Select 10 stories to depict the myriad lives in the crypto world. As the saying goes: the market makers are all the same, while the 'leeks' each have their own experiences.
1. Buy high and sell low like stocks
I am a full-time stock trader. By chance, I was invited to set up a micro fund on a certain micro fund platform, and at that time, that platform happened to release two altcoins that were later listed on a certain trading platform in December. Initially, I had a strong aversion to digital currency, thinking of it as gambling. But soon after they were listed, both coins surged by several times, and I couldn’t resist human greed, spending 5,000 at a high price to buy in, and then there was no 'then'; until now, I have almost lost everything.
Since then, I began to formally engage with digital currencies, joining various groups to communicate with crypto friends, and finally realized that trading coins also requires strategies; it's not as simple as just picking an altcoin or a scam coin to buy. So I started navigating various trading platforms and researching all the coins I encountered, ultimately deciding to invest in chat. On the morning of January 31, I started accumulating, and that night chat coin was launched on Binance, doubling in just one day. However, I didn’t sell in the end, mainly because I believed in its long-term potential and held on, thinking there would be greater returns. This experience also made me deeply realize that even coins with great potential need to be traded like stocks, doing some high sell-offs and low buy-ins, otherwise, I would miss out on stage returns.
Everyone trading coins should study whether the coins are worth holding long-term like a real business, and whether they have practical application value, instead of randomly buying scam coins or altcoins, otherwise, you will transform into a small leek.
2. Holding coins is holding wealth
Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, I have been in the crypto world for more than 9 months. Everyone knows that a day in the crypto world is like a year in the human world, and reflecting on this period, so much has happened that only I can truly feel the bittersweet experiences. For new leeks entering the crypto world, fear is the first barrier; you hesitate to sleep for 24 hours, and what do you do if you don’t sleep? Watch the market! Study the news, but neglect the blockchain technology itself, leading to mental and physical exhaustion and a slightly imbalanced mindset. At that time, chasing highs and selling lows, buying high and selling low was common; I was afraid to hold the coins overnight, fearing they would plummet overnight. With the help of brothers in the crypto world, I broke free from the cycle of chasing highs and lows, developed a discerning eye to avoid scam coins, sought value investments, and focused on true value investing. With clear goals and direction, my mind became calm, and I was no longer fearful. Now, when I occasionally open my IM wallet and see fluctuations of hundreds or even thousands in a second, my heart is no longer stirred. Because I believe that blockchain is the future, and digital currency is the future. Holding coins means holding wealth. We must study blockchain technology as seriously as we did in school, and hold coins with the mentality of a monk, so we can maintain our mindset amidst ups and downs and seek to win steadily.
3. Take dreams as horses, do not waste youth
I still remember the period in August and September last year when every virtual currency group I touched experienced a similar phenomenon: people constantly shared the tenfold or hundredfold coins they had ambushed; group members began to form factions, including fundamentalists, trend followers, and technical analysts; they started to refute and ridicule each other, where the key to determining victory was not based on rational arguments but rather on whose assets appreciated more in the crypto market. Those who lost money in that grand feast were called fools, and there were even remarks saying that anyone who didn’t ride a tenfold coin in a bull market should not remain in the crypto world. In that feast, it seemed anyone could emerge as a 'true big shot' in the crypto world and talk grandly about the future of Bitcoin and blockchain.
I learned about Bitcoin in 2015, and later intermittently kept up with developments in blockchain technology. Although I was optimistic about blockchain, the various negative news about the crypto world kept me from engaging until last year when I finally decided to take action. (The reason was hearing a friend made enough profit to buy a house with 30,000 yuan in just two to three months). Like many other friends who entered the crypto world at that time, I harbored a 'American Dream' with altcoins, hoping to make a mark in the crypto world.
I won’t go into detail about my growth, learning, and various setbacks when I first entered the crypto world, as it’s a typical story of a leek. It’s worth mentioning that during the grand feast mentioned above, one altcoin I heavily invested in almost multiplied by 20 times! I instantly jumped to a 'big shot' status in the group. Some envied me, some followed me, and some shouted for me to lead them. I didn't hesitate, starting to pretend to do technical analysis and share 'value coins'. No one asked me how I found and ambushed that altcoin that increased my assets nearly 20 times, or what made me confident it would appreciate; in fact, even if they did, I wouldn't have had an answer. Buying that altcoin was just a spur-of-the-moment decision, believing in the phrase 'bet it all, if you win you’ll have young models, if you lose, you’ll have to work hard'. To put it bluntly, the money I made was just luck.
