Let me save you time and energy with practical lessons I've learned after going from ground zero to a healthy crypto portfolio in the last 10 months. Please understand that this is my personal opinion, culminated from my own experience, industry studies, and from listening to lots of people. This is not financial advice, and I'm not claiming to be an expert, so all actions are at your own risk. This is strictly intended to help those looking for vetted advice from a practical and relatable perspective. I've only gotten a few friends and family members involved from scratch, but they're all profitable from my personalized advice and suggestions. One has even realized 6 figures of profit in just a few months, when they didn't have a clue about the space until I told them about it. Dream big!!

"Luck Is What Happens When Preparation Meets Opportunity" - Seneca (a wise Roman philosopher)

Please read on and contribute with any ideas of your own in the comments. Let's all help each other succeed.

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Don't be a scrooge. Share what we know and help each other out.

The Lessons I've Learned:

• The crypto space is an Emerging Market. Your money is always at high risk. Accept it and expect nothing better. If you don't like how this sounds, you're in the wrong market and need to exit.

• Don't invest more than you're willing to lose. I'll amend this cliche to "capable" of losing since some think that taking out loans is a good idea. Crypto is a long term game and you'll be able to catch up over time, so don't overextend yourself. Plan practically, responsibly, and rationally. You don't need to bet the farm or battle with your spouse. Be sensible given the risks involved and the opportunity cost of potentially losing your investment.

• Fiat savings is important to maintain because nothing is certain. Don't lose sight that all of your crypto could implode to $0 and stay there. Accepting this will help you manage your emotions and expectations during violent price swings, make you look badass, and let you sleep better as the markets churn 24/7/365. I view crypto as poker chip units until I cash out to USD. This mindset may also help you appreciate that your crypto as an early adopter is a gift, not a problem or curse to stress over. You knew what you were getting into, so stay level.

• Such a small percentage of the world owns crypto right now, so be thrilled you're involved now, even if you didn't buy Bitcoin at $10 or Eth at $1 when your now rich friend told you to. Let go of the ghosts of crypto past. Celebrate that you're still early in the grand scheme of society.

• Time in the market is better than timing the market.

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• Don't short a bull market.

• Many convince themselves that they're experts when they vibe with a vlogger or notice a candle pattern. No one is an expert in this evolving cryptosphere, but you can be an expert at managing your portfolio and risk exposure wisely. You can be an expert at uncovering new projects, managing your game plan, and recognizing new trends. Anyone pumping price predictions or sell now alerts, claiming to know what will happen in the future, is not someone I want to trust.

• "Join my team with my referral link below" means that they want your sign-up bonus. I've made some good money referring close friends to Genesis Mining (after explaining the risks and my results), because it's been great to me and I believe in it. That's the extent of it. See through many peoples' daily videos, which are marketing tools in disguise, a wolf in sheep's clothing.

• Highs and lows, RSI level reversals, and MACD flips are easy to look back on in hindsight and feel like you knew it'd happen. However, the reality is that at the time, you didn't. Past performance doesn't equal future results. Technical analysis and trendlines are helpful, but anything can happen at any moment. There's likely heavy manipulation and/or potential collusion at times, black swans can swoop in, random hacks, theft, coding bugs, press releases, and/or government regulation to shake everything up at any time. Expect the unexpected and you'll be best prepared.

Black Swan - "an unpredictable or unforeseen event, typically one with extreme consequences."

• Woulda-Coulda-Shoulda. We've all been there. FOMO. FUD. Reddit. YouTube. Memes. Steemit posts. It doesn't matter. Make smart decisions and stick to your instincts. You'll have much more satisfaction from being rewarded from your moves than following a wolf leading a herd.

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• Let go of past mistakes after learning from them. Teach others to help them avoid the same. Find peace in trusting yourself, not promoters or bashers with agendas they think you're too blind to not see. There are great content creators and vloggers, but allow them to be supportive to your goals, not define or dictate them. Stay up to date as well. Your opinions and goals should be revisited often to make sure they're in tune with the ever-changing ecosystem. For example, you don't want to hold something you had a goal of owning for 2 years when the project was just associated with a scam.

