Tag: crypto

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bitcoin cryptocurrency hodl trading

Sleep is For Hodlers (No, Not At All)

sleep in hammockIt’s 4am. Should I go to sleep or wake up?!

Well, it depends if I’m in bed or staring at my laptop screen, whether I’ve stayed up all night using my positive thinking to control the markets to recover my short position; or I’ve been lying awake since 1am, peaking at the dull-red digital display of an alarm clock, curious-worrying about an open trade.

I was sleep-deprived for a month, probably longer, between 3 and 5 hours a night. Blame it on my learning curve into trading; the velocity was energizing; desperation, motivating. Who wants to sleep when there is money to be made, skill to be developed?!

I learnt a huge amount. Copied strategies, discarded strategies. Subscribed to youtube channels, unsubscribed. Watched webinars, deleted hundreds of emails promising massive returns.

The woozy, sick feeling of my brain swimming in Pixelland became debilitating, slightly alarming. I could feel cognitive function drifting out to sea on a cruise liner of geriatrics blissfully unaware of flat earth theory.

I had a pain in my chest recently, on the left side, in the hollow under my peck. I like to think it was a side effect of the ozone therapy I had the day before. I’m going to believe that (because the other conclusion is scary). But it was a wake-up call!

Go to bed!

My yoga training reappeared in my mind. Or it was my partner’s mood. It could be argued both ways. I breathed into my belly, and dropped my mind into my heart. Valuable lessons are priceless. The skill is in the silence, the quiet confidence. Yoga releases that skill.

I went to bed early. Woke up and resumed my yoga practice.

The top two changes you can make in your life to improve your health, immediately available to you. And free.

Sleep! & Exercise!

Oh! My Word! I’ve learnt a lot. And remembered.

I’ve stopped using stop losses.

My mindset has been reset from La La Fantasy Moon Land to This is the Way Markets Work. It’s not rocket science, it’s nuance and chance, resistance and support. Therein lies the beauty. Harmony between channelled cautiousness and recklessness. A quiet, sober confidence aware of the risks; a calm ocean watching the waves rekt on the rocks.

I’ve dug myself out of my first hole, and yet I’m not thinking of the next one. I’m going to enjoy the climb. Fuck you, institutional traders! And thank you!

Categories
bitcoin cryptocurrency exchanges hodl trading

Confessions of a (Former) Crypto Hodler

Confessions of a (Former) Crypto Hodler

killer whale teeth All crypto hodlers must be a little seasick (my knees are weak, stomach queasy), or maybe they’re still puking over the railings, many possibly don’t have anything left in their stomachs. The bear market can be brutal to the eternal optimist hodler in the crypto revolution, especially those without any financial market savvy.

The captain is smiling to himself since he has access to the weather charts. He knows the storm will pass, but he can’t give anyone a time-frame. He offers words of encouragement, but only a few can hear him over the gnashing of the killer whale’s teeth. The bitcoin price had to come down (and everything-else-crypto with it). It’s called a market correction, a pullback. This too shall pass.

In our hearts we know Bitcoin is going to triumph. Argentina and Paraguay settled a debt with Bitcoin. That’s huge. But still the price goes down (so institutions can increase their bags & naysayers can feel good about themselves).

No, Bitcoin is not dying, it’s skimming the bottom.

And that might take a while. So, what’s a hodler got to do?

Trade.

Imagine not and your life’s dreams devaluing through your fingers (many probably don’t have to imagine). It’s not worth it to hold onto an ideology that is going to cost you. Fundamental analysis indicates that Bitcoin and many other altcoins are going to the moon, but first it needs to mine down a few layers to the hot lava for rocket fuel. It is my opinion this is what is happening now, but in this process of finding the bottom, mining rocket fuel, you might lose all your wealth, especially if you bought the hype and fantasy of infinite growth.

Educate yourself!

Every new product/market goes through an adoption cycle/price discovery. Go and check out the price charts for Apple & Amazon. This is good news. Once you understand the cycles it becomes easier to change your mindset to trading.

This is where real education begins.

Learning technical analysis can be confusing. There are many ‘experts’ on youtube, a good majority of them could be used as contra-indicators (do the opposite to them) and you make money. You could have used me, but I’ve stopped losing much (unless you consider my computer crashing me out of a trade), mainly due to Cracking Crypto.