I participated in this grand feast, believing I was the one holding the utensils, only to find myself reduced to food on someone else's plate. The reason lies in the fact that the money I earned through confusion dulled my brain.
This grand feast reached its peak in November but soon came to an end, followed by a steep drop of Bitcoin and a crash of altcoins, plunging the market into panic. At that time, my profits were also halved, with Bitcoin hovering between $12,000 and $13,000. I thought it was a good opportunity and hurriedly bought in that night, expecting a rebound the next day. But it was just the beginning of a downtrend. The next day when I opened my computer, I saw the glaring red bars. I was truly panicking, disappearing from the group. Seeing my profits wiped out, the gambler's mentality began to take over, and I successively concentrated my other assets in a single exchange, leveraging to trade BTC. Although leverage amplified my potential gains, it also brought high risk, and my pressure and panic kept rising. Due to my lack of experience, I couldn’t see the overall trend, and in the short-term fluctuations, various counterproductive actions caused me to lose all my chips. I felt like a down-on-his-luck gambler, putting all my hopes on one last bet, which was to short BTC. I told myself to look again after a day. The story that followed was that Bitcoin faced a series of declines, followed by a modest rebound, which nearly brought my short position to the liquidation point. I finally realized that I was just an ordinary little leek, proactively closed my position, and stopped focusing on the long-short competition. Even if I could have endured for another two days, this short position could have allowed me to recover my principal and make a decent profit. I remembered that saying: what is not meant for you, once missed, is missed. Even if you get lucky and acquire it, one day it will be lost again in another way.
May the friends in the crypto world who are working hard at the frontlines take dreams as horses and not waste their youth.
4. Not delighted by external gains, nor saddened by personal losses
In October 2017, when I first got my mining machine running, I officially stepped into the crypto world. 'A day in the crypto world is like a year in the human world' is not an exaggeration at all. After entering the crypto space, aside from meal and sleep times, I spent the rest of my time watching various coin prices, analyzing trends, and calculating gains and losses. Although I didn’t experience the 94 incident, I witnessed Bitcoin's drop from nearly $20,000 to $6,000. Since my entry into the crypto world, my main coin BCD has dropped from 160 yuan to less than 40 yuan due to lack of experience and other factors leading to a blown mindset; only I know the hardships involved. But to be honest, as my knowledge increased and my mindset adjusted, I grew from being a 'small leek' to a 'little leek'. The road ahead is still long, but I do not regret entering the crypto world. I sincerely advise those soon to enter the crypto world: it is not as simple as you think, so make sure to study blockchain and other knowledge before diving in. Only after having a certain level of knowledge can you battle effectively. 'Not delighted by external gains, nor saddened by personal losses' is the key to navigating the crypto world skillfully. Finally, I wish all crypto friends a Happy New Year, may you earn big money and enjoy good health!
5. Be an old leek who never sells, no matter what.
It was around 2014, just before the New Year, when a maintenance technician was hired on the construction site for urgent repairs, and Litecoin entered my world. As a newbie, I rushed into the crypto market, eager for quick profits, and learned to trade on leverage. On July 9, 2015, I perfectly liquidated my position in a currency (the graveyard of currencies), and then I experienced despair. Holding onto a meager amount of funds, I entered the stock market, and after a year of ups and downs, I managed to maintain my account without any losses or gains, perhaps feeling it was boring. In the summer of 2016, I gathered my courage to enter again, but with shortsightedness, a poor mindset, limited funds, and inadequate planning, I missed Litecoin at 11 yuan, ETH at 70 yuan, and sold 23 million SC at 0.00175 (the highest price on a certain website was 2.8 HKD), and sold 50,000 VEN at 0.3 (the highest price in January 2018 was 51 yuan). Due to bad luck and shortsightedness, I became an old leek who wouldn’t sell even if it meant losing everything. The bear market is here; I await your arrival without being late!! If heaven gives me another chance, I would hold on and not sell my tokens.
6. Uh... don't come to be a leek
As the saying goes, 'A day in the crypto world is like a year in the human world'. Trading cryptocurrencies is akin to experiencing a financial crisis every ten years in three cycles. Personally, I feel that trading coins is not much different from trading stocks, but trading coins does not have the frequent surges and crashes like Bitcoin. I came into contact with the crypto world in 2015, bought 20 ETH and didn’t hold, cut losses at 16, and bought Litecoin at 50 without keeping it… every coin is like this, and I lost a lot of money, probably around a million. The most frustrating experience in trading coins has left me deeply troubled; I was originally in a moderately wealthy position, but now I am heavily in debt, with one time losing 180,000 in one go, going from 210,000 to just 7,000 upon waking up! So I advise everyone to avoid trading coins as much as possible, and not to try and take shortcuts. Hold on to one or two stable coins, like AE or EOS. Now, I am slowly on the path to recovery, planning to hold EOS until the end of the year for financial freedom.
