The Adult World Rules of Crypto: 18 Counterintuitive Survival Insights

What you want is not retirement, but freedom.

Written by: Route 2 FI

Compiled by: Luffy, Foresight News

In the ups and downs of the cryptocurrency market, how can individual investors avoid becoming "market prey"? Crypto KOLRoute 2 FI combines personal experience to distill 18 practical lessons, revealing the harsh nature and survival logic of the crypto market.

1. Don't think that others will think of you.

Even if you feel like you are part of a big community on crypto Twitter, you are essentially fighting alone; this is a PvP game. In the market, everyone is self-serving.

2. The information asymmetry on Twitter is extremely high.

Understanding the position of KOLs in the利益链 is essential for making informed investment decisions. By following the right people, you can gain a wealth of valuable information (alpha); blindly following the wrong people may lead to significant losses.

3. Believe in yourself

When the market is rising, you ask others what they are buying, and the response is: "Idiot, don't buy when the market is up." When the market is falling, you ask others what they are buying, and the response is: "It's all over, anyone buying now is a fool."

4. Stay away from the echo chamber effect

Use Twitter to get feedback on your opinions instead of seeking validation. For example, if you are considering buying HYPE, also look into the opinions of those who do not recommend it. Perhaps you have overlooked something.

5. Less debate, more research

Instead of arguing with anonymous people online, it’s better to spend time reading white papers, experiencing on-chain applications, asking questions on Telegram/Discord, or jotting down your thoughts. Thinking on paper is most effective; write down your investment logic before buying.

6. Do not waver in your holding belief just because others are making money faster than you.

Your long-term holdings should be measured in years, not weeks or days. However, if the investment logic changes, you should be bold enough to sell. Never "stick together" with your position.

7. About Trading

If you feel unusually excited about a position, sell it. If the price rises in a parabolic manner, sell it. Nothing will go up forever; to survive in the long term, you must take profits.

8. If you cannot explain the source of income of the DeFi platform you are on in two sentences, then you are the source of income.

9. In the crypto space, narrative is everything.

The story we tell together has great power. Dogecoin and SHIB once had a total market value close to 100 billion dollars. This reminds me of a saying: "Do you want to make money, or do you want to prove you are right?"

10. Missed opportunities are not opportunities.

If you see a new crypto project and think, "Wow, this idea is amazing," but delay investing for a few weeks, then when its price suddenly skyrockets, don’t just jump on the bandwagon and throw money in. Your opportunity to invest was a few weeks ago, and now it’s too late; you might end up buying at a local high.

11. Emotions are temporary.

When you start making money, you feel extremely excited, but the downside is that you will want to replicate that feeling again and again. Overtrading and frequently switching positions may just be to relive that euphoric emotion.

12. Each asset will have its shining moment in a bull market.

I know you want to believe that all assets will rise together, but more often it's about different sectors rotating in performance. Pay attention to emerging narratives and position yourself in advance.

Mistakes made in your teens and twenties are better than those made in your forties, and a $1,000 mistake is better than a $100,000 mistake.

The first time I tried leveraged trading, I lost several thousand dollars within minutes. But I learned from it and kept moving forward.

14. Why do most people not make money in the crypto market?

15. YouTuber / Crypto Twitter influencer starts discussing a certain project / creates a video (price increase)

16. The token enters the top 100 on Coingecko

17. KOL/ VC/ early investors, etc. start selling during the upward trend

18. After the token "becomes famous", ordinary retail investors want to buy in.

19. Retail investors buy = the price rises a bit more

20. KOL/VC/Early Investors Liquidation

21. Token crash (usually while you are sleeping, right?) - you cut losses.

22. Give yourself time

We all want to get rich quick, but we have to play solid to win the game. Remember, 81.5 billion of Warren Buffett's $84.5 billion net worth was earned after the age of 65.

16. What you want is not retirement, but freedom.

Retirement is like a beach vacation in the Caribbean; you get tired of it after a week. Freedom is waking up to do what you want, creating with interesting people, and having plenty of time to spend with family and friends.

17. Do not easily go all in on the crypto industry.

If you really want to quit your stable 9-to-5 job and fully immerse yourself in the crypto industry, ask yourself if you are willing to be online for 10-16 hours every day, 7 days a week, for several years in a row. Even then, success is not guaranteed.

18. When you finally succeed in the crypto market, you will find that this is not what you originally wanted.

You have money, but you are still the same you. Make sure your life goals go beyond just making money; otherwise, it's easy to fall into depression. But that's a story for later.