I've been in crypto for two cycles.
In the first cycle, I didn't know what crypto was, and in the second, I didn't have the money to invest.
I think I'm quite well prepared for this cycle, although I'm in a very risky position, teetering on the brink of running out of liquid cash. However, in my situation, it's inevitable that I'll have to make up for the losses and still maintain this wealth of experience. This, however, requires many sacrifices.
That's why I don't lead a lavish and extravagant lifestyle, even though the money in my crypto wallet is booming. I use it sparingly, living frugally but not compromising any of my needs.
I've made a few mistakes so far, which I'd like to share as a lesson for others.
A short story about what shaped my experience in crypto investing.

I was aware of the existence of $BTC as early as 2015. At a friend’s suggestion, I opened an account on Plus500 and tried trading this “thing.” I lost a few złoty and the whole adventure ended there. I thought Bitcoin was just some kind of trading instrument that would eventually fail.

My real journey with cryptocurrencies began roughly on the day when $USTC lost its peg to the dollar. It was such a loud event that all the media were talking about it.

The market collapsed overnight, and seeing a huge red candle on the chart, with no knowledge about investing, I decided it was a perfect opportunity to make money.
So I deposited a borrowed 10,000 PLN into what was then a popular Polish exchange, BitBay (now Zonda), and bought LUNA with all of it.
After a months of waiting, the price didn’t return to its previous level, and the very low liquidity of the exchange made it impossible for me to recover most of my funds, which I then moved to Binance.

At that point, I had a huge urge to recover my losses. I discovered altcoins and, without any understanding, kept clicking “swap,” jumping into new trending coins, shrinking my capital day by day.

My portfolio fluctuated like a flag in the wind—one day showing +20%, the next a 15% loss.

I would wake up and the first thing I did was check my balance, watching it day and night. It melted like spring snow, yet I stubbornly refused to invest in leading projects, believing I would find a gem that would make me a fortune.

Eventually, when my stubbornness softened, I decided to sell LUNA and used what I had left, along with additional savings, to buy 5,000 $XRP. Then, in June 2023, I fell victim to a scam, sending those tokens to fraudsters’ wallet in hopes of multiplying them.

My hair stood on end, I hit my forehead, and blood ran down my face.

Binance support gave no response.

It hit me that I had been a complete idiot.

In 2024, I started with a debt of 20,000 PLN—but without the same desperate urge to recover my losses.

I observed the market and used 2,000 PLN to open a leveraged position on $PEPE. On February 24, the coin went parabolic. I multiplied my capital 20 times—but greed didn’t let me take profit, and I immediately swapped it into another altcoin, watching the gains fade away by the end of the year.

That’s when I left exchanges for a while, moving my funds to a Web3 wallet and trying to find low-cap meme gems. I quickly ran into a honeypot and a rug pull, losing my last $300 after unintentionally clicking on a fake airdrop of some random coin on a s*&^na!

(That was the moment I took a deep breath.)

The awareness of my losses didn’t let me simply give up—I still wanted to pour more money into the market to recover as quickly as possible.
I was waiting for my tax refund and my last paycheck from my previous job, already planning where I’d invest it.

And then a bailiff stepped in, seizing my account, tax refund, and salary.
I was left with nothing. That was big disappointment with my expectations.
I didn't admit this to anyone.
I realized that without a stable source of income, I would completely ruin myself by selling everything of value just to put more money into the stock market.
I decided to start again.
I started with reset my mindset that traiding couldn't be only source of income. I need to do something with my life.
I resigned from the Polish Hunting Association, leaving my badge and ID as a souvenir. And I sold my guns when I moved out and found a new job.
First, I decided to give myself time to research the market. I hadn't done this at all before. I'd see hype for a project, a few green flashes, and I'd go all in with capital, hoping for immediate growth, adding to positions during price declines.
This happened with several coins I owned as the number one, holding tokens with a market capitalization of $30k for $3k, almost 10% of the project, that was crazy. However, I quickly woke up when it was time to withdraw the funds and the price difference was -20%. So I reduced my memcoin portfolio and decided to invest in solid projects from the top 500.

I noticed that over the course of a year, if I mobilized, I could save a significant amount of money – and the desire for parabolic profits disappeared. I tried to avoid holding highly leveraged positions, and if I did, I did so with collateral that I could immediately cover with another asset to avoid the risk of position liquidation. At the same time, while searching for innovative solutions, I discovered how the entire cryptocurrency ecosystem works and even started using it for everyday payments.

And then hyperliquid came to my rescue.

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