A helpful tactic I learned a little while ago for dealing with shitty markets / life events:
Ask yourself “is there anything I can do to improve my situation?”
- if yes, do the thing(s)
- if no, take a deep breath and think about something you are grateful for
Either way, you’re bound feel at least a little bit better afterwards
You know how some people say, "oh, he is so lucky that he bought bitcoins so early"?
Well, what you are feeling now is the pain that we had to endure many times before too.
Hold is never easy.
I round tripped 8 figures last cycle. A few things I learned:
- It’s almost always better to sell too early and miss out on gains, then to hold too long and round trip the bag. This is because eventually, almost everything trends to zero, so even your “early sell” is likely going to make you look like a genius in a few months/years
- If you ever take a PnL screenshot of how much you’re up, sell. You don’t have to sell your entire position, but it’s usually an excellent time to at least trim 20-50% of it.
- Most people on this app have absolutely no idea what they’re talking about. Often the loudest and most confident voices know the least, while the quiet and self questioning ones are full of wisdom.
- You can’t borrow conviction. If you buy something because someone else did or told you it was “a hidden gem”, you’re almost guaranteed to fumble the bag. They’ll dump on your head while you’re still anxiously waiting for their next tweet or YouTube video to tell you what to do.
- Stop trying to impress people. This is just good general life advice, but it applies triply so to this space. Wanting to impress your friends and family is one thing, wanted to impress random anons on the internet? Insanity.
- There’s Bitcoin, and then there’s everything else. It took me too long to truly realize this. Yes alts can and will occasionally outperform - sometimes for long stretches of time - but basically everything bleeds to Bitcoin over the long run.
- Most people try to outperform Bitcoin by trading these alts; probably leas than 5% of people can actually accomplish this. It’s like trying to outperform the S&P 500. Most people are better off just buying the index.
- This place has a way of warping your perspective to a level that is literally bordering on mental illness. Many of us refused to sell jpegs of a list of words for $50,000 last cycle because we thought “it’s undervalued”. Many otherwise smart people. You are not immune. Herd mentality is real, it takes *a lot* to swim against the current around here. You should try.
- Extending from that point, try and zoom out and also spend time with non-crypto people. 1 SOL or 0.08 ETH can seem like not significant amounts of money (unit bias is real), but add up how much that is per day or year and think what you could do with that money IRL. Also, most people are thrilled to earn a 10% return on their investments in a YEAR, and rightfully so. That’s a great return, crypto just warps everything.
- Compound interest is mind boggling powerful. You don’t need to find a 100x, you’re usually way better off stringing together a bunch of 2x plays or even compounding at 10-50% a year (do the math, do you have any idea how insane compound interest is at high %s over a bunch of years?)
- Put another way: “Most people overestimate what they can achieve in a year and underestimate what they can achieve in ten years.”
If you found this insightful, all I ask is that you drop a bookmark, share with a friend, and/or subscribe to my newsletter where I share a lot more 🙏
Cheers
Let’s be honest, the real reason some of you are bearish on SBR is because Bitcoin didn’t immediately pump to the moon.
If the only way you evaluate policy is by lines on a chart, then you’re missing the point.
SBR is smart policy and is a huge deal regardless of price action.
"Welcome to the first-ever White House Digital Asset Summit. Last year, I promised to make America the Bitcoin superpower of the world, AND WE'RE TAKING HISTORIC ACTION TO DELIVER ON THAT PROMISE." –President Donald J. Trump 🇺🇸
Trump’s Crypto Manifesto Checklist:.
1. Fire Gary Gensler ✅
2. End the unlawful crackdown ✅
3. Free Ross ✅
4. Strategic Bitcoin Reserve ✅
5. Support self-custody&mining right ✅
6. a Bitcoin Working Group ✅
7. Retain 100% of the bitcoin held by the U.S. ✅
8.Prevent CBDCs ✅
9.Bitcoin to the moon
https://t.co/bpU4yshXkk Leadership in Crypto ✅
He has delivered on nearly everything he promised, yet you still question him
The Strategic Bitcoin Reserve is a massive win for mankind.
The average person has no clue how much the existing fiat system has stolen from them.
While they save their hard-earned Dollars/Euros/Yen in their bank account, their leaders simply create more currency out of thin air.
Make no mistake: This is theft.
And Bitcoin fixes it.
Bitcoin is the first FINITE asset that can be easily bought or sold 24/7 by anyone, anywhere.
You don't need to be a hedge fund manager or investment strategist to understand it.
You just need to use it as a long term savings account.
Individuals who have steadily acquired Bitcoin with a long-term mindset have watched their purchasing power and quality of life dramatically increase.
The only cost has been volatility.
But the United States officially designating Bitcoin as a strategic reserve asset, and signaling the intent to acquire more, has the potential to remove some of the most violent downside volatility associated with BTC over the long run.
Serious buying will need to come with congressional consent...
But so much of the "risk" associated with buying Bitcoin has already disappeared over the past year or so.
And this is a great thing.
Humanity should feel confident that they can save their hard-earned money and watch their life reliably improve.
It's the only way to restore long-term hope at the individual level.
The peace of mind that comes from knowing your future is secure will unlock a new level of human flourishing that we haven't experienced in the recent fiat age.
The financial insecurity associated with the current fiat system will become a thing of the past.
And a Bitcoin standard will unlock the full benefit of technological progress for individuals, corporations, and nation states.
We are entering a new era.
One whose significance few understand, yet whose rewards will reach everyone.
Just a few minutes ago, President Trump signed an Executive Order to establish a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.
The Reserve will be capitalized with Bitcoin owned by the federal government that was forfeited as part of criminal or civil asset forfeiture proceedings. This means it will not cost taxpayers a dime.
It is estimated that the U.S. government owns about 200,000 bitcoin; however, there has never been a complete audit. The E.O. directs a full accounting of the federal government’s digital asset holdings.
The U.S. will not sell any bitcoin deposited into the Reserve. It will be kept as a store of value. The Reserve is like a digital Fort Knox for the cryptocurrency often called “digital gold.”
Premature sales of bitcoin have already cost U.S. taxpayers over $17 billion in lost value. Now the federal government will have a strategy to maximize the value of its holdings.
The Secretaries of Treasury and Commerce are authorized to develop budget-neutral strategies for acquiring additional bitcoin, provided that those strategies have no incremental costs on American taxpayers.
IN ADDITION, the Executive Order establishes a U.S. Digital Asset Stockpile, consisting of digital assets other than bitcoin forfeited in criminal or civil proceedings.
The government will not acquire additional assets for the Stockpile beyond those obtained through forfeiture proceedings.
The purpose of the Stockpile is responsible stewardship of the government’s digital assets under the Treasury Department.
PROMISES MADE, PROMISES KEPT
President Trump promised to create a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile. Those promises have been kept.
This Executive Order underscores President Trump’s commitment to making the U.S. the “crypto capital of the world.”
I want to thank the President for his leadership and vision in supporting this cutting-edge technology and for his rapid execution in supporting the digital asset industry. His administration is truly moving at “tech speed.”
I also want to thank the President’s Working Group on Digital Asset Markets — especially Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick — for their help and support in getting this done. Finally Bo Hines played a critical role as Executive Director of our Working Group.