11 years of finance content. 2 Millions Community Founder of SmartViewAI. No. 1 at Binance Blockchain Awards 2025. Crypto, stocks, money habits. Not advice.
Two friends, same fund, same amount: 10,000 rupees a month at 12% a year.
Rahul starts at 25 and stops at 35. Ten years of SIPs, then nothing. He invested 12 lakh in total.
Amit starts at 35 and goes until 60. Twenty five years of SIPs. He invested 30 lakh in total.
At 60: Rahul has roughly 4.6 crore. Amit has roughly 1.9 crore.
Rahul invested less than half the money and ended with more than double. The only difference is the ten years his money spent compounding before Amit even started.
I am not saying stop at 35. I am saying the most expensive thing in investing is the year you did not start. Not the fund you picked, not the expense ratio, not the entry price.
The same math runs in crypto. A small monthly Bitcoin buy started in 2020 beat almost every clever trade made since.
"I will start when I earn more" is the sentence that costs the most. Start with 500 rupees if that is what you have. The amount can grow. The lost years cannot come back.
What age did you start, and what would you tell your younger self?
Past returns do not promise future returns. Education only, not financial advice.
Before your first SIP, before your first Bitcoin, two things come first. Neither will ever make you money, and both decide whether your investing survives.
Term life insurance. Pure cover, no investment mixed in. Rule of thumb: 10 to 15 times your yearly income, running until your dependents no longer depend on you. A healthy 30 year old can usually get a 1 crore cover for roughly the cost of two restaurant dinners a month.
Health insurance. Your own, even if your employer gives you one, because that one disappears with the job. A 10 lakh base cover with a top up is the common starting point for a family, and it costs far less than people expect.
Why first: one hospital bill without cover does not come out of your savings account. It comes out of your investments, at whatever price the market is at that day. I have seen people sell Bitcoin at the bottom to pay a hospital. Insurance is what stops that sale.
Skip the plans that mix insurance with investment. Keep the two jobs separate and both get done better.
Do you have your own health cover, or only the one from work?
Education only, not financial or insurance advice.
Morgan Housel wrote that wealth is what you do not see. The car not bought, the upgrade not taken, the trade not placed.
I think about this line every time a market rallies.
In a bull run, everyone can see the Lamborghini posts. Nobody can see the person who sold 20% into strength, paid off a loan, and kept the rest in an index fund. That person does not post. They do not need to.
Being rich is visible income. Being wealthy is invisible options: the ability to say no to a job, a client, or a trade, because you do not need the money this month.
The strange part is that the invisible one is what most people actually want when they say they want to be rich.
My rule since reading that book: every big win gets split. Some goes to the future me who cannot see it yet. Then I spend the rest without guilt.
What is one thing you chose not to buy this year, and do not regret?
Chainalysis released its 2026 adoption index earlier this month and one number stood out to me.
Between July 2025 and June 2026 the crypto market lost roughly half its value. On chain economic activity in that same period slipped from $9.5 trillion to $9.4 trillion. A 1.6% dip.
Prices crashed. Usage did not.
What grew: cross border stablecoin transfers were up 77% to about $220 billion, and the average transfer was around $3,000 in size. That is not hedge funds. That is people sending money home, paying suppliers, and saving in dollars.
India dropped from first to sixth in the overall index after three years at the top, but still ranks second in the world for total flows through services and third for on chain balances. The activity did not leave. Other countries grew faster.
Why this matters for anyone holding through a correction: price is what speculators think today. Usage is what the network is worth tomorrow. When the second keeps rising while the first falls, the gap usually closes one way or the other.
I do not know when. I just know which side of that gap I would rather be on.
Does on chain data change how you see this correction, or is price the only signal you trust?
Two numbers I check before I even open the chart of a coin: market cap and FDV.
Market cap: price times the coins that exist today. FDV, fully diluted valuation: price times every coin that will ever exist.
Why it matters: if a coin has a $500 million market cap and a $5 billion FDV, 90% of the supply has not hit the market yet. Those coins are coming, through unlocks, team vesting and emissions. Each one is future selling pressure that the chart cannot show you.
A quick read I use: Market cap close to FDV: most supply is out, the price reflects reality. Market cap under 30% of FDV: you are early, and so are the sellers who get coins for free later.
This is why so many low cap gems go up 3x and then bleed for a year. The price was fine. The supply was not.
Check it on any tracker in ten seconds. It will not pick winners for you. It will save you from a few obvious losers.
Do you look at FDV before buying, or just the price and the chart?
The 50/30/20 rule is the simplest budget I know. Here is how I adapt it for someone who also holds crypto.
50% needs: rent, food, EMIs, insurance, transport. If this crosses 60%, the problem is not your investing, it is your fixed costs.