• Massive public shout out to @crypt0 (and his girlfriend @ellemarieisme) for being as outstanding and genuine with their approach and news as I've seen across the community. A lot of people get turned/corrupted by businesses trying to use their platform for cheap press, but there are people like this team who DON'T sell out or spark drama for attention. I've seen many vloggers change from humble/helpful to egomaniacs in love with their fame and biased opinions, which play to their schemes to herd people for personal gain. This team is simply the best, with humility, a sense of humor, and a reputation that speaks for itself. Thank you!!

• Diversify. Boring right? Wrong. It's necessary in this space. Don't put all of your eggs in one basket. Don't put all of your eggs in crypto either. I've personally bought a box full of silver coins and bars, but that's not for everyone. The crypto market can run up or down together in a sea of green or red, or behave randomly to leave you baffled. Parity claims are assumptions. I personally focus on accumulation because I got in early enough, am riding mostly profit, and don't want to fuck it up royally by getting fancy. I'm sticking with what's worked so far, and just fine tuning.

• Security! Don't keep coins on exchanges unless you need to. It's a terrible idea for possible theft, lockout, exclusion from free fork coins, and the accessibility and temptation to over-trade. Use a software wallet at a minimum for a small percentage of your holdings and a hardware wallet for long term storage. Act like an investor in this respect and it'll pay off in spades over time, or be your saving grace when a random disaster strikes in the future. When your coinss grow to a certain tier of value, you'll feel better about having them safe on a hardware wallet. It's interesting to note that it's common misconception to think that your coins are stored ON a wallet. Your coins are actually stored on the blockchain(s). You merely have your private keys stored in the wallets, which give you access rights to transact with your coins.

• Never keep your private keys, recovery phrases, or passwords on your computer or phones. Make your passwords strong and be careful when copying and pasting. There are now ways that hackers can infiltrate your computer to intercept your pasting process by changing the send address. It's wise to double check the beginning and end of your addresses and use 2FA security. If you need to store passwords and keys, store them in a file or folder naming system on an external storage device that's cryptic and password protected (or old fashioned paper that's intelligently protected and stored). Also, don't keep your recovery phrases together WITH your device in the same place. As more people buy into crypto, more people will be attracted to stealing it because you can't reverse most thefts.

• Believe in what you invest in and enjoy the ride. Feel fortunate to not be part of the next herd coming in that could be priced out from owning whole coins. This doesn't completely apply if you're in the crypto space for the sport of coin jumping, but I'm generally speaking. It's not easy to remain unemotional when prices skyrocket or plummet, but these emotions become less prominent after you spend more time you spend in the game. Forget moon and lambo talk. Think about protecting your eggs for future financial security if it all works out.

• Allow yourself to feel proud that you're still on the bottom of the GLOBAL adoption curve and will be heroes in the future if this works out. We have pocket AA, KK, QQ, and AKs right now preflop. Protect your hands. Have faith in the future potential and hold that in the highest regard instead of the statis of volatile price valuations. This confidence gives me peace, even if it all fails. The upside is too great to not try responsibly and intelligently. Spread the word to those you care about and help them get on board safely. You can even give crypto as gifts to help people adopt that way!

• Take profits to ride free coins. Make your money work for you, not against you, and then roll it over. It's ok to cut emotional ties with your round number holding sums for diversification or profit taking. You can always buy them back later. This was the hardest thing for me to do as I felt like Ethereum was the One Ring. It was necessary to break that bond because I was missing out on other opportunities. The last time I panic sold was in June 2017 on an ETH ICO dump, but I took out all of my initial buy-in soon after and immediately felt healthier and peace. I stopped constantly checking prices and charts, and simply felt good to have my coins stowed away at minimal exposure. I've slowly reinvested, accumulated and diversified since, but have never let price affect me since. It's a great feeling to break that habit, and this was expedited by cashing out my initial investment outlay. As a bonus, this eventually helped me diversify in alt coins and develop other crypto revenue streams such as mining contracts. If I held my round number of ETH all the way, I'd be worth less in the long run and limiting myself.

