Musings from someone who has been buying since 250 US dollars /bitcoin

This sub has been a guilty pleasure of mine for almost 8 years now. The memes, the fear, the panic, and the echo chamber quality of it all. But above all, I stay for the quality memes. Here are some of my musings. Hopefully it can offer some comfort for those of you who bought at ATH.

1) Don't mention explicitly the total amount that you have. I made this mistake early on and the amount of "advice" I got to sell from the original run from 1000 to 3000 was incredibly irritating. You cannot imagine how much louder it got from the 17k or 18k peak when it went all the way back down to 4k or 5k. The panic was everywhere. Do not be surprised if the same happens again on this downturn.

2) Stick to the fundamentals. Price discovery does not necessarily reflect the underlying value of bitcoin. Are blocks being mined? Are transactions being processed? If yes, just keep your head down and continue holding. I anticipate, even expect, that bitcoin will keep getting attacked; bad actors will keep coming and going (Jihan, your tweet will forever be hilarious). If you want to do your part (and can afford to), run a node.

3) Please do not trade (including leveraged trades). I started off as a "trader". I started with 100 and tried to do the compound math game of closing the day with 5% gains. Being able to pull it off for a few days in a row (in a bull market), I thought I was a genius then all those years ago. After a month, however, I ended up with slightly less than 100. Then, by a sheer stroke of luck, it clicked for me that trading was a fool's game. Most traders lose. I did not think I was the exception to the rule. It was after this moment I started to just quickly buy and hold.

4) For whatever reason, being in bitcoin has somehow changed my spending habits and how I view material things. I try to live on less and I try to unsubscribe from the endless consumerism that is everywhere. It almost feels as if unchecked consumerism, inflation, and capitalism are all somehow interconnected for me. Someone else can probably word it more eloquently.

5) I have found it helpful to view bitcoin as a savings vehicle. I continue to buy today, even when it was above 55000, 40000, etc. It does not matter. I just want to protect what "value" I have in FIAT from getting eroded by monetary policies that do not quite seem to benefit the small fish.

6) I have not found it helpful to talk about it with friends and family. So I mostly stay quiet now, even going so far as to feign ignorance on the topic if needed. I think I am terrible at explaining it (might be why). The reactions I have seen over the years are is that it is fake, can be manipulated, what if it goes to 0, what if I am wrong, and when will I sell? I rarely try to correct their thinking. I do subscribe to the quote that people will buy into it at the price they deserve.

7) I must confess, I have not read the whitepaper. I have copies of it, but I have never read it. Yes, this is heresy.

8) I do not own anything else. I just do not understand it. There are so many technical terms now that are thrown around. It is intimidating. I remember receiving messages back in the day when a certain coin, starting with E, was priced at $3. Maybe some of you can too. What I have seen, however, is that a lot of these other things come and go, like the seasons. I wonder why that is.

9) Stay for the memes!

I cannot and do not say these things in real life anymore. May this help some of you new bitizens in this space.

PS. Hopefully, I did not make any typing errors. English is not my main language!

submitted by /u/PatientKosong
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