With the influx of new investors and a crypto market that lives by Gordon Gekko's famous line of Money Never Sleeps (Trading 24/7/365), I wanted to share a few things I have learned along my journey. This is not investment advice, but If you can avoid some of these pitfalls, I believe you can fast track your future trip to the moon of massive profits!
Biggest Mistakes
#1 Being uneducated about crypto - Many people ask me what to invest in without knowing a single thing about the project other than it was mentioned on youtube or they overheard the name as if they are buying a lottery ticket. This is not good. The people that make money trading are assassin's and are waiting to take your money. (See more below) Do not be uniformed about the crypto market as a whole, or the project in specific. You are going to be investing your hard earned money so make sure you are educated and knowledgeable so you are comfortable in your decision long term or at least until your investment hits a preset target.
#2 Not knowing the market cycle - There are two things that drive the market. #1 What is Bitcoin doing. (When Bitcoin is booming, your USD goes up, but your BTC comparison goes down. When Bitcoin stays steady, usually your alt coins rally. When Bitcoin is dropping, typically your alts follow and sell off at a higher % rate. Very rarely and in the perfect storm, both moon together! We could be in that phase coming up! #2 Crypto's price patterns typically follow Elliot Waves (1-5) and Fibonacci Levels. When I got started I had no clue about the market other than what Coinbase was selling, so I bought some Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin. Knowing the cycle will help you make money as everyone knows in investing, you make money on the buy.
#3 Make money on the buy - It is very important to stay away from buying all time high's. Many people get Fomo'd (Fear of missing out) due to meteoric rises on coins when they break out and buy in at extended levels or even worse sell out of coins at lows to chase ones at highs. The old saying what goes up, must come down many times holds true in Crypto so look to buy on retracements. There is another saying that is very helpful. Buy Red, Sell Green. This will help you make money on the buy and stay calm.
#4 HODL - Keep your emotions in check - The biggest mistake someone can make is not trusting their investment and panic sell. If you know the market, know your project and buy at a good price, you will keep your emotions in check when the price goes down. As mentioned in tip #1, whales are looking to put sell pressure on coins expecting the weak hands to fold only allowing them to get better prices. Do not panic sell, nor follow rising candles. Many times if your coin is not moving, it is getting ready for a breakout. I can not tell you how many times I made an impulsive move to get something else only to realize a few weeks later that it was a very big mistake. Once you make an investment, give you holding a chance to play out.
#5 Know when to take profits. - Yes it is important to HODL, but if you understand Elliot Wave Patters after large to the moon type moves typically in Wave 3 or Wave 5, there is a requisite A, B, C correction of 60-80%+ This is not the ideal HODL. Case in point. I bought NEO at $30, $35, $40, $50 and rode it up until it hit $58. It was a Wave 5 extended and crashed all the way to $13.75. Not knowing the market, I kept buying and buying. In retrospect, I should have sold the top and then bought it back and my expected targets for massive profits. However, being I did my research and believed in the product, long term I made money and still hold it today, but had I known the market, I would have made more money and not had to wait money to finally turn back to the green. Check with your accountant for tax ramifications, but sometimes taking a profit is the right move or at least reducing your exposure with money on hand.
#6 Always have cash on hand - This is very important. The market will go up and will go down. If you know the trends, each correction is likely to be 38%-50% and Wave 5's even larger. The worst place to be is fully invested with no ability to buy in later on at discount prices.
#7 Exchanges to be on - Coinbase, Bittrex, Binance and KuCoin - Do not miss opportunities for profits with alts just because it is not available on your exchange. I have missed many opportunities because of this. Never again Once you expand outside of Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Litecoin this is very important. Binance is for a limited time allowing new registrations. Sign up here: https://www.binance.com/?ref=16733320
#8 Stay positive - Have a game plan - Right now we are in a bull trend. Yes there are ups and down with significant volatility compared to other markets. Do not panic. Just look at the charts and you will see over time, those bumps are just part of the process. If you know what to expect and have a game plan set for each situation, you will be able to fight through the new person emotions and execute. At some point in the future it is likely to change, but at this current point we are in a great spot so take advantage. In my opinion any significant dip (30-50%), is a great place to grow my portfolio at a discount!
Hopefully this was helpful and you have a better understanding of how to avoid the newbie mistakes for massive profits.
I wish you massive success and profits while we change the world.
@CryptoLegendhodl AKA J$
Very well said. At almost every point on your list I was nodding my head and thinking I wish I knew that at the start.
Knowing when to take profits is the one that requires a lot of studying to figure out. Do you know of a good resource to learn this?
Thanks for the vote and comment. I appreciate your kinds words and glad it resonated with you. My coach Haejin has a blog post that would be a great resource for you. https://steemit.com/bitcoin/@haejin/when-to-buy-and-sell-using-elliott-waves-a-tutorial Look forward to seeing your success story
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Very informative, I tell everyone I meet to do their own research. It is by far the most important part of crypto. Experience is the best teacher.