• What goes up, must come down. I'm glad when price corrections come after a bull run because we need to blow off steam. (It feels weird not typing Steem there.) Big runs need to pull back for sustainable growth. Profit takers or weak hands need to work their way out of the market so a strong base/launchpad is built for the next level up. It's common sense, but many can lose sight of this in the moment and panic. I was relieved for today's correction because I've seen this cycle happen a few times and know what usually happens in the weeks and months to follow.

• Conspiracy theory - consider the potential that there may be some coordinated shorting efforts across exchanges that are designed to shake people out and make massive profits for these whales in no time at all. This also applies to Core vs Fork battles for top dog status. Be strong during these times by recognizing this potential, if you choose to believe it may exist, and stay focused.

• You only realize a loss when you hit the sell button. Your account value is paper profit or paper loss until you sell. You didn't make or lose money today unless you sold. Trading is dangerous and most day traders lose over time, so make it easier on yourself and hold as much as you're comfortable with.

• When buying, accumulate wisely at low points or dips. Plan your attack, don't react. Don't chase or buy at the top. That's how bagholders are made, and it sucks when your money locked up or returned for a quick loss. It's generally fine to cut your losses if a project is not what you thought, or if there is a better opportunity, but try not to sell unless you have to. Also realize that in the US, you'll pay 30% in taxes on short term gains, versus 15% if you held for over a year (I believe). Crunch the numbers to make sure it's economical to sell, when holding a little longer could mean more of a return. Also, with decent chances that the price will rebound over time, you'll be able to achieve profit if you're patient. Generally resist impulse and stick to your game plan. It's fun to jump on a bandwagon to gamble at times, but it's a bad habit. Like playing loosely or inconsistently in on a poker table, it's not a long term winning strategy. It's playing with fire.

• Know what you are buying and buying into. Watching someone's hottest new crypto reveal (aka eye roll because they just loaded up and are starting their pump), or looking at active coins on coinmarketcap for runners doesn't count. Reddit doesn't count. Read white papers, learn about the technology, see where they are on the roadmap, assess the people involved for their reputation and past experience, and ask yourself if you'd use the token yourself in the future.

• Start to seek answers from within, based on your personal instincts and beliefs, and rely less on others. Trust yourself. Get confidence to learn from your research and experience, and then share it with others to encourage them to become more self-sufficient. Be calm, calculated, and consistent, but don't paralyze yourself to not act when you need to pull the trigger on a decision.

• Zoom out on the charts and look towards the future. Unless you're an active day trader or scalper, focus on long term value, adoption and utility. Forget the 15 min, 30 min, 1 hour, etc... Forget what your account valuation is. Once you separate short term price action from your long term vision, you'll find zen with the indifference. Zoom out on yearly charts and find calm in the long term trendlines. This is before Bitcoin futures, before major hedge fund money pours in, and before the mass population knows how to buy Bitcoin. The same applies for other coins. Look at the larger picture and have poise.

• Supply and Demand. More money will pour into this space. People will need to buy mainly Bitcoin and Ethereum for now as their gateway coins before trading for others. Ethereum will be Proof Of Stake soon, so the tradable supply will shrink. Do the math. Be confident in the numbers.

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El Fin. I hope this was helpful to you. Please feel free to add any advice in the comments or share with your followers if it'll add value. I have only taken part in one ICO, which will go live soon and should be profitable, but I kept my risk low. I'd love to learn more about ICO advice, although many are blocked for me due to my residence.

I'm generally bullish on the crypto space and happy to be involved.

I'm also excited about Steemit and for earning my influence and reputation. Something old fashioned in me wants to build my Steem Power with my bare hands from the ground up, instead of buying it from an exchange. I want to learn how to relate with everyone and grow together with the community from the sea floor. That gives me more pride at this stage of my cryptocurrency journey.

For entertainment, this is the absolute best GIF I've come across in this space for holding from imgur. It's worth your time to watch from start to finish. Dream big!!

Thanks for reading!!

As a social experiment for post 7 days:
My BTC address: 1GMnDYr2iKxh9ZqzFYtKET9oNjZM1Nhm4
My ETH address: 0x01607b3De6FD1aD8B488A19f0769829768E2588B

@steemmatt