Cryptocurrencies are often compared with the Wild Wild West. A new lawless frontier where anything goes. Everyday some new development pops up and it is easy to lose your way in the jungle of information and opportunities.
It is much like when the internet was still young, people were trying out new applications for the technology and were very unaware of the many dangers lurking around.
Cryptocurrency has an even bigger allure because it’s all about the money. The masses are taking notice of the many financial opportunities that cryptocurrency offer and are jumping on the crypto hype train.
The problem is that they often lack the knowledge and experience to maneuver through the crypto jungle without getting hurt. Usually it is not a big deal if you fall flat on your face when trying out something new, you basically get up and try again. But “falling on your face” with cryptocurrency often means that you lose money.
I often get approached by people new to currency who “want to buy bitcoin”. The conversation alway goes like this:
Newbie: Hey, you know about bitcoins, can you help me buy some?
Me: Ok, but buying 1 bitcoin is pretty expensive. What are you planning to do with it?
Newbie: Well, everybody is making money with bitcoins and I also want in.
Me: Well, I am not sure you still can make a lot of money with bitcoin, it’s price is pretty high at the moment. You might want to look at other coins.
Newbie: Wait, you mean there are more?
Me: Sure, a lot more like ethereum, litecoin and the list goes on.
Newbie: So what’s a good coin to make a lot of money?
Me: Dunno, but let me ask you. What are you planning to do, trade or long term investment?
Newbie: What do you do?
Me: I am a Hodler which means I like the long term game but that’s what I do. You have to decide for yourself.
Newbie: But I know nothing about cryptocurrency.
Me: Well then your first assignment is to do your research, figure out what you want to achieve and see what you are most comfortable with.
The thing is that there is a lot to learn when you first start with crypto and even when you have learned about trading, wallets, exchanging there is so much more that you will have to master because the game keeps evolving.
One of the most important things about investing is that you need goals, an endgame or you will just blindly wander around hopping on everything that crosses your path.
There is this thing called FOMO (the Fear of Missing Out) that will grasp you and let you make bad decisions.
FOMO can drive you to invest too much into cryptocurrency, buying every coin that gets hyped on the internet. FOMO will drive you insane when you have to decide whether to sell or HODL (hold the coin for long term).
But there is a way to beat the FOMO monster and that is by creating your own strategy and goals.
Simply put, just think really hard about what you want to achieve with your cryptocurrency investments. Are you someone who wants to get quick profits or would you rather go for long term investments? What are you willing to invest and with what kind of profits will you be satisfied?
If you have goals and a plan to get there you will have a guideline that will help you navigate through all the FUD. At times it will be difficult to keep a straight course but believe me, it will give you focus and you will be able to achieve your endgame much faster.
An example is what I recently had with Dentacoin. My goal was to use this investment to achieve Dolphin status on Steemit. I had bought the coin at the pre-ico and it took a couple of months for the coin to really get off the ground. When my investment was worth €2000 (the amount I needed to get to 5000 SP) I sold the coins and powered up on Steemit, goal achieved.
However 2 weeks later the coin surged to new heights and my initial investment would have netted me €16000. Now I could have been salty about the missed opportunity but because I had set my goals I felt no regret in selling the coins just as I had planned.
The most import thing with investing and especially with cryptocurrency is to define your goals and devise a strategy with as much detail as possible.
Use this “playbook” to keep sane in the sometimes chaotic world of cryptocurrency. Be honest with yourself about what kind of person you are. Are you someone who likes to play it safe or more the big risk, high reward type.
Don’t get dragged in by other people and what they do. Make your own plan, one you are comfortable with. The hardest part is sticking to your plan because there will be a lot of temptation crossing your path. But if you don’t lose sight of your end game you will get there eventually.
“It always seems impossible until it’s done.” – Nelson Mandela
Nice post. The FOMO is really going around when I comes to cryptocoin.
Several colleagues started to buy altcoins the last couple of weeks and invest between 100 and 1000 euro because they hear stories of people in their surroundings that make a huge profit. But they want to multiply their money in a couple of hours or days and are investing in everything that goes up without reading whitepapers or research.
I wonder how this will end because a big bubble is creating.
I recently joined them in the crypto world but limit myself to steem but from time to time it aches to also join in the madness and invest a couple of 100's or 1000's of euro's. I hope I made the right bet to play it on safe and commit myself to steem in the long term.
Hey Pieter, bij mij hetzelfde. Ik heb ook veel collega's die nu altcoins aan het kopen zijn. Soms gaat het de hele dag hierover. Een aantal wil ook heel snel geld verdienen maar de beste manier vind ik inderdaad om op lange termijn te investeren. Steem is en blijft (mijn mening) de beste crypto om op een leuke manier wat te verdienen. Mooie foto's in je blogs trouwens. Followed and an upvote for your comment:)
Hehe, wel grappig dat het er bij jouw identiek aan toegaat. Ik denk dat de gesprekken in de bureau ongeveer 50% van de tijd over coins gaan en overal liggen er tablets en smartphones met Binance schermen :-D
Ik heb de laatste weken al een paar keer gevloekt dat ik er ook geen geld ingestopt heb maar ik probeer het hoofd koel te houden.
