#深度创作营

The pits I've fallen into over the years in the crypto world

In the crypto space, the longest journey is following the套路 of 🐶 market manipulators.

Although I haven't been managing marketplace accounts for long, Little Fortune has been a seasoned veteran for thirteen years in the circle. Looking back, wealth without freedom, lessons learned the hard way. Reflecting on these years, it's a blood and tears story of踩坑. I'll share a few major pits in hopes of helping everyone avoid detours. These are purely personal experiences; if there's any similarity, feel free to reach out for a heartfelt cry.

First Pit: Believing Insider Information

Before entering the circle, I had years of investment experience, some understanding of technical indicators, news manipulation, fundamental analysis, etc. So when I first entered the crypto world, I was doing pretty well. Until the summer of 2014, I encountered my "first ordeal" in crypto. I remember it was just before the World Cup that year. Bitcoin was in a rebound after dropping below 8,000 points, a small bull market. Having traded for a while, I met a "big brother" from Beijing. As I got more familiar with him, he started giving me some buy and sell tips. The points could only be described as "exactly the same"—to be precise, down to two decimal places. I followed his advice a few times, and I was stunned. Later, he told me he got these points from a "big shot" group. From then on, I regarded that group as "heaven and earth," and I followed every trade. Not long after, the "big brother" said they had a new message: the main force would pump the market on the night of the World Cup opening, and Bitcoin would surge. I thought for a long time and saw this as a rare opportunity to make money, so I decided to go all in with my entire net worth. I used the only leverage contract exchange at the time, 20x long on Bitcoin. That night, I went to sleep dreaming happily. As you can guess, the next day I woke up to a disaster—overall loss of 91%. That was my first contract trading record. Not long after, I got liquidated. Bitcoin never surged again. Later, the "big brother" told me they had been scammed, and almost everyone in the group was wiped out.

Second Pit: Borrowing and Leveraged Trading

In that investment, I went all in with my entire net worth. Actually, that's not entirely accurate because I also borrowed money from others—meaning I used leverage beyond my capacity. I was unlucky the first time I borrowed to trade and got liquidated. But I was also fortunate because I borrowed from my own parents. I didn't face debt collection issues, only the guilt of temporarily not being able to repay...

Third Pit: Believing in Celebrity Effect and Whitepapers

2015 was the year of ICOs for altcoins. To keep up with market changes, I started studying the fundamentals of altcoins. Due to limited time, I mainly invested in tokens endorsed by big shots, trusting KOLs' opinions, and reading whitepapers. When I saw impressive whitepapers, I couldn't resist "throwing money." In the end, I was left with nothing but mess. The most typical example is EOS. I bought from 7 dollars all the way up to 100 dollars, and even started believing the joke "Three waves complete, look at 100."

Fourth Pit: Blindly Bottom-Fishing

Many people, like me, experienced the biggest black swan in crypto—the Luna collapse. I learned Luna might collapse at $35, so I decisively shorted. That night, Luna plummeted to $10. Seeing the unrealized profit, I couldn't believe my eyes. That night, Luna dropped to $1. I thought "it's about time," so I closed all shorts and went long at the bottom. Everyone knows what happened next: Luna fell into a death spiral. I don't even remember how many zeros were added. I got liquidated again, losing not only all my profits but also my principal—like a fleeting dream.

Fifth Pit: Obsessing Over Short-Term Trading

Last year, I found some unused accounts and suddenly decided to tally my overall gains and losses over the years. As I calculated, I realized I couldn't just count fiat losses; Bitcoin losses were more direct. I was shocked to find that over the years, I had lost over 500 Bitcoin. It's ironic—I started firmly bullish on Bitcoin in 2015, a die-hard bull, but after all these years, I ended up losing big. Reflecting, I realize I did too many short-term trades, always trying to buy high and sell low, catching both sides. In psychology, this is called "illusion of high returns," intertwined with multiple cognitive biases, emotional drives, and behavioral inertia. The so-called "making money in a bull market" and "earning coins in a bear market" might actually be a false proposition. The biggest way to make money is to buy and hold without selling.

There are many more pits I've fallen into over the years. Today, I share these as a humble offering. Finally, here are some tips to avoid pitfalls:

1. Be cautious with insider information. The current market scale of Bitcoin isn't small anymore; information is symmetrical. When you get insider info, think about how many hands it has passed through.

2. Never borrow to invest. I saw a KOL on WB encouraging small investors to borrow money to go all-in on a chance. That's reckless. If you lose your own money, you only lose what you have now. But if you borrow and get liquidated, you're overdrawing your future.

3. Don't short in a bull market, don't bottom-fish in a bear market.

4. Always, in any situation, hold spot assets and accumulate coins on dips.

Of course, after so many years of trading, besides blood and tears, there have been moments of joy—selling high and buying low, catching both sides, and overnight 100x gains. I believe the crypto boom hasn't fully passed. Sharing my pitfalls is also to remind everyone to respect the market, stay calm, and keep a balanced mindset. May everyone go out in style and return with a calm mind.