ETH is down 75% from its all-time high of $4,878. BTC is down 65% from $69,044. It’s been 7 months of downside. The top NFT collections no longer have a 6 figure floor. The LUNA event completely wiped out thousands of people, now Celsius has stopped withdrawals. How low does it go? What do you do? What happens next?
Survive
Just to clarify, this is my first bear market. I joined the Crypto space in late 2020 and have been NFT-focused since Day 1, so I made money through stacking ETH. All the way from $200 to $4,800 and now back down to $1,180. It’s been a journey.
“If you're the smartest person in the room, you're in the wrong room.”
Learning from others is super important. Listen to those who have experienced this in 2017 and understand what to avoid. Losing money is a lesson to not be blind while you are making money. I know because this was me back in May, I fell for FOMO and used a massive % of my portfolio to purchase ETH at the $4K May high. Then we flash crashed. If we never returned to the ATH, I would have had to eventually sell my ETH to pay my taxes (yes, I got greedy and didn’t plan for it). So, I am just telling you what I have learnt from others, and it has definitely helped me plan for this current situation.
The point of this article isn’t to tell you what the bottom is, or how long this period will last. It’s to let you know if you follow a few points, you will have a chance to experience the bull again if you have conviction in this space. And what you can do next if you have already lost it all.
Survive. Survive. Survive.
Some of these points mentioned won’t apply now. Some will apply. We are in a bear market. You aren’t making money, you are losing money. This will allow you to identify why you are down so much, and how to avoid it next time. If you are reading this article, I am assuming you are in a position where you haven’t lost it all yet. So you still have a chance. Even if you have, continue reading.
Take profits consistently, and secure your path to L4.
Stop looking at your trades in hindsight so you can stop falling for FOMO.
It’s a trade to not trade. You can do nothing.
Figure out your risk tolerance before trading.
Don’t make rash decisions like quitting your job without a plan.
Understand your limits.
You don’t have to buy the dips.
Relying on Twitter sentiment isn’t always a winning strategy.
You may not make as much in the bull market following these tips. But I guarantee it will help you to stop losing as much as others in the bear market. The number one issue that most people have is that they enter when everything is going up and expect it to continue forever, and then they leave once they lose money. If you have conviction in the space, stay. The best time to consume knowledge and build is when projects are less speculative and based on hype.
“Oh but Loop the market is down 90% and now you are telling me this.” You might think it’s too late to give this advice but I have been saying it since the bull market, many people do because greed is at an ATH and it’s noticeable. However, it’s never too late, even now. It might be better for you to sell your ETH and secure the money. It depends on how bad you need it. Expect the worst. Think: Will I care more about ETH doing a 4X or me taking out X amount of fiat right now and not stressing about price action? This is not financial advice and I am not telling you to sell, you make that decision yourself and stop thinking “ETH is down 80%, how much lower can it go”.
Many of you are probably down a lot. Stability is very important. You shouldn’t be completely reliant on Crypto because it makes your life much harder in these situations, mentally too. Don’t feel ashamed to return to working a normal job.
If you can survive, then you will have another chance when the bull market resumes. That could be in a few months or a few years. I’m not sure. It’s extremely hard to predict anything in this market. And if you don’t survive, then it will be MUCH harder. If you can fight it mentally, then you will make much better choices.
In this journey, I have made life-changing money and almost lost it all. I have missed out on tens of millions, generational wealth, multiple times. During a bull market we are sad that we aren’t making enough as others, during a bear market we are happy we are losing less than others. Most of us embark on this journey for financial freedom, so I won’t say money isn’t everything, even though it isn’t.
If you are someone who has lost it all due to something like LUNA, it’s also not over. Do not do anything rash.
I lost it all, what do I do now?
If you have mentally processed losing all of your money, and are OK. That’s very good, that is the first step. Your health is much more important. If not, speak to close friends, and family and/or go to therapy.
Crypto has probably scarred you for life, because of losing it all. So, going back to trading is not the first time I would recommend. It will be much harder than someone who survives this period, but it’s not over. The points mentioned below just require an investment of time and not money:
Consume Knowledge & Share
Research Projects
Connect With Others
Build Experimental Projects
Consume Knowledge & Share
Whatever free time you have, learn all about parts of the space that you are interested in. You won’t feel the FOMO of missing out on anything, it’s the best time. Consume knowledge. This could be as simple as reading threads on Twitter, or articles and documents. Once you believe you have a good understanding of a topic, share it with others. It helps grow your brand and tip: it’s easier to learn when you write.
Research Projects
Find specific projects that interest you and research all about them. Join their social channels, speak to their community and talk to the founders. Figure out the pros/cons of their project. Compare their competitors. Not just fundamentally, think about memetic/speculative value. It is a useful skill for the future.
Connect With Others
Get to know others in the space. Genuinely speak with them without any ulterior motives. Founders, artists, collectors, VCs… the more you get to know people, the more connections you will have. This helps in so many ways, and in general, will give you friends in the space. Everyone should do this. Even as a pseudonymous individual, I have met many amazing people through Crypto/NFTs.
Build Experimental Projects
Web3 still has a lack of products. You don’t even have to innovate (if you can, do it!), you can just look at Web2 products that improve the experience of interacting with digital items and see if blockchain can help improve it. It’s not just infrastructure plays, something like Nouns is an experimental project. Following all of the bulletpoints above help you out if you decide to build a project. The key word here is experimental, if you decide to pursue building a project it will require a massive time commitment and investment of $. Understand that before pursuing anything of the kind.
This article is to let you know it’s not over. If you have conviction in this space, even if you lost it all, you still have a chance. Patience is key. The number one most important thing if you make it all back is… to NOT LOST IT AGAIN. Take this as an important lesson.