30% wants: eating out, travel, gadgets, subscriptions. Guilt free, as long as it stays inside the line.
20% future: this is where the twist comes in.
Out of that 20%, I split it like this: 10% to boring compounding: index funds, EPF or PPF, SIPs. 5% to Bitcoin and large caps, bought monthly, no timing. 5% to the emergency fund until it reaches 6 months of expenses, then to whichever bucket needs it.
Altcoins and trading do not get a budget line. They come out of the 30% wants, because that is what they are for most people: entertainment with a chance of profit.
Harsh, maybe. But it keeps one bad month from touching the money that actually builds your life.
What does your split look like right now, honestly?
Since June you can trade tokenized US stocks on Binance. They are called bStocks. A quick, honest explainer, because I get asked about them every week.
What they are: BEP-20 tokens on BNB Chain, each backed 1:1 by real shares held with a regulated custodian. Nvidia, Tesla, Micron, Circle and SanDisk were the first five. You can buy a fraction from about $5, trade 24 hours a day, and even hold them in your own wallet.
What they are not: shares. You do not own the stock, you own a token that tracks it. No voting rights. Dividends and splits are handled as adjustments to the token, not as cash in a brokerage account.
Where it gets interesting: a stock that trades 24 hours a day reacts to news on a Saturday night. That is a feature if you want to react, and a risk if you were hoping to sleep through the weekend.
Where it needs care: availability depends on your country and the exchange's rules, and the tax treatment of a token that tracks a stock is not the same everywhere. Check both before you touch it.
I am watching this closely because it quietly merges the two worlds my audience lives in: stocks and crypto.
Would you hold a tokenized stock, or do you want the real share in a demat account?
Every six months S&P publishes a scorecard called SPIVA. It asks one simple question: how many professional fund managers beat the plain index?
Latest numbers:
In the US, 67% of large cap active funds trailed the S&P 500 in the first half of 2026. Over 10 years it is 83%. Over 15 years it is 90%.
In India, 73% of large cap funds underperformed their benchmark over 10 years.
These are full time professionals with teams, data terminals and access to management. Nine out of ten lose to a fund that simply buys everything and sits still.
What I do with this: the core of my stock money sits in index funds. A small satellite portion is for picking stocks, because I enjoy it and because I accept that it is a hobby with a cost.
Core and explore. Boring core, small explore.
Crypto has its own version of this: most altcoin portfolios lose to simply holding Bitcoin over a full cycle.
Are you a core and explore person, or all in on picking?
How often you open your portfolio app tells you more about your plan than your returns do.
Every few minutes: you are not investing, you are watching a slot machine with your own money inside. Every tick feels like information. Almost none of it is.
Several times a day: you have positions you are not sure about. If you were sure, you would not need to check.
Once a day: fine for an active trader with a journal and a plan. Dangerous for a long term investor, because roughly half of all days are red, and each one invites a bad decision.
Once a week: the sweet spot for most people. Enough to rebalance, catch a mistake, and notice news that matters. Not enough to panic.
Once a month: what my index funds get. They are doing fine without me.
When I built a tracker for my own portfolio, the feature I used most was not the chart. It was the one that showed how many times I had opened the app that day. The number was embarrassing. It went down after that.
How many times did you check today? Honest answers only.
CPI lands at 6:00 PM IST today. Three things I remind myself after every inflation print, because the first hour is where most mistakes happen.
1. The first move is often the wrong move. On most CPI days Bitcoin wicks 2% to 3% one way in the first fifteen minutes and then spends the rest of the day going the other way. Algorithms react to the headline. Humans react to the details, and the details take an hour to read.
2. Core matters more than headline. Headline includes petrol and food, which the Fed cannot control with rates. Core is what they actually watch. A hot headline with a soft core is not the same as a hot core.
3. One print does not change a trend. The Fed looks at three to six months of data. One surprise moves the odds for Oct 28, it does not decide them. Today's expectations: 3.7% headline, 2.5% core, both a little higher than August.
My rule since 2022: no new positions in the hour before and after a big data release. The spread widens, liquidity thins, and whatever edge I think I have disappears into the noise.
If you trade tonight, size small. If you do not, that is also a trade.
Tonight at 6:00 PM IST the US releases September inflation. One card to understand the numbers before the headlines hit.
Headline CPI: expected around 3.7% from a year ago, up from 3.4% in August. Core CPI, which strips out food and energy: expected around 2.5%, up from 2.4%.
Why it matters more than usual: the Fed raised rates in September, then the jobs report came in weak. Markets now lean towards a pause on Oct 28. A hot print puts the hike back on the table. A cool print locks in the pause and gives risk assets room.
