It's very easy to get excited by cryptocurrency, in every way. There's so many different ways that it can affect our lives and our business, that it can be incredibly easy to step back in awe and allow ourselves to become emotionally overwhelmed.
For example, back in 2017 I became enamoured with the market and how things were going, so much so that I didn't fully appreciate the risks involved and I lost a decent chunk of money because I didn't secure profits. Some greed was at play, but mostly I was so overwhelmed that I didn't stop to think about what my end game was, or what I truly wanted from crypto.
I sometimes get this same feeling in today's market, where the massive gains and the new announcements of partnerships and implementations make me feel swarmed with excitement, intrigue, wonder and fear. I look forward to seeing where things go, every day excited to see my balance, but also dreading the moment another bubble pops, or some bad news hits the sector. And this is where the trouble lies.
When we get like this, it can be very easy to give into our emotions and make panicked decisions. With myself, I will say, physically out loud to myself, that I will not sell that day because I know that there are long term implications that will secure greater profits and that the teams behind the tech are strong. But then all of a sudden, we see a 17% drop, and I find myself hovering over the sell button. Admittedly, a few times I've hit that button, and every time I've come to regret it (bar once, when I was very lucky and panic bought back in and gained more crypto out of it), and that's where the danger comes into play. Our emotions, our panic, our fear, can all lead us to bigger losses by not sticking to our original game plans, and that's what I'm trying to bring this all back to.
When you get involved in crypto, set aside how much you're willing to lose, work out where you want to leave the game (if at all), set monetary limits so you know you'll secure profit at X amount, and that you're getting more out than you've put in. Don't leave it all to chance if there's even the most remote possibility that you could lose sleep over it, there's no real gain to money if it comes at the cost of a happy life. Plan things as best you, detach your emotion from your crypto and your trades, and allow yourself to become a money and market machine, seeing just numbers and raw data, no longer feeling what it can mean to gain or lose huge amounts. This way, you'll make more informed decisions and rationalised actions that you won't come to regret later on, and you'll become more confident in your own ability. Emotion in life is good, emotion in trading is just bad.