I bought my first bitcoins at an all-time high. I actually don't remember all the details, but I remember it being incredibly difficult to do. 2013, I FOMO'd into buying through Bitstamp. I was totally confused about wallets, storage, and even how bitcoin worked. I just loved the idea, I've always been anti-establishment, and I've always felt left behind when it came to tech. In 1999 I didn't understand why anyone would listen to a poor quality mp3. In 2005 I thought Youtube was just bad internet tv. So yeah, I bought a bitcoin at $1000.
And within a day it was $1100! I couldn't believe it, so I bought A LOT more. As many as I could afford. It was around the holidays, and I needed money, but I got hooked on the price. Just like that, I was addicted.
And as you guessed, within 2 weeks, bitcoin had dropped to under $400. MT GOX was going under, bitcoin was dead. I didn't cry, I didn't sell. In fact I didn't tell anyone, even my girlfriend at the time. I kept it a secret because I felt dumb. I got a 2nd job, got really down on myself, I got back to work and forgot about the bitcoin. The addiction was gone. I tried to pretend it never happened. Just erased it from my memory.
Last November 2016, Donald Trump was elected president. That was the first day I thought, "hey, those bitcoins might be worth something some day". So I looked up the price and saw that it was almost $800 and climbing. All the sudden my money was back!
Oh, this is so painful to write. So painful to think about. But this is a story you hear over and over. And it needs to be told.
I lost my bitcoins. Because I didn't keep the laptop I had stored them on. I didn't keep the wallet address, paper wallet, and there were no hardware wallets at the time. The bitcoins were gone. I think there were 5 of them. Maybe 7. Probably more. I felt terrible. Bitcoin once again had let me down.
But this time I didn't try to erase the memory. Instead I basked in that pain. I felt it boil in me. I did some research, spent a few weeks learning everything I could about cryptocurrency. Even then, in late 2016, there wasn't a whole lot of info. There was this peculiar Greek guy and a bunch of poorly made videos. It looked like a 100% scam even then. The videos and articles looked 20 years old, certainly not something from 2016.
And so, in January 2017, I bought one bitcoin. Not more. I bought it during a dip, about $900 I think. There were enough charts at the time to see the history and cycles and I felt smart, like I could predict the market. The market turned around within 1 month. It was a LONG month. January felt like years. I considered selling several times. I had no money, I was completely broke, working as a freelance artist, and I mostly paid the rent by selling things that were valuable to me at a loss (some camera equipment, some music instruments).
I started to FOMO again, this time dumping money into Ethereum too. Every dip, I would buy more. I sold most of my stuff, which was painful at the time, but I don't regret it. By June I was as rich as I'd ever been in my life. I still didn't spend any of my crypto. I would trade here and there for Litecoin or Dash or Monero, but that usually would just get me in more trouble.
July was another crash. Everyone thought bitcoin was done. In retrospect, I had a hard time, but I forced myself to take my mind off crypto. I sold some Bitcoin for the first time, even though it was on a dip, I was still well into profit, so it didn't hurt that badly. I took a couple weeks off to travel and spend time with new wife. It was a great summer.
The last 6 months, as you can imagine, have been insanity to me. So much indecision. Do I take profits, or HODL? At this point I can kinda tell when the market will swing, so I'm not affected by price much. I get obsessive over altcoins and ICOs that I see potential in. I spend too much time looking at charts and trying to prove certain scams. I feel like if I can spot a cloud mining or lending scam, it gives more credibility to my investment in crypto. I'm still not sure it will keep growing.
I live a frugal life. Bare basics. I don't drive a lambo. I don't spend money on things I don't need. In fact, crypto has taught me how to save, something I could never do through my 20s. I've lost a lot of money gambling on altcoins in the last few months (made a lot too). I wouldn't recommend that anyone try to day trade. Or trade at all. Find the crypto you believe in and just stick with it. If you choose any of the top projects, you will be fine. Don't go for the 10x gains. They are 10x the risk. I know it's tempting, but just stay away. Unless you really want to play that game. I thought I did, but it was a mistake. It cost me valuable time and relationships. I could have spent that time with my family instead of staring at charts trying to predict the future, when if I had just kept my money in the projects I truly valued, I would have made just as much profit.
Of course, this is not financial advice, I'm the last person you should listen to for that. In fact I think my investing strategy is altogether very irresponsible, and though I would research the hell out of coins, I am also guilty of pure gambling, or FOMO. Always FOMO. Chasing pumps, riding highs, and sweating the dips. Take your emotions out of it.
If you are going to put a lot of time or energy into crypto, do something creative. Make a unique youtube channel or create content. That's why I'm writing. I was going to start a youtube channel during the summer but kept procrastinating. I might still do it. I have a lot of opinions, and I want to help people. I feel like there's a lot of competition in crypto for no reason. If anything, we should all be competing against the whales. The big institutions want us fighting, insulting, insinuating. They love that! It eventually drives our money directly to them. Don't play that game. It's just another scam. The more hate people bring to crypto, the more likely it is that regulation will ruin it for us.
Stay safe, keep your crypto safe, and let's all try to help each other. Right?