Crypto Turbulence: Are We Having Fun Yet?!?!
Unless you've been living under a rock, you've probably been following along in the turbulent ride we've been having in the cryptocurrency markets for the past few weeks.
No, this is not going to be yet another market analysis post! Actually what I wanted to consider here this is a different ways people interpret what constitutes ”risk.”
What do We Mean by "Risk?"
For example, quite a few friends and family members think that the fact that I am in any way involved with cryptocurrencies is ”insanely risky.” Although they may not know much about the cryptosphere, they know enough to have read occasional newspaper articles talking about Bitcoin or Ethereum having lost or gained as much as 20% in a single day.
Now, what makes this interesting, is the fact that some of these very people engage in activities such as bungee jumping, extreme rock climbing, or skydiving, each of which are activities you are unlikely to ever catch me anywhere near!
So what is ”risk?”
A lot of my college friends thought I was crazy for wanting to get into business for myself instead of going to work for a large company and getting a steady paycheck. Having been around small companies and self-employment for most of my life I wasn't too sure what they were so terrified of.
And therein lies some of our answer. More specifically, perceived risk seems to have a direct relationship with the degree of familiarity a person has with something.
Whether it's investing in cryptos or jumping out of a perfectly good airplane, these are inherently risky activities. But that risk is considerably mitigated by learning and becoming very familiar with what you are doing.
So, for example, my friends who think I'm nuts for having money in the crypto market only see those news reports about huge daily price swings, but they don't have the background knowledge to inform them that huge swings are a pretty regular event around here and simply part of the picture.
Similarly my skydiving friend has made hundreds of jumps and knows all there is to know about packing a parachute and packing a backup parachute and because he is particular and careful has never been part of any kind of ”incident.”
Am I concerned about the current state of affairs in the cryptosphere?
Not very much, really. I've been doing this for a long time and this is my third up and down cycle as measured by the movement of Bitcoin so I'm not really too concerned. The past couple of weeks have been a bit rough around the edges with the usual rumor mill additionally having to deal with news from both Chinese and US regulators which makes for a bumpy ride.
I just try to sit back and not worry too much about it. I also keep in mind that I got involved without having any sort of expectations as to the outcome. I hoped for a good outcome, but I did not expect it!
Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!
How about YOU? Are you worried about the state of the crypto markets? How is your relationship with "risk?" Do you think this is a very risky industry, or are the worries overstated? Leave a comment — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!
(All text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is ORIGINAL CONTENT, created expressly for this platform — NOT A CROSSPOST!!!)
Created at 20210521 22:38 PDT
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Thanks for the support; I appreciate it!
There is a lot of siappointment about the curent development, especially after such raise of Steem, when we all thought that this ist he way up. Now we just need to observe what the future will hold for our Cryptocurrency.
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I always like to remind myself that if we change the perspective of a price chart from "two weeks" to "five years" the graph inevitably shows a continuous increase in the long term. People get scared because they spend too much time mired down in what's happening right now, I think.
Thanks, as always, for the Booming nomination!
Dear @denmarkguy
Solid read. Topic still quite hot and trendy :) upvoted already.
Im only worried about not having enough stable coins to buy more into this current violent correction.
Personaly, I do not care much about TA and charts. I focus on psychological aspects of investing. And I've seen recent market already as quite unhealthy: to much hype, growing FOMO and many newbies entering crypto space. So called "weak hands".
And those weak hands needed to be shaken off. Sooner or later. It's just another wealth transfer, as we've seen many in the past. However, neither crypto, bitcoin or blockchain technology will disappear.
It's also crutial to mention, that idea of bitcoin being banned doesn't seem to be real any more. Window of opportunity to do so is gone. Back few years ago (during crackdowns in 2018) goverments kind of collaborated with each other and crypto was young. And they failed to ban it.
Currently I cannot see China and US and EU collaborating the way they did in those days. And bitcoin matured and got so much stronger. So it's not going anywhere.
In a long run many of us most likely see BTC reaching new all time highs. Sooner or later. But ... what about short and middle-term?
If some miracle won't happen, then I would expect sideways movement for upcoming several weeks. After all, institutions are not the ones driving price high. Those are usually all those newbies, who follow FOMO and who are becoming very greedy very fast.
So we may need some time to attract more such an investors. We would need more new "weak hands" which will enter the market being quite sceptical and after seeing their first investments being succesful -> they will fall into GREED MODE and invest so much more of their savings.
That surely may take some time. So we simply need to be patient.
Cheers, Piotr
Hi Piotr, thanks for stopping by!
Yes, I would agree that the window of opportunity to ban crypto is long gone; too much mainstream investment in the area, already. But the rumors of such an idea is what contributes to a slower adoption by the mainstream because what we're involved with here starts to look "terribly risky."
In some ways, I think the cryptosphere is somewhat plagued by the image that everything here happens terribly fast and you can "expect" to triple your money in a month. At a functional level, that's completely unsustainable, longer term. I am not much of a short term thinker, however... I make posts like this one not so much because I am looking for my own answers, but to invite people to stop and think for a little bit, and to stimulate discussion!
In the meantime, we'll stay patient. I have NO idea where BTC and ETH will be next month but I feel a high degree of certainty that they will be UP, in five years from now.
Glad to see how responsive you are @denmarkguy
I was wondering: do you use Discord by any chance? I would like us to "connect" if possible.
Consider joining our PH community discord server: https://discord.gg/uWMJTaW
I will welcome you right away.
Cheers, Piotr
I really like you comparing crypto investments with bungee jumping and skydiving and other crazy activities. Those are much more dangerous than just spending your money on something like buying crypto tokens!
if something goes wrong in bungee jumping, you die... if something goes wrong with your cryptoinvestment, you just have to eat WASA knekkebrød for some days before you are back on track again! :)
It definitely is funny how people see "risks and danger" in such different ways. Personally, I don't think there is anything much "fun" about jumping out of a perfectly good airplane, or "swallowing swords" or anything like that! But I do enjoy being part of the crypto journey.
And I don't mind a little knekkebrød now and then!
I see you started a witness... that's pretty cool!
I'm a bit worried about the current state of the crypto market especially this months, a lot of people causing FUD just by reading a some unverified news about crypto market, mean while, not all of them really knows how crypto works .
General to me ALL THINGS IN LIFE ARE RISKY , although there are levels to the risk when it's come to crypto market... Like you have mentioned with people participating in bungee jumping, extreme rock climbing, or skydiving, all this thing are risk similar with anybody involves with Crypto Currency.
Crypto market risk can be reduced when you know What to invest in and you invested in what you can also lose ... The Crypto Industry is not a risky things when you full knows how the up and down of crypto are ..
I am aligned with the idea that all things have their risks... and I think people easily forget that, especially when they become part of something at a time when everything is going really well.
Truth is that any kind of growth does not happen in a straight line... there will always be ups and downs to contend with.
It's really insane and I don't know what to make of it yet. Could be deniel.
Aside from the minor irritation of occasionally having to liquidate some assets for fiat simply to take out for living expenses.... and it happening during a dip... I am just not too worried about things.
Crypto market is full of risk.
That is definitely true — I think people forget, sometimes.