Foreword
I only truly got into crypto this year. So you can say I'm veeeeeeery late to the game. I'm also very lacking in knowledge so if any experienced Hivers wish to correct some misunderstandings or inaccuracies in my post, I welcome and appreciate it.
As a result of my late arrival and lack of prior knowledge, I feel a very strange ambivalence when I see the price crash.
Generally though, this post is for other newbies going through a panic. Here's how I see things from my perspective ...
On the one hand (the bad):
Since before this year, I believed the crypto had no legs to stand on, I was expecting crypto to "pop" (believing it was a bubble) for years. +100%, +200%, +300%... it's gonna pop any second!
Well... it hasn't and after learning more about the principles of crypto, I've changed my mindset. Yes, this correction sucks, but look at the say, year graph.
Hardly a dent, really. Not even the lowest we've been this year. Yet because I got in so late, it hurts to see actual losses (despite thinking that I'm smart for buying the previous dip beginning of the month).
When I bought Loopring at dirt-cheap (it was a gamble, so no big $$$ to speak of) and saw 1000% profit, I didn't panic when that dropped to 600%. Whereas my Litecoin which I legitimately invested, is at a 20% loss. Feelsbadman.jpg. I won't lie, I always have a moment of self-doubt when I buy more after a sharp crash ("is this the beginning of the end and did I just buy a ticket to a sinking ship?")
This was also a far larger sum, so the 20% loss in "legit investments" is far larger than my 200-300-400% victories in random altcoins that I just gambled at random to see what would stick.
On the other hand (the good):
Getting into crypto when the prices are crashing? Thank the gods! I absolutely HATE getting on a rollercoaster on its way up. It's almost inevitable that there will be drops that will make me groan and think "couldn't I just wait?!?!" (note that I kept waiting for such a crash for years and the prices just kept going up, so it's a Catch 22)
said, the point here is not to cash out now, but to invest for the future. So I'm "staking" for something I'll hopefully see the fruits of in 5, 10 (or more?) years.At the end of the day, I remember that like @selfhelp4trolls
Remember the bigger picture and the "alternative"
Something that keeps me sane when crypto crashes, is to remember what I saw in this video:
It's specifically about the scam that is ETNs, but I feel that this should resonate with fiat as well.
The TL;DR point is that these ETNs are by design supposed to drop in value to 0. Whenever crypto gets a punch, I remember this graph:
So, if you invested X $ in 1990 (say, your pension) you need to make a whopping 100% profit JUST TO STAY EVEN. So if you made a glorious 400% profit, it's actually 200%. Now compare that to the long-term gains in crypto. 400% is something coins can get in a good year, not 30.
I tried to look up what are "normal" expected rates of return from pension funds, and if this post can be believed, then asset investments barely keep up with inflation over time (of course this depends on the wisdom of your investment picks).
The value of staking and staking returns in crypto (the beautiful)
Remember that crypto is not just its value in fiat (this is something I struggle to remember). There are multitudes of savings programs that pay you very lucrative APYs in the respective cryptos, allowing for cumulative interest.
Binance has a dizzying amount of options - after reading up on a few, I decided to try out several investments strategies on the platform with relatively "safe" sums, just to try out the arena and find out what's riskier, volatile, profitable, etc.
In a more stable manner, one can use a platform like BlockFi. (Thank you @apshamilton for the recommendation)
You mean I get paid in my crypto of choice by just hodling, which I plan to do anyway?? Hell yea, sign me up!
- Mind that other than BTC and LTC, all coins are on the Ethereum network - so if the fees there bother you, note that your options are limited.
In conclusion
I'm going to buy up what I can - I see today as a discount, and plan to invest an amount I'm willing to put aside for years to come.
Hoping it's the right decision to make :)
Thanks for reading, wonderful people
You are not late, not really. I mean the easy 100x's are gone but those didn't look easy at the time. If you bought bitcoin at $1, you probably would have sold at $10 and not gotten back in until now. I think I'm a minority. I only invest in stuff that I am prepared to hold for 4-5 years. It's been 3 years and I'm up around 11x. 😃 I don't think this bull market is over either though I don't think it's going to move for a few months at least. All anyone has are educated guesses though. Be happy with a 10x in 5 years ;-P Which I think is still easy.
Yeah, I think people who say "omg that guy who bought a pizza with 50 (or however) Bitcoin must feel dumb now!" but realistically who the hell would think "oh yeah, this is going to be one of the most valuable commodities, I'm gonna hold on to it for 10+ years"?
I found an old chat with friends where one asked if another bought any Bitcoin - the other say "no way, 1000$ is too much" :) Nowadays we'd be overjoyed for such prices
Anyway, let's see where this crazy train ride takes us! I feel like the price would have to stagnate at some point, but this is more me thinking of the practicality of having an asset worth say, a million -
I dunno, speculating will probably do more harm than good at this point. I'm investing sums I can afford, and hoping that the passive income (in crypto) will boost revenue even more. Maybe I'm putting too much weight on the passive %, but it seems like such a no-brainer to me right now.
Good call. I just earned my crypto for 2 years until we were knees deep in the bear market and I knew enough to see that it would likely recover. At that exact time some old savings that I hadn't in years suddenly became available to me, so I bought in. We just do what we can. If you can 2x in a few years, that's already not bad. Just stay away from the crazy stuff if you don't want to make any big gambles
I don't know what your budget is, but generally I would recommend you keep blogging and stake the rewards.
I never made an investment here other than my time. (and perhaps travel costs to some of the events, but I count those as holidays)
I recently cracked the 6 figures in $ value just with this Hive account and never had a risk.
Oh sorry, I forgot to mention that this post was entirely dedicated to trading crypto, not engaging in communities like Hive.
I've been meaning to post more and interact more, but sometimes I really just don't have an idea, and I don't want to "spam" garbage content here for the sake of making extra bucks.
One of the things that I enjoy about Hive is that posts are (generally) made with dedication, they're not just "here's pictures of my food". Or even if they are, there's some kind of story attached. It makes it feel more personal.
Congrats on 6 figures! That's... well, crazy, really! I still feel bad that my votes are worth so little, so I literally can't afford to give people the awards they deserve :)
Didn't mean to brag :D
... I just wanted to show, how you do not have to make an investment to stake up on crypto.
As for BTC (crypto) investments: my personal prognosis (and this is no trading advice of course) is that BTC will pump some time between now and summer next year and then crash hard. Buying low should be possible soon. But that is just a guess and I have been totally wrong about these things before.
A cost-average approach seems reasonable and buying small packets over a longer period should guard you from sudden price dips and peaks.
Hey, brag away! It's an impressive achievement. The fact that you did it organically is even more impressive. I'm still dying for enough HIVE power to have my votes actually make a difference. For really exceptional posts I leave a tip, but even then I only have so much Hive to spare.
Just out of curiosity - say you DID want to cash out to fiat, would that be feasible? How does one go about doing so in large amounts?
Not recommending that you do, of course. Fiat's a big fat scam, but at the end of the day Euros pay rent and buy bread, HIVE doesn't.
Agreed re:BTC/investments. I've stopped trying to time the crypto market. I buy when prices seem reasonable (not at the moment of a sharp increase, for example) and keep my eyes peeled with some spare cash for any sudden dips like the one we experienced yesterday.
I realise that I'm essentially gambling my money, but it's either a definite loss (inflation and such) or a risk. I'll take the risk.
I have found some methods of cashing out... But I'd rather not disclose them publicly ;)
You seem clever enough to come up with your own solution, but if you need advice I'd rather do that privately via Discord app for example.
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