I started getting to know the crypto in January 2018. It's been 6 years since then, and I learn something new about crypto daily. I've made dozens of good and bad decisions during my crypto journey. In today's article, I will talk about my worst decisions.
New investors usually enter the crypto market at the peak of the bull season. I am no exception in this regard. Because when there is high momentum in the market, this attracts everyone's attention. Hundreds of thousands of investors will join the crypto world in the 2024-2025 bull season and probably make their crypto investments at vastly inflated prices.
I started investing in crypto by purchasing Ethereum. I made very little profit on my Ethereum investment and bought a significant amount of Steem at $3 in May 2018. Steem hit $8 in January 2018. Therefore, investing in Steem at $3 seemed reasonable to me. Because stocks shaped my financial experience. As a result of such a price drop in the stock market, the shares are approaching the bottom. Moreover, I could earn money by producing content on Steemit. At first, I was in a good mood and enthusiastic. However, as time progressed, things got worse. During the 2018-2019 bear market, my Steemit investment dropped by a 20th. I had learned an expensive lesson by spending money that I could have bought a car. I did not buy coins at a high price during the 2021 bull season.
In 2021, I converted my Steems to Hive. The fact that the Hive community is a more elite group influenced my decision. I also had Hive coins that I earned from the airdrop. In 2021, Hive gained 20 times its value. Thus, my level of assets has tripled from my initial investment. I've never experienced a bull season before. So, I didn't have a pre-established exit strategy. I thought it was an excellent idea to HODL Hive. The passage of 3 years has shown that this is not the right approach. My crypto portfolio was down to a fifth by the end of the bear season. I think I improved myself compared to the first bear market because, in the first bear market, the value of my investment dropped to 1/20 :)
One of the big mistakes I made regarding crypto was underestimating security. I tried dozens of blockchain and decentralized applications, thus increasing my knowledge and experience and chasing high returns and airdrops. In the summer of 2021, my cryptocurrencies were stolen on three separate occasions. Thus, approximately half of my investments in networks outside of Hive evaporated. When I realized the seriousness of the incident, I reduced the number of sites I connected to with my Metamask wallet, which had a large amount of money. I also purchased a Ledger cold wallet and started confirming my transactions.
Another mistake I made was investing in a few newly developed games. The games I invested in turned into products but did not receive the expected attention from the player base. This is unsurprising, as the gaming industry is highly competitive, and few games reach large audiences. I allocated maybe ten percent of my portfolio to these games. From my current perspective, allocating fewer shares to speculative coins is necessary.
I made other mistakes, but they are minor compared to the ones above. By the way, since I am still in the crypto environment, I have done the right things. The best thing I did was to diversify my investments so I could stay above water even when I was losing money in the crypto market.
TL;DR
The most cost-effective form of learning is learning from the mistakes of others. However, such learning is not as educational as experiencing the events firsthand. When a person loses money, more effective learning occurs. Making mistakes is inevitable in order to mature in crypto investing. And, of course, no matter how knowledgeable and experienced we are, we will never be able to play the game perfectly.
I can summarize the lessons I learned from the crucial mistakes I made as follows:
- Do not invest in crypto during the late stages of a bull market or the early months of a bear market.
- Pay attention to security. Use a cold wallet to protect your coins.
- Sell your coins gradually during the late stages of the bull market.
- Keep the amount you invest in new projects low.
So, what's the best thing I've done with my crypto investments? I attach importance to knowledge and never give up.
Thank you for reading.
Image Source: Midjourney App