I persisted in investing for two years and I didn't expect that I would still lose money

Author: BlockBeats

“Some people can solve three days of food with only five dollars: turn the bottle of mushroom meat sauce upside down, use the separated oil to fry discounted eggs bought from the supermarket, and pair it with dragon beard noodles that cost one dollar a bag. Remember to pay with a credit card to earn points.

This team member, who works in a Grade A office building near Tiyuxi in Tianhe District, Guangzhou, spends only 10 yuan a week on food, and uses the money he saves to buy Bitcoin.

When you are in this industry where money is spent lavishly and you have seen too many brave players who easily earn millions of dollars or even become rich overnight, would you feel a sense of fantasy when you suddenly discover this crypto player in the Douban "Stingy Men's Association" group who is extremely "thrifty" and still wants to buy Bitcoin? Without the blessing of the story of getting rich quickly, most of these players who invest in Bitcoin are unknown.

In this issue of Jiucaihua column, we turn our attention to this low-key group. The "coin hoarder" who does not speculate in coins and has seen too many lies is not a believer in Bitcoin, but it does not prevent him from continuing to invest in it for nearly two years, "at least waiting for the price of the coin to rise to 20,000 dollars."

Of course, the coin hoarder is not a lawyer, but an old investor who is still disappointed with the cryptocurrency circle, or a fresh graduate, or even just a novice who is purely curious. They may be tired of the excitement and anxiety of all-in for a coin, or they may have lost all their capital but still have a little fantasy about cryptocurrency and choose to invest regularly.

Although you and I all know that "hoarding coins in a bear market and selling coins in a bull market" is a great way to invest, how many people can actually put it into practice? You may see your shadow in the following determined or stubborn fixed investment players.

My family doesn’t know I’m investing in Bitcoin

Making money, and then making more money, has always been the most real and simple wish of players in the cryptocurrency trading market. Placing big bets and all-in was once considered a manifestation of bravery, but regular investment is different.

To some extent, fixed investment is against human nature. It will not make you rich in a short time, nor will it make you a household name. In the opinion of "Coin Accumulator" who has insisted on fixed investment for nearly two years, to become a loyal player in the fixed investment ranks, you need to overcome much more than laziness.

On the first day of every working day, the first thing that "Coin Accumulator" who has been engaged in legal work for many years does when he arrives at the office is not to organize files, but to open the trading platform APP, place orders, transfer money, take screenshots, and then enter the data into a special Excel registration form. He has been doing this for more than a year and it has long become a habit. If he encounters an emergency and misses the scheduled investment, he will be worried about it all day and feel uneasy.

From September 11, 2018 to March 26, 2020, 561 days, 91 issues, "Coin Accumulator", who is very familiar with buying coins, only spends about 5 minutes on regular investment each time. The reason for choosing Monday is that "I may not be able to get into work state so quickly when I arrive at the company." Investing more than 50,000 yuan a year is completely affordable for him.

In fact, there is also a subtle chain of contempt in the crypto investment circle. For example, those who play contracts look down on spot trading, and those who play spot trading look down on fixed investment. In the eyes of these brave players, gaining profits from the volatile market is much more exciting than honest fixed investment, and the profit record is also better.

In March and April last year, due to misjudgment, the cost of supplementary investment (purple) of "Coin Accumulator" was higher than the original time cost (orange).

Fixed investment seems simple, but even if the "coin collector" sets a fixed investment every Monday, he cannot comply 100%. He did not buy the fixed investment in August and September 2018 because he thought the price was too high. Later, he saved up and invested 10,000 yuan on the same day. At the beginning, he extended the fixed investment timeline to July 2. Strictly speaking, his operation cannot 100% objectively reflect the results of the weekly fixed investment.

In addition to early corrections, the "coin hoarder" also had several experiences where he thought he was smart but ended up being fooled by his own wisdom. For example, in March last year, he thought the price of the currency would continue to fall, but he did not expect that the cost of subsequent additional investment would be much higher than before. After realizing that additional purchases were not very useful for long-term cost sharing, he stopped changing his plan at will starting in April last year.

His family didn’t know that “Coin Accumulator” was investing in Bitcoin. When Bitcoin plummeted at the end of 2018, his wife accidentally saw the description of “Bitcoin half price on Double Eleven” on WeChat Moments and expressed her curiosity. He wanted to try to explain Bitcoin first and then reveal his investment, but eventually gave up because the other party was not interested.

Losing a lot and doubting life, try the Buddhist fixed investment

Speaking of regular investment, "Coin Accumulator" is very grateful to one person, a player nicknamed "No Bits in Hand", who made his fortune in Babbitt, the earliest Bitcoin forum in China. Chang Qian also spoke highly of him: "A remarkable man", "One who combines knowledge and action, which is not easy".