En Steemit is de ideale stap in de crypto wereld. Ik geloof in het platform want het bestaat effectief. Dtube, esteem, steepshot, ... bestaan. En het is ook leuk. Ik haal mijn reisfoto's er nog eens bij die anders op m'n synology staan te schimmelen en er komen veel herinneringen naar boven als ik de posts van andere steemians lees over plaatsten waar ik ook geweest ben. En ik verdien nog een centje aan m'n duikcompilaties waar ik vele uren werk aan gehad heb :-)
Wow man, this is such a great post. Inspiring. I don't know why I like your writing so much. You have talent. It was really informative and I identify with the ups and downs you mentioned. FOMO has gotten the best out of me sometimes and I've been trying to control it.
Well, thank you very much cryptosharon, I appreciate the compliment. FOMO drives me to make bad decissions that's why I want to avoid it completely. Sticking to my plan/strategy gives me purpose and direction instead of FOMO induced panic decisions :)
I think I learned a lot from this. I'm going to try adding this to the things I apply to improve myself. I actually kinda do this in Steemit, not to get discouraged. I just had never rationalized on what I was doing and why (and you explained it perfectly, so I can put it into words). I just go forward as planned and follow my lines and nowadays I think I'm going somewhere. Let's see where my "HODLing" gets me (except it's more like hodling an attitude, a blueprint of behavior left by my past/rational self to be successful in the future).
upvote
Thank you, short 'n sweet.
Here from kryptonia
Yeah, a fellow Kryptonian on a mission to complete tasks. Task on my brother (or sister) :)
Wow such interesting post, very informative and direct. Maybe you can guild me in crypto updates.
The best way is to take the journey on your own this way you can decide what suits you best. If you need assistance though I am always happy to lend a helping hand.
Very good read! Thanks for sharing and will look forward to seeing more of your posts. Followed :)
Thank you for the nice comment and the follow. I will do my best to share some interesting tidbits.
I was just looking in google for something like this, I'm not good investing so I'm first reading so much and learning about it haha Thanks for sharing!
The best advise I can give you is to take your time and do your research. Steemit is also a great source of info and if you need help there is always someone willing to help out. Like I said in my post, write down what you want to achieve and how you want to do it. It is not hard, it just takes some time and effort. Keep Steemin' and good luck with your investments.
Thanks for sharing, it's really good we have our own plan as each person's end game differs. FOMO defines me, I am so scared of missing out that I don't know how many coins I own anymore. What do you think of Storiqa?
LOL, FOMO is something that we all fight with. But I have my own strategy which keeps me grounded. I have not heard about Storiqa, there are too much coins at the moment and I don't have enough money to invest in everything :). I will check Storiqa out, is it out yet or an ICO?
I think i usually scare people away when i start trying to explain the crypto sphere lol. You are right, most people just think it is only bitcoin, when u start explaining the reality of it most people cant comprehend it.. or maybe i just suck at explaining things! Lol.. yeah, thats prolly it.. cool article.
People and colleagues know that I know a little something about crypto and they are all eager to get in on the action so I get a lot of question about the how and what. Most people seem to think that it is just like stocks where you can buy them from an exchange and sell when the price has gone up. They soon realize that there is much more to it. That's why I encourage them to do their own research, that is the only way to learn but I do help them if they have questions though.
Yeah, thats prolly the best way. Have them do their own research and help them along with any questions..
i like ur style bro.. following
Great post
thanks, glad you enjoyed it.
This is a great article and some really sound advice in there. I think It's just what I needed. Thanks for posting this.
Thank you @moeknows, glad be of help.
Good humor man.
Thank you, I try to keep it light hearted. It's just who I am :)
Although I admit I do have the FOMO but that hasn't pushed me to jump into buying cryptocurrencies. I've been doing my research over a month now to know about it and I literally watched dozens of YouTube videos...I've successfully set up accounts on different exchanges, but I don't still want to jump into it before I know exactly what I'll be buying, for how much and why...Well, the why part is clear for now: to hold long term..but I'm just giving myself more time.
At least you know what you want. With long term the problem is the temptation to sell when your coin suddenly start going up. Tip, if you are going to sell because you feel that you must....never sell everything, decide on forehand what your selling strategie is. For example sell 75% and keep 25%.
Yes,....I do the same strategy regarding my stock investments. But I have a little different way...since I'm not a stock day trader, I do hold my stocks long term and if I need to sell, I do that to get enough capital to buy a different stock long term as well. In that case I sell 100% of the undesired stock and put all that capital in the new investment. Selling stocks for me is more like a "divorce" relationship...If I divorce a stock, I do it 100% lol. Mind you, I don't do that influenced by market prices of those stocks, stocks, but purely based on fundamental analysis.
Great read. Nice post.
Thank you, I had fun writing it. FOMO is something we all encounter at some point.
Its brilliant and hugely post, you wrote best strategy for these. When a person read it can increase his knowledge to be in. Thanks a lot @xervantes for sharing. I like it Best