I sold 400 HIVE at an average of about 0.62 and bought back around 545 at 0.457, which is about a 35% increase in tokens. That is a decent gain on that amount, so I am happy with that. Small trades (comparatively), but it all adds up at the end of the day (month, year, decade). And it is the decade that I am looking at, as after six years in this community, I am only four years away from crossing that ten-year line.
Ten years sounds like such a long time and I remember plenty of on-chain discussions where I was looking long and people thought I was crazy. But, most of those people didn't last and are no longer here, because well, they were not built for it. This is not a disparaging comment aimed to belittle, it is more a fact.
Not everyone is built as an early adopter.
Nor an early majority participant, for that matter. It takes a "special kind" of person to do what other people think is crazy and to believe what others do not believe in. This isn't to say that it always ends up working out for the best, but one thing is for sure, not everyone is cut out to take the risks, especially when they are risking more than their own lives and money, they are also risking their reputation and social standing. Everyone laughs at the crazy crypto guy.
Until they retire 30 years early.
Over the years I have heard a lot of people say they are going to "buckle down" and start investing themselves, but it really is just empty words for the most part. What they would likely be better off doing is being a bit more honest with themselves and realizing that they might not be the kind of person to do what it takes. There is no shame in this, and it can lead to a far more social approach, which will likely be better experience all round.
But the potential for making some money is a huge attractor, but it is also something that can make a person feel like a failure when it doesn't happen as they might have hoped. Seeing other people succeeding where we fail can leave us feeling bitter and demotivated, which obviously doesn't play well into the hands of long-term participation.
And perhaps this is one of the reasons that crypto people are ridiculed by the nonparticipants so much, because they are a constant reminder that there are people willing to take risks that they are unwilling to take. They hope the crypto people fail, but secretly they wish that they were brave enough to be part of it, to roll that dice. And in the back of their mind, they are always questioning themselves - what if they are wrong? What if that crypto nut is correct? And those in crypto have a similar voice of course, questioning whether all this really is just a scam. No matter how many times the numbers are gone over, no matter how many potential benefits and developments are made, that question is still there.
But there is a difference between the positions, because the crypto nerd can lose, but they also have a ticket to win. All the people who are not participating can't lose on crypto, but they also can't win if things go unexpectedly well for the industry. They have no ticket, they just miss out. And they miss out because they were scared to enter, not because they couldn't enter. The barriers into crypto are extremely low, there really is very little excuse for most people not to take part.
Other than fear.
So, they have to come to terms with the fact that it isn't that they are smarter or know more, it isn't that they know enough to dismiss it with certainty, because the industry is in its infancy and still developing. What they have to admit is that they are just to scared to enter, whether that is because they fear losing any of their money, or they fear losing their face socially or with themselves in the case of being wrong.
Money is not important and don't care what others think!
We hear these things chanted, but look at how people protect their dollars no matter the upside potential and how people are unwilling to do anything that the majority of their peers are not doing. As said, most do not have the right mindset to be an early adopter because an early adopter is someone who does just that,
What other people are not doing.
And, that is the same for an investment mindset, where what is being adopted is something that is seen to have value in the future higher than it is today and investing into it before others do. It is adopting not only a new technology or gadget, it is also taking on the risk that in the future, there will be nothing in the hand at all - nothing to show for the investment.
At current prices, the trade I mentioned above was worth about 180 dollars and the gain was 65 dollars. For many of the people I work with, that is a day's salary - that is it. And still they are scared to get in with a few dollars to see what it is all about.
In another ten years from now, will people be ready to try?
If you are reading this post, you are already ahead of the curve, but will you still be ahead a decade down the track?
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]