I first got into Bitcoin back in the fall of 2013 thanks to Max Kaiser. Those of you in the crypto world probably know those times, so I will save you the background. Back then I invested a few hundred dollars, made some investments on MtGox and flipped my coin enough to cash out and buy a jeep. I sold most all of my coin at $1000 per and felt like I had made the best decision of my life. I shortly fell out of the crypto world, really turned a blind eye to it, and when I say I turned a blind eye to it, I really shut it out because I didn't feel like I had the extra income to play with due to a career change and added household members.
Fast forward to 11/2017 and I check in on BTC because a co-worker mentioned the current price. I was floored. It made me scramble around for all my old private keys to the wallets I had and begin to gather what little BTC I thought I might have left over. Blockchain, Coinbase, cold storage wallets on old laptops, anything. By the time I was done, I managed to scrape up 0.04XXX around $600 in BTC.
When I found this out, it re-lit the fire that had burned so bright those years ago. I immediately sent my coin to an exchange, and being that I was again a noob in the crypto world, I ended up at yobit. I thought I could do early flips on low cap gems and bank some cash pretty quick. What I didn't realize was that the world of shite coins had grown to enormous levels. Because I was once again wet behind the ears and eager to play with my new toy, I would see a 50% gain and jump on the pump, only to be left trying to sell my shares as soon as I bought because the pump was over. Ahh, but it was money I just found so I didn't feel to bad about it. But everyone knows the taste they get when a trade goes bad, and even if it was play money, it tasted bad. I won some, lost some, but stayed on yobit, because it was what I knew, and had the allure of quick cash.
Fast forward a week or so, and the allure of a shiny new toy had worn off. I was back to doing my due diligence, not jumping in on coins that were already peaking, and looking for new places to make my money. I guess you could say I outgrew yobit, but I only grew so far as to move my coins to Cryptopia. As I was still fairly new back to the crypto world, this move was a step in the right direction. It was still loaded with shite coins, but seemed to have a better variety of staple coins to trade on. Unfortunately, I was still caught up on the lure of fast cash and trading with my feelings. If a coin I bought lost 5% in a short amount of time, I sold for a loss. I was scared that the coin would tank all the way, as it had happened before on yobit; where once it ate up 40% of my investment while I was in the bathroom and never recovered. But the exchange still didn't fit my fancy. I am a data nerd, so I needed a way to troll over data and make my investments that way. And Cryptopia just didn't have the tools I needed to scratch that itch.
Another few weeks or so pass, and I started watching videos on youtube about market indicators and triggers. I need that in my life, so I pack up my coins and move to Binance and Kucoin. Both sites offer the addition of indicators to their charts, almost no shite coins, and apps for my phone. Now I had a strategy, instead of just picking the coins on the move, I felt much more confident in my trading abilities. I learned about MACD and the Relative Vigor Index, how they indicate entry and exit points on price. I learned about the Fibonacci Retracement and how I can use it to set stops on my price when I think that a coin will meet a resistance level. Things started coming together.
Fast forward to today. I am using the tools I have gained wisely. Doing my homework on coins; because solid technology, application, and market niche play a large factor in the long term value of a product. Oh, did I say long term, because I am now in HODL mode. I am no longer looking to double my money today, but instead trying to make plays that will give 10-15% gain on the short-med term. Though I do have a portion of my BTC that I use for more risky plays, the majority is locked into viable long term plays. Because I am more confident in my abilities to not lose my ass in the market, I have upped my bi-weekly investments to 15 percent. Along with this I am looking into ICOs to enter because of the opportunity it gives to help an emerging technology and make some money along the way.
I have grown a great deal in a short amount of time. It was a hard road to begin with, but thankfully I had a background to go off. I gain a great deal of excitement every I am engaged in this market. The possibilities are endless and the amount of opportunity available to the average joe is amazing. The lure of quick cash brought me back to the world of crypto, but the realization of the long term possibilities are going to keep me here. I'm really hoping that steemit will help me to continue to build.
