I do a little bit of day trading in the mainstream stock market, especially biotechs, & it is quite a rush. I have a Coinbase account but haven't actively traded it. I think I am more of an investor with crypto. As you said, HODL lol. I am nowhere near expert level, but the market as a whole can be quite amazing. No matter what is going on in the world, the market does what it wants!

It will be interesting to see what results you have after a while. You are smart in starting out with paper trading (quite literally). A lot of us (in my trading community) started out with sim trading before venturing into actual stocks. The ones who didn't wished they had, because they blew out their accounts before realizing they had to follow a plan that worked for them.

Best of luck to you, my friend! :)