At 18, just starting college, you heard that trading cryptocurrencies could make money, so you used your living expenses to buy a meme coin, and doubled your investment in three days. You thought you were a genius.
At 20, in your sophomore year, your account doubled again; you started skipping classes to focus on candlestick charts, fantasizing about becoming Buffett. Until one day, the market crashed, wiping out your profits and even losing your principal. You cursed "scam traders" and uninstalled the software.
At 22, you graduated and got a regular job. During a chat with colleagues about investing, you returned to the market and bought Bitcoin. But it consolidated for a year, and you couldn’t hold on and sold. The next day, it skyrocketed.
At 25, you switched jobs and entered the finance sector, confident and eager to study technical analysis. But the market entered a deep bear phase, and your account was halved again, and you could only comfort yourself with "bad luck."
At 28, during a blind date, the other person asked about your hobbies, and you said, "studying investments," to which she replied she would leave her finances to you. You felt a pang of anxiety because your account was still losing money.
At 30, married, a friend asked you about the market, and you laughed bitterly, saying "long-term investment," when in reality, you had already lost 40%.
At 32, with the birth of your child, your pressure increased sharply. To make money, you leveraged your investments chasing "insider information," only to have your coins delisted, plummeting 30% daily. Smoking a cigarette and staring at the numbers in your account, you felt despair for the first time.
At 35, you finally understood reality and started dollar-cost averaging in Bitcoin. The market slowly warmed up, and your account returned to break-even, but you had lost the excitement of the past surges, merely watching the candlestick patterns calmly.
At 40, your child started school. You occasionally bought meme coins but no longer fantasized about getting rich. One day your child asked, "What is the crypto world?" You replied, "It’s a group of people who use money to buy hope, but most end up with lessons learned."
At 50, with your child in college, you checked your account. The investments over the years just covered the tuition. You finally understood – freedom isn’t about the numbers in your account, but not being controlled by desires.
That meme coin you bought when you were young is still being traded. Your account has long been cleared. The real beginning was the moment you reduced your stakes.
