At the beginning of 2017 Bitcoin was just over 1000 dollars.
Most of us have probably heard about "bitcoin" and "crypto currencies" through a family member or friend. That was exactly the case for me. At the end of 2016 going into 2017 one of my close friends was constantly telling me about this thing called "bitcoin" and "ethereum". He was convinced that it was going to change the world and make a lot of average day investors millionaires. As any skeptic would do, I assumed that whatever was going on was a scam or ponzi scheme. After constantly arguing about the validity of the technology, the silk road, mass adoption and potential scams he insisted that I just do my own research if I was ever interested. So one day in mid January 2017 when things were dead at work I decided to pull up ole trusty google to read more about these things called crypto currencies. Hours of research turned into days and days turned into weeks. I was obsessed and intrigued. Little did I know but after that research was done 2017 would be the most financially rewarding and eye opening experience of my life. 
I made my first investment into Ethereum April 3rd 2017 when it was around 45 dollars. I loved the Ethereum community and after reading more about blockchain technology I was all in on crypto. Fortunately for me, Ethereum "shot up" to around 65 dollars shortly after my investment. To me, at the time this price increase was baffling. A 45% increase in less than a month was unheard of. I immediately contacted the nearest Lamborghini dealership...Just kidding. Soon after the short price increase for Ethereum i decided to research and diversify out to other crypto's. I was not around for the Ethereum price boom to 150 dollars. (buuuuut...)
I did a little research on some undervalued coins and noticed Ripple had something going for them. Lightning fast transaction times and more importantly they were marketing Ripple to major banks. However, many people do not like Ripple due to this reason, because it is not truly "decentralized" and because it is not "mineable". Controversy aside, i decided to go all in on ripple around April. When I bought Ripple it was just above 4 cents. Again, shortly after my investment it spiked up to 45 cents. Super lucky I would say. However, I got out when it was only around 22 cents. I knew that I did not want to stay in ripple though. What goes up must come down. Once again i pulled up ole google and started to dabble in other crypto currencies.
I researched this coin called Digibyte. This coin claimed to have one of the fastest transaction times out of any mineable coin out there. But the selling point for me was that I could mine it by playing games like World of Warcraft, League of Legends and Counter Strike. They called this Digibyte gaming. So intrigued by this concept I decided to invest into it as well in the middle of May. I downloaded their software and loaded up the node. Funny enough this would be my first and only experience in the "mining" aspect of crypto. I "mined" digibytes" for a few weeks and during this time digibyte spiked up in value significantly due to an award they could potentially win at an event. What the heck right? This is the first time I learned/realized that news and speculation ran this market. However, regardless of the price increase, I did not make much money during this spike. The "expert investor" in me got caught up in day trading and following pump groups (mostly in the poloniex troll box if anyone remembers that). Oh by the way. I never got my mined Digibyte coins. Digibyte gaming got hacked and Digibyte shut it down.
To be honest, June to August of 2017 would be rough for me as I was transitioning out of my job. I was also not finding a lot of success in these pump groups and noticed I was losing a lot money as the market was ramping down. This would be an important lesson for me and a lesson everyone in the crypto market eventually learns. "As fast as you make it is as fast as you can lose it". I was also in and out of a lot of coins every single day which is not a good thing. Some coins that I found success in around this time though were ARK and Komodo.
Around this time I never really did any extensive research on most of the coins I invested into. I was essentially gambling and hoping to hit a 50%-100% pump. It wasn't until I realized that I was going to be jobless soon that made me open my eyes. I needed to quit playing around, go back to basics and extensively research my investments. During late June to August I devoted myself to crypto currency research and chart analysis. I learned things like coin staking, coin proofs, coin algorithms, importance of market caps, chart analysis techniques and much much more. My hard work would soon pay off...
I started research on this little coin called "Antshares" (which is now known as NEO) and the big things they were planning on doing in China. Antshares was planning to re-brand and bring with them exciting announcements and features to a platform called NEO. Antshares/NEO felt like a step above Ethereum. Before the re-branding I invested into Antshares mid-late July 2017. It was about 5-6 dollars. I left my job August 2nd. Antshares re-branded to NEO and pumped up to around 45 dollars August 14th. That is some insane timing. They say the feeling of success is where luck meets hard work and preparation.
After NEO I decided to pull some money out to live on and invest in a couple ICO's (initial coin offerings), which I am still invested in today. Every day I still do crypto research and market analysis.
Thank you so much for reading. Also, thank you to the friend who would not shut up about Bitcoin and Ethereum. I do not claim to be an expert but I have learned so many things about the crypto market through success and failure during 2017. Social media such as YouTube and Steemit have played a huge roll in accelerating my knowledge in crypto currencies and blockchain technology. They are great tools! I am excited to share more about crypto technology, news, speculation, some guides and more importantly some cool concepts that I have learned. If there is anything in particular you are interested in learning more about please let me know. Thanks again =)!
~ Crypto-Bro ~
