Headfirst into Crypto: the story of a Digibyte Bagholder

Hi all,

I recently discovered the Steemit platform, and figured I could share my experience getting into the cryptocurrency world to help people in similar situations, and to shed some light for those just entering. I hope to contribute to the Steemit community regularly.

A little background on myself:

I'm an engineer by trade, happily married and in my mid twenties. We've got two awesome dogs that our life revolves around! (feel free to say aww). We love them, but they are a pain most of the time... look at that smug face.

I discovered cryptocurrency probably the same way as many people out there. A mainstream news outlet ran a story about Bitcoin and it's insane price increase. Specifically, I saw a story that the Chicago Tribune ran:

I'm immediately engrossed. I hop on twitter for the first time in 5 years and start following all the "OG" crypto traders. They have been essential in learning the ropes. I made a coinbase account and started buying my first digital currencies! This all happened within the last week of May and into early June, a time where many coins had just gotten some momentum and were getting pumped like mad.

Like many other newbies to the space, I came across Digibyte. I looked at the chart with no prior knowledge of trading securities or cryptocurrencies and said to myself, "Wow, that looks like very easy money to be made!". I bought a bunch of Digibyte for 1208 satoshi's on June 1 2017, with the thought that I would easily double or triple my money in short order.

I looked a couple days later, and the price was above 2000 satoshis. "That was easy" I thought to myself. So i buy even more thinking i'll continue to ride an amazing wave of easy money.

Fast forward to June 9, the day the Citibank event happens and Digibyte "loses", and the coin is dumped. It recovered some in the next days , but has been on a downtrend since then. Fast forward to today; at this time, Digibyte is trading for around 600 Satoshis. I've lost about half the value of what i originally invested on paper. A timeline of events:

I do think Digibyte still has a future, and has a solid platform. I hope that anyone in a similar situation can look past their own bad trade and not blame the coin or it's developers. A few lessons i learned from this experience:

1. Don't be greedy
The main issue I had was the premise of instant gratification and obscene gains. I should have taken my profits when i had the chance.

2. Don't sit on failing trades
Realistically, I should have exited long ago, after the first cliffdive. I would have had some losses, but none compared the the time and capital i have let sit idle. I think Digibyte will recover, but the cost of the money i could have invested in something else is immeasurable.

3. Don't listen to Twitter shillers
There are a handful of personalities on Twitter that are invaluable, but the majority of people tweeting about coins and prices are in it only for themselves, and have as much experience as I do in the space: near 0. Trust your own research and analysis, and if you can't do that, I suggest educating yourself before entering positions.

4. Do ACTUAL research and look at the chart before you buy
I literally did not even look at the price history to realize that Digibyte had basically exploded from nothing in the course of a week or two. That is probably a good indicator that something is abnormal.

Since my first days, I feel like I've learned a lot and have the tools to become a successful trader. I'm still recovering from those early mistakes, and may be for some time.

So for all you bagholders that bought at or near the top of the Digibyte hype... I feel your pain and share your suffering. Don't made the same mistake twice, and learn from your failed trades for future you. But please don't misconstrue this post as FUD'ing Digibyte or the project: I'm just sharing a bad trading experience of my own. DYOR and good luck investing.

Thanks for reading, and feel free to check out my Twitter page for more on cryptocurrencies from a relatively new player in the space!

https://twitter.com/the_Nike17