HODL: Taking a note from Vanguard CEO John Bogle
Although Crypto Currencies and traditional investments representing differing market places, human greed tends to remain equal among both. I started my crypto journey in the middle of last year and like many have made numerous decisions that were neither rational nor justified in my attempt to chase 'hot coins' and beat the market.
Chasing Returns:
When people begin to see sub par returns to what they were hoping for they begin to lose confidence and at the slightest downturn begin to mass sell their holdings and begin to ostracize cryptocurrency as a fools game. We as humans are drawn towards large returns and often fall victim to 'shillers' who promote coins in an attempt to have followers buy into a particular coin and sell when the price increases. More often than not the average investor is "late to the party" and buys close to peaks and is faced by the inevitable retracement.
With other traditional markets such as the S&P 500 averaging a 9.5% return over 90 years, we need to take a step back and realize the potential gains from crypto are substantial and not be consumed by greed to pursue above market returns.
False Confidence:
With the massive bull run occurring last year through to mid December I cam under the false pretense that I was a genius trader that was out maneuvering the markets. Where in fact it was quiet hard to make a losing trade in such a up trend. Furthermore I wasn't keeping track of each trade I made and was under the false pretense that I was out performing the market but was in fact was not keeping up with the growth of Bitcoin (using Btc as the market standard for ease of purpose). This was due to the various losses I made with bad trades by buying during peaks.
Key Takeaway:
I would recommend a portfolio similar to an index fund that is weighted towards the top 10 coins and possible a mixture of other speculative coins.
From wise words of John Bogle and Warren Buffet alike "the average investor is much better off holding a low cost fund that owns the market - an index fund and holding it for many years," I wish you all luck in your crypto journey for the coming years.
Please leave a comment below, on your experiences over the past year (Y)