10- You Think You Must Always Be Right
I hate to tell you this, but get over yourself. You’re not always right. And it’s okay.
Investing is a game of speculation which involves some amount of luck - even for professional investors. To be a winner in this space, you only need to be right a certain percent of the time.
For example, if you 2x your investment 55% of the time, then you can afford to lose 45% of the time as you will make money in the long run.
11- You Make Sloppy Mistakes
Hold your horses, buddy! Take your time when transferring your money.
Don’t rush, and make sure the sending and receiving addresses are correct. Never type an address. Just copy and paste them. This way you avoid any chance of typos. And hey, it’s faster!
After you copy and paste it, always verify the first two characters and the last three characters match your address.
12- You Don’t Diversify Your Portfolio
Your cryptocurrency investment strategy must involve diversification.
While it may be tempting, don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Every experienced investor hedges, or protects his/her risk by investing in multiple assets.
You might notice some coins correlate where when one goes up, the other goes down. If this is the case and you like both coins’ futures, then invest in both. Your investment will be much safer.
My recommendation: own a minimum of 5 cryptocurrencies.
13- You Over Diversify Your Portfolio
Be sure to pick a number of coins that you can keep track of. This means keeping up with news and price action.
My recommendation: invest in a maximum of 10 cryptocurrencies at a time.
Diversify responsibly!
14- You Don’t Do Your Own Research (DYOR)
Research a coin before you invest in it.
So many people invest based off of hype. They see other investors on Twitter or Facebook talking about a coin, see the coin’s price rising, and then buy off of impulse. This often ends badly.
Do your own research.
When researching a project, you should be able to answer the following:
• What is the mission of the project?
• Who are the core team members? Have they worked together before or have past success?
• When is the mainnet expected to launch?
If you can answer these, then it’s a good start.
Don’t be afraid to miss out on investment; there will always be more to come.
15- You Research Poorly
Once you understand WHAT you should research, then next is starting the research.
The process will be time-consuming if you’re just starting. But the more you research, the better you’ll become at it.
Here are a few basics to get started:
• Have a look at each coin’s BitcoinTalk.org announcements thread and website.
• Search on the internet to see if there are reviews on the coin or mentions of it being a scam. If you see lots of talk about it being a scam on Google or Reddit, then it’s worth digging deeper into that to understand the reasoning.
• Check on the economics of the coin such as its market cap, trading volume, price history, and total versus circulating supply.
• Cross-reference opinions from industry experts. Never trust one single opinion.
16- You Don’t Keep Up to Date with your Investments
As you come to own 5, 6, 7, or more coins, the amount of responsibility on your shoulders increases.
Be sure you keep up to date with all of their developments and price action.
To do this:
• Follow them on social and through their blog
• Join their communication channels (Telegram, Discord)
• Bookmark their websites and Bitcointalk threads
17- You Don’t Have a Plan that you Stick With
Lots of folks let the market highs get to their head. Once their portfolio hits an alltime high, they only want to go higher.
On the other hand, as a coin drops in price, they hold until 0 because they are stubborn about their investments.
The best way to avoid these situations is to set a target, stick with it, and don’t be greedy.
So, when you enter a position, be sure to write down your plan.
18- You Don’t Take Your Profits
If you want your cryptocurrency investment strategy to profit, you have to sell and accumulate profits eventually.
Learn from others mistakes. At the end of 2017, during the big boom of cryptocurrencies, lots of investors became rich IF they sold for profits. On the other hand, many had theoretical profits but overheld into this bear market.
Now, they are stuck holding at a loss, waiting for the next bull run.
Remember: you don’t profit until you sell back to realize your gains.
19- You Don’t Cut Your Losses
Being stubborn is easy. But at the end of the day, the market moves despite how you feel.
Don’t hold a coin you no longer believe in.
You should always ask yourself: “if I had not bought this coin, would I buy this coin right now?”
Be honest with yourself. It’s okay for things to change.
Additionally, if you planned to cut losses at 15%, then do it, no matter how you feel at the time. Don’t rationalize that it will rise - cut your losses and trust the plan.
20- You Buy High
I bet that when Bitcoin was at $15,000 or $20,000, your friends and family were asking you about cryptocurrencies.
That’s because there is a natural tendency for people to follow trends. But those who profit are those who entered the trend early.
DO NOT buy high, especially when a coin is close to its all-time high.
After all, why buy Bitcoin at $20,000 when you can buy it at $3,500? Buying high may be the right decision in some cases, but is a mistake more often than not.
