Dollar Cost Averaging could have saved my Litecoin fail

OK, I admit it.... I fell victim to FOMO. I'm not quite a newbie with cryptocurrency, but far from a veteran and I made a rookie mistake during the huge gains in December. I had been making small purchases since last August. Getting my feet wet, one might say. I had made some nice gains and was feeling pretty confident, then I watched the price of Litecoin (and of course all the rest) go crazy high. People were predicting all kinds of amazing things and we were all going to be rich!!. But I thought... no, wait, I didn't get all my money in yet, I have more to invest. I watched it climb higher and higher and I didnt want to miss the train and be left with my money just sitting in my bank account.

Then I did it.....

I bought $10,000 worth of litecoin at $392.96 :/

Almost immediately after I pulled that trigger the price dropped.. $360... $340... $320... You know the rest....

My heart sunk and I then knew the true meaning of FOMO.

Trying to keep my head on straight I started doing some real research and searched for some damage control. I read about dollar cost averaging. After hearing about this technique I realized I could reduce the damage and try to "fix" my mistake.... only I didn't do the math first. I'll explain later.

Here's a look at the big picture. First, my purchase history prior to my blunder:

2.01 LTC at $48.26 per LTC ($100 ) (oh, how I wish I put the $10K in at this time!!)

1.17 LTC at $42.66 per LTC ($52)

0.98 LTC at $50.80 per LTC ($52)

6.30 LTC at $47.62 per LTC ($311.97)

2.07 LTC at $48.15 per LTC ($103.99)

1.47 LTC at $47.40 per LTC ($72.99)

1.08 LTC at $46.02 per LTC ($51.99)

8.88 LTC at $55.46 per LTC ($500)

12.08 LTC at $81.56 per LTC ($1000)

5.01 LTC at $98.29 per LTC ($500)

So, at this point, my average cost per coin is $66.87 with a total out of pocket cost of $2,744.94

5 days after this last purchase the price of LTC shot up to over $390. making the value of my coins equal to $16,009.50

Exciting isn't it???? I thought so; so much so, that I was nearly jumping out of my skin wanting to buy more more more.

Next comes the mini disaster...

25.07 LTC at $392.96 per LTC ($10,000)

ugh right? this brought my average cost per coin to $192.73 WOW holy crap? where did that huge profit go ??? so then I freaked out a bit and figured I'd have to buy more at a lower price to make up for it. but I didn't know just how low it would go. So I did as follows:

3.17 LTC at $311.25 per LTC ($1,000)

6.00 LTC at $301.51 per LTC ($1,837)

6.79 LTC at $290.39 per LTC ($2000)

1.90 LTC at $273.34 per LTC ($500)

2.03 LTC at $242.23 per LTC ($500)

2.18 LTC at $226.14 per LTC ($500)

2.27 LTC at $216.25 per LTC ($500)

1.00 LTC at $176.42 per LTC ($176.42)

3.00 LTC at $176.42 per LTC ($537.14)

3.38 LTC at $145.62 per LTC ($500)

3.34 LTC at $176.64 per LTC ($600)

3.49 LTC at $141.16 per LTC ($500)

3.95 LTC at $124.61 per LTC ($500)

3.56 LTC at $138.35 per LTC ($500)

16.56 LTC at $118.93 per LTC ($2000)

8.27 LTC at $119.07 per LTC ($1000)

At this point my average cost per coin was $189.00 Not much of an improvement. here's where hindsight comes into play. Had I done the math and calculated my dollar cost average after my FOMO mistake I would have known that to reduce my average I'd have had to wait to make more purchases until the price was below the $192.73 price, Not just "buy more as it drops."

Had I waited and put that "after FOMO" money in all at once at the low of $118.93, I'd have lowered my average to $146.56 per LTC and I'd have an extra 39.7 LTC in my wallet.

The moral of the story here is... Do the Math. Know your costs. Calculate your averages. Stay calm. Don't fall for the FOMO and don't listen to the FUD.

My roller coaster ride taught a great lesson and I believe the ride is nowhere near over. I'm now properly buckled in and have my calculator and spreadsheets handy at all times.

Good luck my Crypto friends !!