I Lost More Than Half A Million, What's My Next Financial Goals? (LoH #96)

August 23, 2022

I was reading @kerrislravenhill's post the other day and I never thought it was for the current LoH contest. Memories flashed in my mind about crypto trading. Those days when I was still a newbie and a noob, until I learned how to trade, invest in DeFi, and grasped things about these complex Blockchain and Cryptoverse.

Along with the achievements are setbacks which are inevitable, especially here on Cryptoverse. There were a lot of failures, losses, scams, rug pulls, and more that I encountered that often motivated me to pursue this crypto journey. Life here is as volatile as the crypto market. It goes up and down, and even reaches the bottom. Getting back to the track isn't easy as well. It takes time, courage, and determination to acknowledge the situation to start a new step, a better crypto journey.

Prior to stepping into the Hive chain, I started on another chain in blogging. Things were still too tough to fathom. But my consistent learning and reading crypto-related articles on that platform helped me a lot to get a hold, not of everything, but at least the basics and more about cryptocurrencies and blockchain. I was a curious cat who was so eager to try new stuff, certainly in crypto trading and DeFi investing.

Setting goals and financial plans weren't my forte back then until I got inspired and motivated by several crypto enthusiasts I met on blogging platforms. That's when I realized that I also need to have mine and set financial goals for my future. I valued saving more than spending. Some of the leisures and unnecessary habits were taken off. Well, the former fangirling to Kdrama series was gone and I became a crypto noob wandering in the crypto world with better goals and plans.

If you want to know more about my crypto journey, achievements, and failures, you can check this blog below.
A Crypto Noob Wandering Around The Cryptoverse

And this one that was posted on another platform, click here

"Whether a newbie or veteran blogger, it would be good to have financial goals and a plan. Have you considered diversifying into other cryptocurrencies or tokens in your plans? If so, which ones would/did you choose and why?"

In my two years of staying in this Cryptoverse, one thing I learned is crypto crashes and sudden market swings are inevitable, so one must have better financial goals, crypto asset management, and plans.

Struggles and losses of a Crypto Noob

Not all days are diamonds because mostly are stones. Those bear markets and bloody episodes are sometimes demotivating, especially when seeing a huge loss in my crypto portfolio. I recently updated my crypto portfolio, removed those I sold, and added those I bought. Hive was one of them.

I was shocked by the number of losses I got this past 12 months. I was like, "D#mn, that's pretty enough to put up a business in the country." If I will convert it to my fiat currency, that's more than half a million pesos. Coingecko's portfolio only shows 1 year of data, so previous months couldn't be shown. There'll be more losses if 2 years' data are shown there.

And from 20+ to 13 BCH worth of Sep20 tokens on SmartBCH, as of the time of writing. I also had huge losses in my BSC DeFi investments, in CUB, BAKE, JulD, and CAKE to be specific.

Meanwhile, I tried my luck on Metaverse and invested in Pegaxy. Unfortunately, prices dropped again and I didn't sell my profit. It was the worst decision I made. I was able to buy and breed up to 5 pegaxies but none of them were able to recoup my investment and losses. After several updates and price dumps, more than a thousand dollars were lost here.

At the start of 2021, my goals were to achieve $20k worth of crypto portfolio, 20 of a certain token I was holding, and six digits in my savings account before 2021 ends.

My portfolio almost reached $20,000 when the crypto with the biggest amount I was holding reached its ATH at more than $1500 per token, along with other cryptocurrencies in my wallets. I got almost 30 of that certain token, yet, I invested more than 50% in its different projects. I did achieve them, yet, my crypto profits remain unrealistic as I didn't convert them to fiat or stablecoins when all tokens in the market skyrocketed. I was too weak to let go of my assets. Then an unfavorable market crash happened, not just once, not just twice, not just thrice, but multiple times.

What's more upsetting was when I threw in my real cash to invest in a certain token, but after buying, the market crash started and continued to drop drastically. Just imagine buying a token at $1000 and it slowly dropped to $100. What would you feel? It was frustrating. My real cash seems turned to ash. So my six-digits saving goal was burnt.

That crypto has so much potential and a great use-case and vision, yet, it has a lot of rivals and bashers and lacks the support it deserves. From the top 5, it slowly dropped to the top 30 which is more disheartening as it has been a huge help for me in starting my crypto journey and diversifying my portfolio. Without it, I wouldn't have other tokens by now, and I wouldn't be on this chain.

My blogging friends here definitely know my losses because of my ineffective crypto assets management as I often throw my frustrations on another platform. A lot of realizations and regrets happened this year and I felt too unlucky, contrary to what I got last year. Sometimes, I would think, "I should have had big savings now if I wasn't too weak to take my profits."

Diversifying Crypto Portfolio

As mentioned above, I sold some of my assets and added some. Currently, I have 21 tokens in my Coingecko portfolio, some of them are from SmartBCH. Some of them were acquired in different airdrops and blogging, some were bought using the profit I got from selling a certain token.

But among all tokens I have in my portfolio, I am only focused on these few tokens and they are usually used in trading:
BCH, BNB, ETH, BTC, XRP, ADA.

ETH was the very first token I bought using my own money back when I wasn't blogging yet. It was invested in a Platform which eventually turned into a scam. At least, I was able to gain a small profit from that platform and the ETH price kept rising as well.

