If you got into Crypto at the end of 2017, ie. when it shot to the moon quite drastically, causing mass euphoria that made people believe the Bitcoin price (and consequently other altcoins) will continue to go up and up — to the extent that industry experts called for a $30,000.00 — $150,000.00 Bitcoin at the end of 2018, others even more ambitious.
If you stuck around until the end of 2018, then congratulations, you’re probably 80–90% down on your investments. But, also, you survived the 2018 Bear Market. And I’m totally with you, I got into Crypto at arguably the “wrong” time and accumulated and bought the dips along the way all the way until the end of 2018, from $800b market cap, to the low $100b.
Now, I am no TA or Chart Analyst nor am I any expert on Crypto-related news and announcement(s). I am just your average crypto “investor” and someone who, with each percentile decline in USD value of his HODL-ings, has an increased in belief in the utility and necessity of cryptocurrencies. And this will be a quick write-up of the Top 3 lessons I learned in 2018 that hopefully will prove fruitful for me in 2019.
A. Do Your Own Research
With a crazy amount of tokens/coins out there, especially after the huge spike at the end of 2017 (beginning of 2018), it’s really hard to differentiate between a legit project and a scam, and this had led many to face losses, big and small, in 2018 (not attributed to the declined in Market Cap). I have also invested some money in what turned out to be an exit scam, ie. Darex Travel (leader: Leon Edinzon). It is also worth noting that in 2018, the number of dead coins rose close to 1,000 — https://cointelegraph.com/news/while-bitcoin-died-90-times-in-2018-there-are-almost-1000-dead-altcoins-data-shows
B. Tribalism and Emotions are Bad
I found out that there is a lot (and this is an understatement) hate in Crypto (especially on Twitter) and a whole lot of tribalism involved. And in a relatively young industry, it’s worrying to see such level of tribalism, most of the time blind tribalism. It leads people to just hate on a token/coin/project that they don’t support just for the heck of hating on a competing project.
People usually lead with their emotions first, facts second. And it’s damaging to the cryptoverse because it screams immaturity. The scene has matured a little bit throughout 2018, but is still a long way to go before it’s to be taken seriously.
C. It is perfectly fine to take profits
There’s this mindset that if you’re into crypto, then you should HODL for as long as possible until you get 10x, 100x, ot even 1000x. And a lot have missed out of some gains because of this mindset. It’s perfectly okay, and in fact, quite prudent, to take profits as and when you can and as and when you’re comfortable with the profit that you’ve made. If you’re a trader, be smart about it. If you need to convert some crypto into fiat when you can make some profit, then do so. At the end of the day, it’s your money and you should approach it mathematically and logically, with as little emotion as possible — that’s when you’re thinking critically and cogently.
The road to the Moon will be long and rough.
At the end of the day, we will not see crypto moon in January of 2019, especially as we’ve already seen some bad news so early in the year (ie. Bakkt’s delay). But with more bad news, believers will focus less on USD-value, and more on intrinsic values of cryptocurrencies, and that, ultimately, will be a good thing for cryptocurrencies and blockchain~
Till Next Time — Long Live Bitcoin