think too hard about something that's too speculative? So analyze moderately, and don't push yourself. Because the market won't follow you just because you think hard.

[Bitcoin_effect]

Small update: Thanks to everyone who has taken a look so far and shared their experiences and thoughts here. I'm still looking for more responses from crypto users for this independent research survey.

So, if you've shared your experience here but haven't filled out the survey yet, I'd really appreciate it if you could also take it. The discussion is useful but I do need the actual survey responses for the research. It's anonymous, takes about 5 minutes and doesn't collect personal information.

Survey: https://tally.so/r/eqg4QQ?source=bitcointalk (not a ref link)

Thanks.

[Spaceman1000$]

So, we talk a lot about strategy, timing (the market), our entries and exits but not much about all the speculation actually does to a person over time. The obsessive checking even when one has bought an asset for the long term (I’m guilty of this, big time), the euphoria when prices go up and our inability to tamp it down in spite of having experienced it before and knowing what’s coming next, and the gut-drop on a loss that just doesn't quite compare to other financial setbacks.

I'm a crypto investor and an independent researcher(/writer), not affiliated with any company or institution and am looking into just how this plays out for people: risk tolerance, financial behavior, and the psychological side of it.

For this, I have put together a short anonymous form if anyone wants to contribute (only takes 4-7 min, no personal data collected, nothing commercial): https://tally.so/r/eqg4QQ?source=bitcointalk (Not a ref link)

Even if you don't fill it out, curious as to how others here think about both the mental and financial side of speculating.

First of all, it is advised that when investing in crypto assets, a percentage of your income should be apportioned to it,  probably within what we call residual funds, and you are to do this investment periodically in line with your source of incomes, so a certain percentage might probably be every month or annually will be going into your crypto investment, however this is so because it helps you with mental stress of wanting to check at every time the growth of your asset and reducing speculation anxiety, remember there's a popular saying that goes "where your treasure lies, there will your heart be", so instead of making your heart to always be there in your treasure, you have to invest with discretionary income.

[CryptopreneurBrainboss]

Even if you don't fill it out, curious as to how others here think about both the mental and financial side of speculating.

For investors you shouldn't be found in this type of scenario and if you do then you aren't investing in the right way because if you were doing it right then you have no business constantly checking the market or second guessing if you're making the right call by hodlimg when the market is crashing.

What you should be doing at all times as an investor is avoiding the market and staying true to your investment timeframe that you probably set for yourself. Traders are those that can't escape this since their business deals with monitoring the market so they're definitely paying a price for the constant emotional rollercoaster in the future and that's why I'll always choose investing over trading.

An Investor has to be emotionally detached from the movement of the market and that goes for traders too but they still need to watch the market for potential opportunities to make money from and that puts them right back into consistently speculating.

[Rruchi man]

curious as to how others here think about both the mental and financial side of speculating.

Mentally after many failed speculations, that is speculations that never happened, you will become mentally unresponsive to speculations and that can be a good thing in my opinion.

If you are unresponsive to speculations, it is a clear indication that you have your emotions in check and under control, your decisions made at that point is mostly from analysis and a clear head, not influenced by speculation.

The mental effects of speculation is not all bad.

[Sim_card]

Crypto Investment is an emotional and mental attachment schemes no matter how much you try to hide the feelings, it won't and can't be hidden, even if you try to forget about it, any sudden changes in price either positive or negative will trigger the emotions and mental to keep records of how much gains and losses it currently is.

Yes, it cost mental but it's worth it because that's the price to pay to be financially responsible and free as well as stable, it doesn't comes easy.

This will only happen to brand new investors and traders because they allow their emotions to dictate for them. A long term investor who has made up his mindset to invest and hodli for long would have prepared his mind towards that and ignore any noise in the market. I prefer to be a long term investor because it is stress free.

[Cryptomultiplier]

Even if you don't fill it out, curious as to how others here think about both the mental and financial side of speculating.

For investors you shouldn't be found in this type of scenario and if you do then you aren't investing in the right way because if you were doing it right then you have no business constantly checking the market or second guessing if you're making the right call by hodlimg when the market is crashing.

What you should be doing at all times as an investor is avoiding the market and staying true to your investment timeframe that you probably set for yourself. Traders are those that can't escape this since their business deals with monitoring the market so they're definitely paying a price for the constant emotional rollercoaster in the future and that's why I'll always choose investing over trading.

An Investor has to be emotionally detached from the movement of the market and that goes for traders too but they still need to watch the market for potential opportunities to make money from and that puts them right back into consistently speculating.

It's quite clear how speculation impacts both the trader and the investor who accumulates and goes to say for any investor to remain consistent and achieve their goals of investment, they must stick strictly to their strategy of investment and for those who prefer to trade, the mental toll of speculation can't be avoided but it can be curtailed by learning how to evaluate every decision strictly both by the quality of execution and by the probability edge.

[abhiseshakana]

Crypto Investment is an emotional and mental attachment schemes no matter how much you try to hide the feelings, it won't and can't be hidden, even if you try to forget about it, any sudden changes in price either positive or negative will trigger the emotions and mental to keep records of how much gains and losses it currently is.

Yes, it cost mental but it's worth it because that's the price to pay to be financially responsible and free as well as stable, it doesn't comes easy.

This will only happen to brand new investors and traders because they allow their emotions to dictate for them. A long term investor who has made up his mindset to invest and hodli for long would have prepared his mind towards that and ignore any noise in the market. I prefer to be a long term investor because it is stress free.

To be that mature long horizon investor you should have strong healthy financial condition to eliminate or at least minimize possibility to sell your bitcoin. You should have stable surplus cashflow and enough emergency fund saving, boith to protect your long investment horizon. You should ensure or well manage your debt, you should calculate which debt is eroding your investment capacity, will be funny if you should pay monthly high interest debt for consumption. You should have risk management and risk protection along with your acceptable risk tolerance and your acceptable risk capacity considering bitcoin is high volatility asset. So you need to ensure a shock will not ruined your live stability even touch your investment assets.

Before make investment we should ask our self, What will this money likely be needed for, and when?

[Curious T]

For me, as a holder, I keep up with the price of Bitcoin, but not because I'm worried, it's because I just want to keep up with Bitcoin's price. The speculation doesn't affect me in any way. This is not to say I don't feel sad when I see the price falling, but I don't get worried because I didn't plan to use the money any time soon. I get affected when I have money I plan to use soon in Bitcoin. In that situation, I can quickly sell when the price is dropping, but other than that, I don't get worried. I have not been in Bitcoin for long, but I have been in it long enough to know that price fluctuations and volatility are normal.

[Perfectbaby]

As a trade what you must know about the market is that you would always keep watching the market doing your regular analysis to know where you would be entering the market and also exiting, of course this takes time to do all as you would always be active to make sure that your analysis are accurate. Perhaps, if you are holding for long time it has different effect on you as you wouldn’t be that stressing yourself much doing analysis or speculating about the price anymore, what you would be looking after is just low long you could be holding your assets especially when you have a well known assets such as bitcoin and few top altcoin it is easier for you.