BCH was the crypto I acquired next from the platform I invested most of my spare time in blogging. It also has the biggest percentage in my portfolio because it's all my blogging profit for 2 years of blogging on this platform. I got huge losses in this token but still holding them until it recovers. Because I believe it has so much potential and good vision.

It was the late quarter of 2020 when I decided to diversify my portfolio when I learned a lesson about not putting all eggs in one basket. Because when unexpected circumstances happen, at least, we have something to pull out from other baskets.

Using some of BCH, I sold them to buy some BTC, BNB, XRP, and ADA because these tokens are included among the top crypto tokens. I was even persuaded to buy DOGE due to Ellon Musks' influence. Yet, I am still at a loss in this token since its price dropped as well.

Meanwhile, on Binance Smart chain DeFi, I also bought CAKE and CUB tokens and staked them on PanCakeSwap and CubFinance to accumulate more, and some BAKE and JulD too. I also got some FARM, AMPL, and BAT from blogging on Publish0x before. Unfortunately, all prices of these tokens also dropped drastically.

When SmartBCH was launched, I opted to put my BCH to work with the hope of accumulating more. Some of the tokens I bought include EBEN, LAW, CATS, JOY, and others. But along with the unexpected crypto market crash recently, the SmartBCH market crashed as well, dragging all my tokens down and losing a huge percentage of my BCH portfolio. More than 50% was invested here and I still haven't recovered most of my losses until now.

The Lessons and Goals

With the good and bad experiences, scams, rug pulls, losses, and lessons I learned in the past two years in the Cryptoverse, one thing is certain, the bear is more inevitable than the bull so one must take due diligence before taking any actions and consider the probability that may arise, not just the current situation.

We can't really predict up to what extent the market will go up or down, so some things should be taken into account.

• We better take a small profit than lose a huge one, and consider the fact that a small one will become big when accumulated over time.
• As much as possible, do not be greedy and learn when to stop and set a limit. Those huge digits of profits are truly motivating, yet, when greediness takes over, everything can be gone in just one snap.
• Don't be FOMOed or affected by FUD because we have the utmost control of our decisions and whatever the consequences, it's only us who will suffer and should be blamed, no one else.
• And above all, this is something I needed to practice and constantly remind myself not to hesitate to sell when the bull is there and patiently wait for the bear to come before diving in again.

It has been a huge mistake and a worse decision of mine when I didn't do anything when the crypto market was at its peak last year. Most of the tokens reached their ATH but I didn't do anything at all as I was hesitant to let go of my assets. I may have stayed longer here, but I am still a noob and still have a lot of lessons to learn.

Meme generated by imgflip and edited on PicsArt

When the crypto market crashes multiple times, that's when I realized that, holding too much isn't the good way, but letting them go and taking profits. Besides, the right time always comes to buy them back.

After losing more than half a million worth of crypto, what will be my next financial goals and plans?

With all the hiccups I suffered this year, I opted to reset my crypto assets management to recoup my investments, alleviate the losses, and hopefully, take more profits this time.

My financial goals and plans remained and that's to:

• To achieve six digits in my savings account before this year ends. Saving real cash is more important because we need it in our day-to-day life. And being a breadwinner in our family, it's often tough to balance everything and save more for myself. So blogging and crypto trading is the only way that I could save for my future, not just for my family.

• To achieve a $20K worth of crypto portfolio. I know this is quite impossible as there are only four months left, the market isn't that stable yet, and high prices have not recovered yet. However, this is a long-term goal. Whether I achieve this goal this year or not, it will continue until I accumulate that amount.

One more crypto that has been added to my portfolio is HIVE. When I opted to be active here, that's when I realized that there are a lot of opportunities here and benefits to get when staying longer. The Hive Staking for instance has so much to offer and HIVE is for a long-term hold.

My recent profit in trading was also used to buy more HIVE and put them on Binance trading to accumulate more.

And the main reason why I joined this contest is because of the prize sponsored by @kerrislravenhill. Who doesn't like to be delegated with 500 HP anyway? My Hive Financial goal for this year is to accumulate 2000 HP before the year ends. And checking my wallet's current stats, I still need more or less 35% to achieve this goal this year. I know it's possible through regular posting quality content and interacting, as well as joining different contests like this one of LoH.

Speaking of Ladies of Hive, I opted to put my LOH on the Hive Engine trading platform to use them in trading. I don't have much and this will be my way to accumulate more LOH. I sold 30 LOH when it skyrocketed recently and have created a buy order. And if this will be hit, then the 30 LOH will become 179. That's how easy it is to grow a token if executed well.

Yet, again, patience and proper strategy and plans are necessary to be successful in trading. And maybe I need to wait for more years? To recoup my initial investments and losses. And hopefully, by that time, the market is doing well and I could get more profits.

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Those were just some of the crypto journey stories, gains, and losses I got in these past 2 years. I am inviting @ruffatotmeee @eybyoung @bmjc98 @yen1503 to join this challenge. I know these ladies have something to share as well. They were my buddies when I was still learning how to trade and invest in DeFi. Just like me, they have gains and losses, strategies and goals, as well as lessons learned in crypto trading. Good luck ladies 😊.

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