Why 3.7% is already uncomfortable: oil above $100 and a stronger dollar have pushed goods prices up again. The Fed's target is 2%.
How I use it: I do not trade the first candle. The first 15 minutes after CPI are algorithms fighting each other. I read the core number, check what the 10 year yield did, and then decide if anything about my plan has changed. Usually nothing has.
Will you be watching at 6 PM, or do you check the result later?
Revenge trading has cost me more than any bad analysis ever did. Three warning signs I now watch for in myself:
1. The size goes up right after a loss. The logic sounds like "I just need one good trade to get back to even." Even is not a strategy. It is an emotion with a number on it.
2. The timeframe goes down. I was trading the 4 hour chart. Now I am on the 5 minute chart, because I want the result faster. Faster results, faster losses.
3. The reason changes. Before the loss, I needed a setup. After the loss, "it has fallen a lot" becomes a reason to buy. That is not a reason. That is a wish.
My fix is boring and it works: after any loss bigger than my daily limit, the app gets closed for 24 hours. Not the chart, the whole app. The market will still be there tomorrow. My capital might not be if I stay.
What is your rule after a bad loss? Or do you not have one yet?
JPMorgan, Goldman, Citi and Wells Fargo report their quarter today. Bank of America and Morgan Stanley follow tomorrow. Why would someone who only trades crypto care?
Three reasons.
One: banks see the real economy first. Loan demand, late payments, credit card defaults. If provisions for bad loans jump, the soft landing story weakens, and risk assets, Bitcoin included, trade off that story.
Two: trading desks. A big quarter in trading revenue usually means volatility was high and liquidity was good. The same liquidity that pays Goldman's traders is the liquidity that moves crypto.
Three: the Fed reads these too. Two weeks before the Oct 28 decision, bank commentary on credit stress is one of the clearest inputs they have, especially with the 10 year yield above 5%.
What I will not do: trade the headline number. What I will do: read what the CEOs say about consumers and credit, and keep that in mind for the next two weeks.
Tomorrow brings CPI at 6:00 PM IST. Together these two days set the tone until the Fed meets.
Do you follow stock earnings at all, or is crypto your only screen?
Bank earnings start today. Before the headlines, here is how I read any earnings report in five lines, bank or not.
1. Revenue vs last year, not vs last quarter. Growth that only shows up quarter on quarter is usually seasonal. 2. Profit vs expectations, and why. A beat because of a one time gain is not the same as a beat because customers paid more. 3. Guidance. What the company says about the next quarter moves the stock more than what it says about the last one. 4. For banks specifically: provisions. The money they set aside for loans going bad is the earliest honest signal about the real economy. 5. The stock's reaction at the close, not in the first five minutes. The first move is algorithms. The close is humans with full information.
Five lines, ten minutes, and you know more than the headline. It works for Reliance and for JPMorgan, and the same logic applies to any crypto project that publishes quarterly numbers.
Do you read the report or only the headline? Be honest.
Michael Saylor's company bought another $138 million of $BTC last week, its biggest purchase in five months. Strategy now holds around 846,000 Bitcoin with a cost basis near $64 billion.
Every time this happens I get the same question: should I copy him?
Here is what people miss. Strategy buys with money raised from the stock and bond market, on a multi decade view, with no rent to pay and no margin call. You and I buy with savings, with a job, with a family, with a life that has monthly bills.
Same asset, completely different risk.
Copying the asset is easy. Copying the time horizon and the balance sheet is not.
Own Bitcoin if you believe in it. Just own it in your size, not his.
Do you think corporate buying like this changes the cycle, or is it noise?
Spot Bitcoin ETFs just logged seven straight days of net inflows, around $2.4 billion in the latest week. Here is what that actually means, and what it does not.
What it means: regulated money, meaning pensions, advisors and funds, is buying $BTC exposure through the stock market. Every dollar in requires the ETF to buy real Bitcoin.
What it does not mean: it is not a guarantee of price going up. In 2025 we saw weeks of inflows while price still fell, because ETFs are one buyer among many.
How I use the data: consistent inflows during a correction tell me long term holders are not the ones selling. That helps me sit still. It does not tell me when to buy.
One number, one context, no story. That is how you read flows.
The five people in every crypto group when the market dips 8% in a day.
1. The Buyer: "Best gift ever, loading more." Has 2,000 rupees left. 2. The Prophet: "I told you all last week." Did not post last week. 3. The Ghost: Very active at the top. Now offline. 4. The Philosopher: "Zoom out." Has been zooming out since 2021. 5. The Accountant: Quietly checks allocation, adds a little to the plan, goes to sleep.
Be the Accountant. It is boring and it works.
Which one are you, honestly? I have been all five at some point.