My 5% to 25% Rule For Crypto Trading.

in #bitcoin7 years ago

Over the last few months I've been working on a 5% to 25% plan for trading cryptocurrency. This is a plan to always hold at least 5% to 25% of any long term cryptocurrency position. There are several reasons for doing this.

  1. Accumulate some nice trading positions
  2. Have coin to sell for unpredicted price increases
  3. Build a really strong portfolio

My original plan was a strict 25% rule, but as I started to incorporate it, I realized that wasn't always plausible. One reason was, depending on what you purchased the coins for, 25% is a large portion to hold. Especially if you're selling on a 10% to 25% gain. Technically you end up holding your profits. This may not be a bad idea with some really strong coins, but for other weaker coins this may not be such a good idea.

For this reason I decided to make a judgment call based on individual coin performance. For the most part though, I now keep a small portion of almost every coin I trade. Roughly I keep 5% to 25% of every long term coin I hold.

A few exceptions to the rule. Pump and dump shitcoins. Although I rarely buy into these, occasionally I speculate on complete shitcoins. These are abandoned coins with no dev or scammy devs, or no real use case. Many exchanges are full of these coins and although The Dood tries to stay away from shitcoin projects, sometimes you can just tell which way the chart is going to head and you just can't resist. Remember though, if you get burned on a shitcoin, you have nobody to blame but yourself! I try to cash out as fast as I buy into these projects. Remember, the best way to not get burned is to simple stay away from projects like this in the first place.

Another exception to this rule might be catching a flash crash. You buy the bottom and sell the top for a quick profit. Profits are usually taken within a couple hours. I've been lucky enough to catch a few flash crashes, but if I don't completely believe in the project, why bother hodling any significant position?

Another exception is occasionally I'll take on a project and get paid in cryptocurrency. If I don't like the coin, I just cash out to BTC. No sense in holding a coin you don't like.

These are just a few exceptions. The bottom line is I always go with my gut. My main motivation for this rule is so something like my experience with DASH never happens again. Basically I sold a lot of DASH early and lost a lot of money... You can read about it here. https://bitcoindood.com/bitcoin-blog/2017/03/05/the-most-expensive-cryptocurrency-trading-lesson-i-ever-learned/

Now I started incorporating this rule before this last bull run and I have to say it has improved my trading considerably. For one thing, I've accumulated some nice bags of coins. I currently keep a journal of my base bag, or coins that I won't sell unless an emergency arises and I need money. The really good news is, using this system, emergency cash or crypto is always on hand.

Another benefit from this is I no longer fear the early sell. A great example of this was BitShares. I bought a ton in May around 300 satoshi, sold a bunch in June at around 3000 satoshi and then watched the price continue to climb to 16,000 satoshi. The old me would of shot my load early. We all hate to admit it but hey it happens from time to time. Using the 25% rule I was able to sell a nice chunk of coins that I purchased around 300 satoshi for around 16,000 satoshi a couple months later. I still kept a small amount just in case, but had no issues watching the price drop as I began to buy back my position at around 5000 - 6000 satoshi. I'm really happy with this short sell.

That's just one example, of the benefits I've recieved since starting to do this. I've also watched my portfolio size grow in both coins accumulated and value of BTC. The downside to this is the portfolio value will swing considerably. At one point I was down a considerable amount in BTC value, however, all the coins are paid for at this point so you're literally playing with "the houses money" as they say.

Another benefit is, when your coins are paid for, losing your position in an attempted short doesn't hurt as bad as losing twice on coins you were already losing on. Sell short at the top, and buy back cheap for maximum gains on paid coins. It's a win win!

My overall goal with this however is to create some nice postions of various coins that I feel are strong and have a bright future. Imagine buying Ethereum back in 2015 at 50 cents each and still having a bunch to sell today at around $200 to $400 dollars. Nobody really knows which of these coins will be winners or losers, but chances are that there are still plenty of Dash's and Ethereum's out there. Keeping a small nest egg of these coins around for future speculation certainly can't be a bad idea. Who knows maybe those 1000 coins you put aside today, will go up to $100 USD 5 years from now and will be worth around $100,000... These things happen all the time in this game, and if we don't at least attempt a long term strategy these types of gains will never come to us.

To summarize, my long-long term strategy is to build and hold as many coins as I can. I have to follow each project closely and watch for any signs of trouble so I can plan an emergency exit if needed. Holding anywhere from 5% to 25% of my coins, in the end, if just a couple of these bigger projects really take off and become the next Ethereum, Monero or DASH, I plan on reaping the benefits of being an early adopter and long term hodler.

As usual nothing here is meant as financial advice. This is just a strategy that I'm working on for me. Please seek a duly licensed professional for finanacial advice, not some guy on the internet who refers to himself as The Dood. Never forget, cryptocurrency trading is extremely risky and never invest more than you can afford to lose! Thanks for reading and happy trading everyone.

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To summarize, my long-long term strategy is to build and hold as many coins as I can.

Same. In a year, the earnings from just holding will most likely be higher than any earnings from trading. Plus now I'm investing in projects whose products I actually use rather than speculating based on charts. charts.

No doubt. I'm all about the "use case" now. Does it have a purpose other than speculation? Investing in good projects, with strong community, with a good "use case" is the way to go for long term holds.

Great article. And you're not wrong. If crypto keeps expanding at its current rate, any of the coins could be worth huge money in 5 years. The more mainstream it goes the more money that will be invested and speculated so if you have been holding since the start ....

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it. I've said for awhile now, "With altcoins we're all early adopters" and we're seeing the birth of a lot of interesting altcoins and blockchain based platforms now. Although many will fail, I'm sure more than a few of these will blossom and grow over the years.

Yes and it looks as if a lot of the coming technology will be ran off the blockchain so if you can be in the right place as well as having the right time then you never know where you might end up.

Absolutely... Couldn't agree more :)

We think alike! Upvoted!
My analysis recently nailed the Bitcoin Cash surge and have made some very profitable calls! Check it out: https://steemit.com/@haejin

Thanks for the upvote. Just gave you a follow. Looking forward to reading you analysis :)

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