My advice (taken with a pinch of salt, not financial advice): don’t fomo trade!!! Seeing a trend or pump/dump happening, then scrambling your keyboard to jump in is going to cost you dearly.

Plan your trades, understand price movement first, follow underlying trends, anticipate what is going to happen.

Learn your chart patterns, candle forms, understand the sentiment they express. Learn about support and resistance levels. Become friends with price momentum, abnormal volume and liquidity grabs. Fake trade first. Back test your strategy (many valid strategies out there, find the one that suits your personality the best).

A big wake-up call for me was realizing that I’m starting off as a ‘retail trader’; professional and institutional traders are trading against me, taking out my stop losses. Exchanges are there to make money, not necessarily to provide a service. Manage your risk!

Your best trades are going to be the ones you’ve planned & understand. Be confident in your strategy. Be present, sleep well. Love yourself. Don’t think you’re worthy of wealth, study, know it!

Categories
cryptocurrency exchanges

Beware of Scams!

Where the wealth goes, the scams flow! If you’ve speculated how much money you could make through trading or just investing in cryptocurrencies, so have the scammers. And they have made around $23 million!

I got caught in the early ICO (initial coin offering) days. I really wanted to acquire some PPT (populous.world) tokens for their invoice factoring platform, a great way to earn passively through their disintermediating the banking industry. A token made in heaven. However, the ICO was crazy, it lasted around half an hour (I can be corrected), and despite my being ready, pressing ‘Send’ within the first minute, my transaction was ‘pending’ until the token sale was completed. No PPT for me!

So, imagine how ecstatic I was to discover a couple days later that there were a few tokens still for sale. My information came from a tweet from @bitpopuIous. I didn’t even question the validity of spare tokens as the twitter page was an exact copy of @bitpopulous. Can you spot the difference? Yes, it is easy to spot in this font, but not twitter’s. The lowercase ’l’ has been replaced by an uppercase ‘i’.

It was only when I enquired with the genuine twitter account as to when my tokens would appear in my ethereum address that I realized I had been scammed to the tune of 0.57 ETH. A small amount compared to many others. I have tagged the ethereum address, hopefully, one day it will be useful in tracking down the scammer. I know they took the money out of Poloniex exchange.

Scams come in many different forms, but basically trick you into thinking you’re engaging with the official entity.

Precautions!

  • If it sounds too good to be true, IT IS!
  • Always check the url, bookmark it, always type it in (no clicks).
  • No one is giving away ETH.
  • Triple check crypto addresses.
  • No exchange is going to ask for your private keys (username or password).
  • Don’t fall for the ‘Security Upgrade’ email.
  • Educate yourself!
Categories
bitcoin cryptocurrency exchanges

Luno ‘Sign Up’

tree road picEdited 17 May 2019: Luno’s sign up procedure has changed slightly. You now have to do complete the KYC process before you can deposit ZAR to buy Bitcoin.

Even if you haven’t made up your mind about Bitcoin yet, sign up to Luno in the meantime. The verification process is quite long due to the cryptocurrency exchanges being flooded with new users. Everyone is hearing about Bitcoin in the mainstream media and rushing to get in on the moon action.

So, if you’re still uncertain, sign up anyway. You don’t want to be doubtless, but unable to trade as you still need to get an account on an exchange such as Luno. Here is a basic guide:

Luno ‘Sign Up’ Procedure:

  1. Go to luno.com and click ‘Sign Up’
  2. Enter your email address and create password (& possibly prove you’re not a robot)
  3. Confirm email address (open email program and click link Luno sends you)
  4. Login to Luno and click ‘Let’s Go’ to verify your identity
    1. Confirm mobile number (they send a code via sms)
    2. Enter your personal details in the ‘Settings’ section. The link is at the bottom of the left margin menu.
  5. Before you can deposit ZAR you first have to follow the KYC (Know Your Customer) process.
    1. Upload a copy of your ID (pdf, jpeg or png format)
    2. Upload a selfie
    3. You will have to wait for admin staff to verify your document. It should only take two business days.
  6. The final verification asks for a bank statement and utility bill.

Now, go back to your own research. Do your own due diligence. There are many scams out there. Google can’t tell the difference any more and might be creating a lot of misconceptions on the internet.