So first and foremost, I am by no means a 'veteran' or 'OG' in crypto.
Whether you discovered crypto for yourself or had someone introduce you, it's very overwhelming. With over 1500 different coins/tokens and 30+ exchanges (and counting), overwhelming is actually an understatement. You'll have Coinbase, Binance, Bittrex, GDAX, BTC, ETH, all these hashtags, addresses for deposits, privacy coins, "you need to buy this coin", "hurry jump on this bull-run!", wait, what's a bull-run; thrown at you and so much more. I'm not going to bore you with every details about what you'll run into, but I will share some of the things I've learned so far.
You don't have to be a day trader to make money.
I suck at day trading and I'm not afraid to admit it. So many people think that they need to day trade to make a killing. While some people CAN do that, not everyone has those abilities. You need to get a very good understanding of TA (technical analysis) before attempting to day trade. If trading isn't your strong point, that's totally fine, there are so many ways to make money in crypto.
Don't follow the hype of a bull/sell.
Whether you see it on Twitter, Telegram, or a WhatsApp group you're in, someone/or group, will hype the hell out of a coin. If you haven't looked into it yourself, don't blindly leap in that hype and follow suit. I can't tell you how many times I've done that, and then 2 minutes after I buy it dumps so hard and fast. Then I'm stuck there hoping it will make it back to my buy in point just to break even. I can also tell you that I've sold for loses more times than I'm proud to admit. Learn from my mistakes.
If someone tells you to buy a coin/token, make sure you #DYOR before you jump in.
This is a basic one. Everyone in the crypto world will shill coins to you that they say are amazing. Some actually are, but more often they aren't. Go to coinmarketcap.com and look it up. Look at it's total supply, circulating supply, market cap, volume, exchanges it's on, go to it's website and read everything there. Hell, even go to reddit or bitcointalk and search it. Just make sure you take the time to look into a coin for yourself before making a decision.
When you think you know enough, you probably don't know 1%.
Crypto is so big and there's so much that you aren't aware of. Make a list of things you read or hear that you aren't sure about and research the hell out of it. I promise one thing, that list will continue to grow as you research, and if it stops growing, you aren't digging deep enough or listening/reading to the right things. Get a firm grasp on the basics of each topic to begin with and you'll be amazed at how much things make sense now.
Find what interests you and master it.
Like I said above, I suck at day trading and TA (technical analysis). After being into crypto I discovered staking and masternodes. I have spent so much time researching everything I can find on it, and I still haven't found all the answers I have. But I love researching those things because it interests me. You don't have to be good at everything in crypto, you can pick 1 or 2 things, master them, and make a killing.
Crypto is bigger than you think.
I thought Bitcoin was just internet money and had no real purpose. I had no idea about blockchain technology and smart contracts, or where this is even going. Yes, you can make damn good money fast in crypto, but you really need to be looking 5-10 years in the future. Imagine the internet back in 1995 compared to what it is now. We're in the 1995 internet era of crypto right now. Blockchain can do so much for us in the future. It only makes sense that cryptocurrencies is where we're headed. Research it and you'll see.
Crypto will humble you.
I started out with $800. 2-3 weeks after I got in that $800 had turned into $4500 without me doing anything. I thought I was the Wolf of Wall street walking around beating my chest. Another week goes by and it's worth $1100. I know this is small money to some people, but to me it was a lot. But I missed out on some huge gains because I got cocky. I didn't pay attention to the market and everyone talking. I didn't look into things myself and notice that 'what goes up significantly fast, will also crash down significantly fast'. I thought I knew it all and how to trade and I was far from right. Even if you have made HUGE money, you aren't as big as you think you are.
READ THE DAMN WHITEPAPER!
This should be the first thing you with any coin. When you stumble upon something new or someone mentions a coin to you; stop right there, find it's whitepaper and read it. It will tell you everything about that coin, what it aims to accomplish, and how it will accomplish it. The more whitepapers you read, you'll start to see there a lot of coins aiming for the same thing, and some are slightly better than the others. You'll also see there are a lot of shitcoins you need to avoid like the plague.
TL;DR I know a lot of this is repetitive, but I just want to stress the point that while the crypto world moves at a fast pace, it's okay to slow down. You don't know everything, and the sooner you realize that, the better. Research the shit out of everything and all the coins you want to invest in. Find what you like and master it. READ THE DAMN WHITEPAPER. Go listen to The Cryptostreet Podcast and What Bitcoin Did podcasts.
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