Riding The Cryptocurrency Craze…Yeehaaa!

11 Dec 2020 – a date I will not forget.

Since early November 2020, I started noticing a certain restlessness, distraction and secrecy in my husband’s behaviour. Constant checking of his mobile phone and hurried texting that when prodded, produced such responses: “hmm, need to get this done” or “just a moment, this is important”.

There were instances where he was on the phone enjoying a nice conversation and when he heard me came into the room, lowered his voice immediately and instead of speaking in complete sentences, switched to ‘uhmm’, ‘yes’, ‘ah-huh’ and ‘of course’. The light bulb in my head went from green to orange.

Several times when I happened to wake up during the night, I found him scrolling his mobile phone in the darkness. As soon as he noticed I was awake, he would turn it off and pretended to get back to sleep to fend off my questions. The bulb went from orange to screaming red! So on 11 Dec 2020, I decided it was time for an all-out confrontation, D-Day.

That was when he finally owned up to his fling…..with Reven. And Lora and Das. Omg, what an orgy!

 

Reven in my mind

 

Seeing the absolute horror on my face and sensing that a punch is coming, he quickly came clean: “They are all crypto trading BOTs”, with a sheepish grin that seemed to say “Aha! Gotcha!”. In fact, I could even swear that he winked. He ‘owned up’ to having started investment into some Altcoins as well, and had kept it from me knowing we agreed earlier not to venture into the arena. Ahhh…so that explained his secrecy.

No one on this planet can ignore the craze over cryptocurrency in the past year. Hardly a day goes by without some kind of news about Bitcoin or Altcoins. Besides being beguiled and entertained by their price volatility and the incredulous stories of crypto whales making godzillions, I was not drawn to cryptocurrency as an investment because:

• I only invest in what I know and I know nothing about cryptocurrency.
• It is super volatile and hence risky. Between wealth accumulation and wealth preservation, I am at a stage that favours the latter.        
• The crypto world is susceptible to regulatory interception.

So those were the reasons why we decided against crypto investment.

Having said that, we know of friends and acquaintances who have ventured into the crypto space and made quite a killing. Like our tax accountant in Holland. He sold off his shares in the lack-lustre Dutch bourse early 2020 and staked 70% of his liquidated funds into Altcoins. Before the year ended, he had made a whopping 52% return and could not stop gushing about it every time we spoke.

Tempted by his friends’ escapades, my husband caved in and decided to open both a BOTs and crypto trading account late October 2020, coinciding with the time my spousal suspicion was aroused – no pun intended 🙂

 

The real Reven, see how she gallops. You go girl!

 

Having seen what my husband achieved in the 3 weeks since he started dabbling in it and the excitement in him, I got piqued and started thinking: maybe the best way for me to learn about this whole new world of cryptocurrency is to have some skin in the game?

Every new invention or breakthrough has had its share of early adopters and naysayers. Aeroplane. Electricity. Telephone. Automobile. Space travel. You name it. So which side of the track do I want to be? March to a new rhythm or stay grounded in the present? Luckily, it does not have to be one or the other, they are not mutually exclusive.

Thus with this new mindset, I waddle into the world of crypto BOTs and digital coins. We believe there are folks who made losses, but human behaviour is such that we brag only about victories while keeping mum about losses. So we developed a game plan by taking advantage of the very volatility that had kept us at bay before.

The plan is simple:

• Invest what we can bear to loose and not fret if it goes pop.
• Plough back earnings whenever we hit achieve a meaningful quantum (5% – 10%).
• Once initial capital is fully recouped, we will be investing with pure gains.
• From then on, we can be more offensive, take bigger risk.

I started with 3 Altcoins recommended by experienced friends. The ride started as an immediate rush, doing gravity-defying somersault loops and plunges at fingertip speed with non-stop 24*7 trading.…yeeehaaa!

Trading can be done through weekends, holidays and nights with absolutely no down-time. For a novice like me, it was rocket-speed initiation grabbling to understand how each Altcoin,claims to be better than Bitcoin or the rest, the different functions or just better technology.

And then there are the BOTs, some with fancy names such as Wanda, Coco, Amy 🙂 Crypto trading BOTs are essentially computer programs designed to automate the buying and selling of cryptocoins according to defined algorithm and a set of principles to generate profits, at great speed.

 

Meet the babelicious BOTs – ready to tango?

 

I expanded my investment beyond the initial 3 Altcoins, trading frequently. It takes constant monitoring due to the immense volatility, thus timeliness is a critical component in crypto trading. There can be price swing of 50% intra-day! If you miss the stampede, too bad. The App makes monitoring and trading easy, but also addictive. Now I understand why my husband was constantly reaching for his phone.

We starting making profits and true to game plan, keep ploughing back some of our gains. The topping back of funds into our bank account leads to a confidence and belief that there is real money to be made in this playground.

With each passing day, our confidence, belief and boldness grow. Whenever the market throws a tantrum causing prices to tumble, we go on a shopping spree. Conversely when market euphoria soars, we offload to lock-in some profits.

Over the past 3 months, we had topped-up twice to our initial capital, which accelerated our gains, giving a nice warm fuzzy feel.

Our results to-date?

 

Drumroll..the results (English translation in blue)

 

We invested a total of €25,000 to-date(including top-ups) and have withdrawn 80% (€20,000) bak to our bank account. Current balance in our account or vault is €16,396 representing a gain of 45%…just under 4 months! And this excludes the gains from the BOTS! Not bad for 2 novices with no prior clue whatsoever about crypto trading.

The ride is indeed exhilarating and fun. My learning journey has started with still mountain loads to go. The space is fast-moving with lots of happenings and new developments. There are no lack of news, opinions, comments, updates and gurus to follow.

Without a doubt, this adventure has added rainbow-coloured streaks to my life with sounds of ka-ching! ka-ching! ringing in my ears.  I am now a new convert and believer in crypto as a viable digital asset class though still keeping a cautious eye on developments and sticking to a game plan.

I am under no delusion that this is pure volatility play with not much fundamentals supporting each trade, just riding the waves of troughs, peaks and market sentiment. The adrenaline is pulsating and the profits are real. I think cryptocurrencies can be a potential store of value, especially with inflation lurking from the liquidity injected into the economy.

Drawing purely on performance over the past months, we expect to recover 100% of our capital in another month, by May. We have then set for ourselves a new goal: make enough to buy 1 BTC (Bitcoin) by 31 Dec 2021. Audacious maybe, but in the virtual space there are no limits right?

So, the lesson learnt?

Not every fling is what you think it is 🙂

 

To limitless mindset,

Savvy Maverick   

 

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are drawn from my own experience and do not constitute financial advise in any way whatsoever. Nothing published here constitutes an investment recommendation, nor should any data or content be relied upon for any investment activities. It is strongly recommended that independent and thorough research is undertaken before making any financial decisions, including consulting a qualified professional.