Lots of Bitcoin-related posts on social media
Some of the people who started posting about crypto, saying they bought their first little bit of Bitcoin (and we're talking really little right now), who then sold it a day later for a 10% flip are now acting like they're professional traders and that they're going to make millions. It's annoying because these people are really just speculating in a market that is *highly* favorable to longers right now.
Try doing that in a bear market!
News outlets never wrote about Bitcoin when it was coming down from 1100 to 200 in 2014. It wasn't in the mainstream when it was coming down, and what's particularly grating is that as soon as these people who are buying now start to see the price fall, they'll cry "Scam! Scam!" at the first opportunity and then get depressed over their 10% loss that they had to sell back at. Weak hands goes both ways, you know.
I wanted to learn trading properly, so I took the time to sit down and really research and observe the market. I learned more about how investing works, how supply and demand affects price, and the collective psychology of traders who are all working towards the common goal of making money, and how this can be used to stay at least a little bit ahead of the game (It's impossible to fully be one step ahead of everyone else, and if you feel like you are, your success rate comes down to probability).
It's not easy watching your trade lose. You had money an hour ago, and now you have less of it. And you didn't even do anything. Of course, the same works the other way too, but both come with intense feelings of either euphoria or regret. I think I've wished for a time machine more in the past 4 weeks than I have during the rest of my life.
I know that if I keep at it, I'll get there. The wins make me happy, and the losses make me smarter. Having your skin in the game really changes how you see money and makes you so much more cautious about how you use it, especially since I went to work to earn that money to spend on crypto.