This has easily been one of the worst years of my crypto journey. After the bright and optimistic start of the year, the market dissipated into an abysmal state catalysed by massive FUD events.
All the excitement from institutional investors, crypto adoption and whatnot have morphed into this sad state we fund ourselves in. Pretty much everything has been trading in the red zone since the start of the year and there are no signs of relief.
The crypto market is a constant lesson in patience and perseverance that is emphasized during a bear market. Personal finance is directly connected to your health and watching your portfolio slip down the toilet is definitely not something to scoff at.
Everyone that started the year with us is definitely at a loss but some have been hurt more than most. Luna and FTX were the worse of the lot, catalysing this bear market and the customers of both projects were the most affected.
Obviously, there's more to the FTX and LUNA crashes but in some way, both projects failed as a result of hubris and a false feeling of self-importance by their CEOs. The crypto market, in conjunction with Bears and agents of FUD weeded out these disturbances, thus, bringing us to where we are today.
What would you change?
Underneath the calm tone of my publication is a scared child, shitting himself and petrified of how much damage the crypto market can do. As one that lives off crypto, I'm among the most affected by this bearish situation and this makes me wonder what I could have done differently.
Top of the list is that I'm sad our relocation plans didn't work out because we'd have moved to a place where I could get an actually financially fulfilling job that'll reduce my reliance on crypto earnings. However, that wasn't in my power and we're still trying, so there's more to come on that front.
In terms of crypto activities, one decision I wish I made earlier would be to sell my SPS when it was at its peak this year. Seeing SPS at 2 cents now really hurts the eye but to think I could have pulled out when it was 10X more expensive and then re-entered the market today hurts.
Assuming I sold all my SPS back in January when it was 20 cents and I had 20K SPS, held the funds and then bought back today, I'd have around 200K SPS staked. Alas, no one expected things to be the way they are today and when it was 20 cents, I was holding out for more.
Another regret I have is not keeping enough Hive or HBD liquid during those lovely Korean Upbit pumps. Those random pumps haven't come around in recent times but one of my favourites was the shortlived HBD pumps that I painfully missed out on because my HBD was in savings.
You'd think I've learnt from those events but nope, my HBD still stays in savings because I'm chasing a certain 20% instead of what is a random 500%. Still, I regret not having enough HBD liquid at the time and henceforth, I'll be keeping some liquid assets on Hive to ensure I capitalise on any random pumps that may come.
Finally, one thing I'd do differently is not to buy so many Chaos Legion packs. I'm still reeling from the loss I've incurred from spending over $4000 on those packs. Yes, I have a formidable deck now but imagine how much I could have done with $4000 today if I just controlled my trigger finger.
In summary
There's no shame in regrets, it's all part of the learning process. The most important thing is learning from your experiences and ensuring you do better in the future.
For me, it is about controlling my trigger finger and practising the art of just holding. It is a strategy that, while being so simple, I just don't know how to implement.
How was your year and what did you learn? What would you have done differently?
