Posted on by Nick Pan

Learnings from 2 Months of Cryptocurrency Trading

For the past two months I’ve been less active on social media. My updates have reduced tremendously, less Instagram posts and I actually missed 2 weeks of #WallpaperWednesday. It is not to say I’ve gone off the grid, but I’ve been preoccupied with something else.

I’ve gone into cryptocurrency trading, basically Ethereum, Bitcoin, OmiseGO and others.

ETHUSD Bitfinex on Tradingview 18 Aug 2017 5pm UTC +8
ETHUSD Bitfinex on Tradingview 18 Aug 2017 5pm UTC +8

Trading have always been something I wanted to learn because it seems like everyone is doing it, letting the money grow by itself and there are stock tickers everywhere, but I know nothing about it. I’ve kept my distance with it growing up. My dad told me once that these people who spend all their time making money from stocks and shares are not really contributing anything to society and I see his perspective, hence never touched it.

May 2017 I learnt about Etheruem and read up more about Blockchain technology, how did it come about, the origins of Bitcoin, the losing faith in banks, the demand for decentralisation, the future of money, the organisations getting into it and how this will change the internet as we know it. It is fascinating and the applications and implications are mind boggling. I shall write more of the philosophical implications in another posts, but what I really want to share now is my journey so far trading cryptocurrencies and all my ups and downs.

Mistakes & Emotions

  • Noob Mistakes – I put money in and I just start. There is no training, briefing or instructor. Somewhat like learning Photoshop, HTML, CSS and the likes. So you can imagine the amount of mistakes i’ve done. But good thing is I’ve started small.
  • Emotional Seeing Red Red Red – The colour red is such an aggressive colour and seeing it with a negative amount as your loss is emotionally draining. -10, -100, -1000. It is painful to watch. My heart pumps and I break into cold sweat sometimes. I always feel the red loss numbers grow faster then the green positive gain numbers.
  • Pressing the wrong button – I’ve clicked buy when I meant to sell. I’ve clicked exchange buy when I’ve meant margin buy. I’ve clicked close position when I’ve meant to claim position. Basically, don’t press the wrong button.
  • Not sure what to do – The chart shows a certain trend and it can either go up or go down. Even with the background research and reading, at times you still don’t know which way it will go and you feel stupid.
  • Switching from a long to a short on margin – There are times when there is a sudden downward trend and I’ve from a long position immediately switched to a short position by selling more than I have only to see the downward trend reverse quite quickly forcing me to sell more again to get back into the long position. Transaction fee losses alone hurts.
  • Questioning your self worth – with the amount of mistakes I’ve made, the immediate feeling of stupidity and questioning of self-worth hits like a brick.

Addiction & Anxiety

  • Checking checking everywhere all the time – In the lift, in the mall, in the car, on the bed, after you go to the loo in the middle of the night, i’m checking the prices everywhere at all times. It’s horrible. Its a real addiction. My daughter say its like the adult version of Pokemon hunting. The problem is when you are not checking, you know something is happening but you don’t know what is happening, so you gotta check.
  • The need to know – Its like smoking. Once you get into a habit of dabbling with your trades, you feel you need to keep doing it. When you are not trading you think to yourself you can be making a profit right now but you are not. It starts to take you over. I know I need an intervention at times.
  • Risky trades before sleeping – After filing a few risky orders before bed, you lie down on bed thinking what will happen. Then you keep thinking and can’t get to sleep. Bad idea.

Learnings & Growth

  • Human behaviour can also follow the Fibonacci Sequence – Mind blowing. I thought the Fibonacci sequence only appeared in nature, did not know it can also be seen in human behaviour.
  • Micro trades are time-consuming – Cryptocurrencies are quite volatile and I know we all want to catch all the highs and lows. Sometimes I even go down to the 1 minute charts. It can be really time consuming. So, try to go for the macro trends, set your trades and leave them be.
  • Patience and Start Well – You want to start low. Don’t just jump into situations which you might regret and spend days trying to fix. So wait. Wait for the right time to do your trades. Study the situation and start from a good position.
  • Don’t panic and make rash decisions – Sometimes situations turn bad suddenly but don’t make rash decisions. Do have a strategy in mind before hand and keep to it. Make sure you know what you will do at different scenarios, so that you will not be making rash decisions but instead well thought thru ones which you won’t regret.
  • Have a life – Many of us trade in our free time, but don’t let it consume you. Make sure you have a life. Set your trades and go do other stuff. Spend time with your family, do other stuff. The market never closes so you can’t trade forever. Go do other things and remember you have loved ones that might not like you spending so much time on trading.
  • If you make, withdraw regularly – If you make a profit, remember to withdraw regularly. Set your own rules and keep to it.
  • If you lose, It’s just money – If you make bad decisions, lose lots of money. Keep in mind, its just money. Don’t put in what you are not ready to lose. and don’t take risks that you are not ready for. Keep in mind, it is just money.

This is just my experience and in no way am I an expert in this. If you want to ask me to teach you, I’m sorry I won’t. If you want to start by yourself and you want to start from Singapore with Singapore Dollars, I can give you $5 additional to start, just use my Coinhako referral link and you and me both get $5 SGD.

Here are a few sites that I find helpful which I hope helps you too:

If you have any other ideas or tips or links, do share with me in the comments below and I’m sure others will benefit from it. Thanks in advance.

Disclaimer
This post in no way is providing any advise on cryptocurrencies and is in no way responsible for anyone’s actions. Please trade safely and don’t go crazy or addicted.

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