After two months of "inspection" in the circle, "No Bit in Hand" started his regular investment journey on March 16, 2015. His plan was to invest 1,000 yuan worth of Bitcoin every week and disclosed 3 Bitcoin addresses. In the following two years, he had various doubts about Bitcoin, such as "Bitcoin is hopeless", "It seems that Bitcoin has no hope in 2016", "It is not fun at all", but he continued to invest. In the end, after paying about 110,000 yuan, he received 44.31 Bitcoins. When the price of Bitcoin was the highest, his return rate was nearly 5,000%, which can be regarded as a model of successful regular investment.

Screenshot source: Babbitt

The fixed investment was finally terminated in February 2017. According to him, domestic trading platforms prohibited withdrawals that year. However, until now, the coins in his wallet address have not been transferred, and even increased in March this year.

The story of "no bitcoins in hand" is still talked about today, and it has also led more people to embark on the road of fixed investment, including novices and old hands who have experienced many ups and downs.

Unlike "Coin Accumulator" who did not give up his full-time job and took care of regular investment, Wang Shu (pseudonym), who has returned to normal life, feels like a lifetime ago when he recalled the ridiculous experience of quitting his job to trade in cryptocurrencies two years ago. Like most investors who entered the market during the bull market, Wang Shu's opening in the crypto circle was not surprising, and he became rich overnight. He resolutely quit his job to invest in IC0 projects and follow the trend of news. From making more than 200,000 yuan to losing tens of thousands, the whole process took only two months. In his words, "It was like a dream."

Wang Shu was a loyal fan of Martian (Xu Zijing). He followed his live broadcasts and regarded his views as a guiding principle. Now he thinks that he was "too young". When the bear market first came in 2018, Wang Shu was very excited to see the continuous plunge and fantasized about copying the sudden wealth. But the money he earned by luck was eventually lost by strength. From March to May 2018, he bought HSR from 250 yuan to 30 yuan, and added leverage while taking spot.

After three months of holding on, he finally closed his position at 23 yuan. Overnight, not only did all his profits disappear, but he also lost tens of thousands of yuan. After reflection, he decided not to use leverage anymore and chose the safest way - fixed investment. Starting from the beginning of 2019, he left the market a few months later after earning 32.6% of the profit, "it was boring".

Every two or three months, the "coin collector" would withdraw bitcoins from the platform to a cold wallet. So far, the "coin collector" has invested a total of about 90,000 yuan, and there are two bitcoins in the wallet. According to the market price of bitcoin of $6,600 on March 25, the total value is less than 90,000 yuan, with a yield of -1.17%. However, this figure was 60% 20 days ago.

The fixed investment record of "Coin Hero"

Seeing others' multiple returns, "Coin Accumulator" is envious. It takes courage to admit that his cryptocurrency trading skills are not good enough. Seeing his assets shrink, "Coin Accumulator" will also feel lost. Fortunately, this sense of imbalance can be adjusted quickly. He still remembers that the darkest time was from December 2018 to January 2019, when his fixed investment floating loss reached 43%, and the entire crypto market was wailing.

It took "Coin Accumulator" nearly a year to go from being anxious and worried at the beginning to being able to sit firmly on the mountain now.

Zero mentality fixed investment

Like many investment markets, the cryptocurrency market is also short-lived and long-lived. Many people do not believe in Bitcoin and do not participate in the construction of the crypto ecosystem, but this does not prevent them from making money here. In this "casino" with huge fluctuations, some people get rich and go bankrupt through big-money games, while others try to spread the cost of buying coins over time through a steady stream of money.

Is cryptocurrency a good investment? An overseas Reddit user named "Joe-M-4" spent more than two years buying $100 of each of the top ten currencies by market value on the first day of each year, totaling $1,000, to conduct a crypto experiment. He ended up losing nearly 81% at the end of 2018, and earned 47.2% the following year. In February of this year, he earned another 51%. From losing most of his money to earning half, the performance of cryptocurrency is really uncertain.

Joe-M-4 lost 81% of his $1,000 investment in the first year

"Coin Hoarder" does not believe in the belief that Bitcoin will replace legal currency in the future, but he admits that Bitcoin is an excellent target for speculation. As long as capital does not give up speculation, Bitcoin will not return to zero. The expectation of future returns has prompted him to persist until now, and he has also made plans for the worst - returning to zero.

Because fixed investment does not necessarily guarantee a profit. Excluding those "passers-by" who accidentally got involved in the cryptocurrency circle in the early days, and those lucky ones who inadvertently reaped high returns just by buying casually, some people have been investing regularly since the beginning of the year. A month ago, they were complacent about their success in bottom-fishing, but with the recent price decline, they have returned to the starting point and even lost a lot; there are also those who listened to the instigation of others and blindly believed in Bitcoin from its highest point two years ago, but could not survive the bear market and eventually withdrew from the market.

The cryptocurrency market has its own set of operating rules. When faced with short-sighted speculators, it will automatically start the cleanup mode. Those who cannot see the hope of selling in a bear market due to floating losses, or are eager to pocket the profits in a short-term rise, are not true regular investors. To some extent, only regular investors with a zero-based mentality can survive here, unless they are die-hard Bitcoin fans.