As a introduction, I just want to say that this text is NOT in any way a financial device, just the story of my experiences and my thoughts about how I could improve myself as a trader.
In 2013, I had a friend staying at my place for a few days. My girlfriend were on a trip with some friends, so we took the opportunity to have some guy time, which in short meant spending almost all time in front of the computer screen. Gaming, programming, watching movies and series, and for some reason, I stumbled over and article about bitcoin. The price had recently crashed from 1000$ to 500$, and we were discussing whether to invest. Still being students, neither of us actually had any real money to invest, but it was still a thrilling thought. So, instead we started plans about farming. Searching the web about cryptocurrencies, Litecoin were another alternative to bitcoin. We were both very enthusiastic, but when the weekend were over, things went back to normal and, sadly, in the end we did nothing.
Life went on, and I thought very little about bitcoin. Until recently. Beginning July 2017. Ethereum had just boomed and skyrocketed. I found out via some ads about a trading platform. Seeing the price keep going up and up, I got curious to
get in. At this time, at least I had a small amount of money saved, which I could potentially invest. The tracing platform were for CFD. CFD, stands for Contract For Difference, and were something I'd never encountered before. I used the demo mode on the trading platform for a few days, and made a 20% profit. So I though, wow, I should go with real money! Bad move. When using the demo mode, I'd made most profits from shortening Ethereum , which had entered a down streak, but at the time I got in with real money, ETH were at ~180 USD, which were kind of the bottom, and my short really went south.
Feeling down about my loss, I thought that maybe crypto is not for me. I actually lost a significant amount of money in just a day (this is the effect using CFD:s, things can go really fast in both directions). But as a gambler, and tending to be a bit addictive, I thought that I should go with the stock market instead. Just buying index felt too slow, so I went for a certificate with a 15x lever. The first time actually turned out really well, and I gained a minor profit. But gambling with certificates and crypto is a dangerous game, and later my gains were turned to losses.
I know the fact that investing should be about knowledge, but I still want to claim that a lot of luck is also needed. The worst part about being new to trading is if your first trades result in losses. Some experts claim that it is just part of learning, but from my experience, that feeling truly sucks.
Looking at the charts a few weeks later, I see that the losses I made would now be profits! Keep a level head is a major attribute for a good trader, a qualification I seem to lack. Downward trend only turn in to losses when you sell. Being on minus for a while doesn't mean you neccessary have to sell.
My thoughts right now is to learn more about the market and maybe do some trades in the future, using the gained knowledge. Advice to anyone thinking about getting in to trading, whether it is stocks or cryptocurrency, is to really read alot before putting any money into it. FOMO, Fear Of Missing Out is one of the most dangerous feelings, and a trade should never be based on it.