7. Avoid the detours we have taken over the years
It has been over three months since I entered the crypto world, and looking back, it feels like a lifetime ago—'a day in the crypto world is like a year in the stock market'—is not an exaggeration. In this brand new financial world, the only limits are imagination. The market operates 24/7 without rest, and one’s heart must be strong; nerves must be kept on high alert, for even the slightest movement can make everyone in the crypto world experience what it feels like to ride a roller coaster, whether it’s the bloodshed brought by the joint crackdown from seven ministries on September 4, or the unstoppable rise after the 11th major conference, propelling the crypto world to soar. Now, due to various global rumors, Bitcoin has dropped to 45,000 yuan, making me feel like an experienced trader; my mindset and resilience are no longer what they used to be.
The process of trading coins is a process of collecting various information, and if you do not understand the coins you need to buy, acting rashly can lead to total loss. Just like when I recently bought a Bitcoin fork coin, BCX. At the time of purchase, I didn’t understand, thinking buying coins was like doing business where you buy low and sell high, believing there would always be a time when prices rise. As a result, I am still at a loss now, because I didn’t understand factors like issuance volume, price ratios, and had severe information deficiencies.
Not to mention what crypto news to follow. Recently, many old friends who are still clueless about the market and information have panicked again. If everyone had read the news earlier, they would not have been surprised by this drop. If you didn’t know: you can follow Mars Finance's news from February 6th to get informed. Trading coins is fundamentally about mindset and information; the better your mindset and the more information you have, the more money you can make. So for all the old friends trading coins, whatever you buy will rise.
8. Observe carefully, operate meticulously, chase highs and sell lows; guard yourself.
My entry into the crypto world was accidental. Long ago, I had heard of Bitcoin, and watching Bitcoin's crazy rise in 2017 made me envious, but I had no intention of entering the crypto world. Until a nearly collapsing fund manager appeared, boasting that if we investors followed him to buy UBTC on the ZB platform, we could achieve 30 times our investment return before the New Year. Looking back, I realize how naive I was; perhaps driven by the psychological pressure to recover my losses, I invested 20,000 yuan... Thus, I entered the crypto world. In the more than a month since entering, I learned what scam coins and ICOs were, and through communication platforms, I gained a lot of knowledge about virtual currencies, but this did not change the essence of my fresh leek status. During this time, I observed carefully, operated meticulously, chased highs and sold lows… coupled with several recent major downturns, I successfully reduced my 20,000 yuan account to 15,000. Thinking about it now, I can’t help but shed tears… I think I should seriously understand the meaning of 'holding coins is like guarding a widow'. However, even so, I did not lose heart; the crypto world opened a new door for me… allowing me to see a different world, and I will persist! I believe as long as I work hard, there will be a day of harvest!
9. Firm will
In today's world, many people have made a fortune through the early chaotic growth of the crypto world. I entered the crypto world in such an environment; one day in August 2017, I couldn’t resist and jumped into the crypto world as a new leek. At first, it was fine; after buying in, I did make money, and the increase was not small, so I gradually increased my investment. I dreamed every day that the day of achieving personal financial freedom was not far away. But reality gave me a hard slap in the face. One day in September 2017, everyone was madly selling coins, and watching my money dwindle made me sell all my coins. Thus, I became a victim of the market. What I regretted the most was that just a little over a month later, spring returned to the crypto world. I can only sigh, once you enter the crypto world, it's deep as the ocean; I can only blame my wavering will.
10. Digital currency is an economic bubble
The first time I heard about digital currency was in February 2017. At that time, I was just a newbie to the game, and I came across my first digital currency, GEC. Back then, I didn’t understand anything about digital currency, let alone blockchain, so I quickly sold all of my GEC coins. In November 2017, I came across many digital coins, but none had significant value. However, it sparked my desire to understand what digital currency and blockchain truly meant. In December 2017, I genuinely took action to understand blockchain and digital currencies. Previously, I equated digital coins with blockchain, but after learning, I realized that digital currencies are merely a product of blockchain, while blockchain encompasses much broader concepts. As a novice in the crypto world, I also initially held hopes of getting rich overnight. However, after entering the crypto world, that notion faded because I believe digital currency inherently lacks value; it is merely inflated by speculation. Moreover, too many people equate blockchain with digital currency, which leads to the hype surrounding digital currencies and gives them extremely high perceived value. Personally, I believe that digital currencies are an economic bubble.
I am Misha, keeping you posted, taking you to feast.
