Many people in the crypto world can’t seem to make money. It’s not necessarily because the market is bad, and it’s not necessarily because they’re unlucky either. Basically, they have two fixed, unchangeable bad habits. I’ll be upfront and share my personal perspective; it might not be pleasant to hear. If your investing hasn’t gone smoothly, you can check against it.
The first problem is that I can’t stand the word “wait.” Many people think “wait” means standing by with no position when risk arrives and saying, “I’m waiting.” Or it means being fully invested, getting trapped, lying flat while waiting—I’ve been trapped for a long time too, and I’m waiting. But actually, this isn’t the real kind of waiting. True waiting comes in two forms: one is waiting for an opportunity while staying in cash; the other is waiting for the main upswing while fully invested. People who wait with no position are the most disciplined. They ignore all kinds of messy, noisy minor fluctuations—they just patiently wait for a big drop, wait for stabilization, and wait until the real bottom opportunity shows up, then move decisively. There are very few such people, and I can’t do it either, so I chose the second path: waiting while fully invested.
Why stay fully invested and wait? Because no one knows when their coin will take off. The crypto market swings up and down every day. Coins rise every day, and there are new hot sectors every day. Some market moves are like a gentle breeze: prices rise for a day or two, then fall right back down. Others are like a light wind: prices keep rising for three or four days, maybe a week, then turn around and return to where they started. Only a tiny number of explosive rallies manage to sustain a major uptrend for a month or two. But even in a good year, these major uptrends might only happen 5% of the time—and sometimes it takes several years for that 5% to come around. These are the market moves that can truly make you money and turn your fortunes around. But without having stayed fully invested and waited beforehand, you have no part in them: when the rally comes, you won't dare to buy in; even if you do, you won't dare to commit much. The only moves you'll catch are the little breezes, and you'll get trapped as soon as you jump in.
That's why so many people can't stand waiting. They watch the charts all day; if they don't make a trade today, they get restless. They chase every small gain and panic at every small dip. If you don't stay quietly in the market, fully invested and waiting, you'll never catch a true major uptrend. But catching just one could make up for years of losses, or even bring you a substantial annualized return. Catch one double-your-money rally in five years, and that's equivalent to 20% a year. If you can't bear to wait, you're bound to make only a little pocket change while losing big money—a terrible risk-reward tradeoff.
The second bad habit is complaining and passing the blame. It's one of the biggest taboos in crypto trading. Look at people who lose money—they always act the same way: they blame bad market conditions, cunning market makers, an unfair market, other people for influencing sentiment, or certain influencers for recommending coins that turned out to be money pits. The people making recommendations may well bear some responsibility, but from start to finish, you never blame yourself. Here's a very relatable example: when buying groceries or clothes, you'll compare prices at several stores and deliberate over even the smallest purchases, worried about paying too much or getting a bad deal. But when you get into crypto and start making investments worth tens or even hundreds of thousands, do you just switch your brain off? Someone casually mentions a bullish development, a hot sector, or some industry logic, and you jump in without a second thought. If you make money, you congratulate yourself on your great instincts; if you lose money, you immediately pass the blame: someone misled me, the market screwed me over. This mindset may make it seem like the other person is entirely to blame, letting you off the hook—but in reality, it blocks your path to making money. Because you never reflect on your own mistakes or correct your bad habits. You tell yourself this loss was caused by external factors, then make the exact same mistake again next time.
Impatient people can't hold on to a major bull run, and people who love passing the blame never learn. Let me leave you with one final thought: get rid of your restlessness, stop complaining, and learn to wait patiently. That's when you'll have truly begun to understand crypto. If you enjoyed this, leave a like. Wishing everyone a wonderful holiday.$BTC
