I remember around three years ago when @pharesim said in a chat how he loved All Time Highs (ATH) because it means that everyone who bought and held is up. Overnight, Hive hit its ATH of 43 cents which means that at that point, there are no losses for buyers who held - it is a little bit different on Hive though, as most people sso far haven't bought - they got an airdrop - which means they were up anyway.
But, another interesting thing to note is that this being the first month (and a bit) of Hive's existence, it is also the same month of the All Time Low (ATL) of 8.6 cents - which is exactly 1/5th of the high. So, if you bought at the low and sold at the high - Congratulations, you made 500% profits in 18 days.
Good luck doing that in places other than crypto - and Ocean's Eleven-esque heists.
Things move fast in the crypto world of price, both up and down, and umming and ahhing indecision can often lead to missing opportunities, but can also protect against losses. However and as I have mentioned before, if you aren't willing to lose what you are investing completely, you probably shouldn't be investing into crypto at all.
My stance is pretty simple on this. At the point I transfer fiat into crypto - my fiat is gone, my total loss has been realized - it is no longer mine. For me, this reduces my reactions to whatever happens past that point, up and down.
Down, because as I have already mentally accepted the total loss, it doesn't hurt so much. Up, because while it is great to see the "ROI", it still isn't mine until I can do something with it, meaning unless I sell for something, it is only a technical gain. For example, I was buying some Hive at quite low prices, but since I am not selling that Hive (I powered it up), it will likely reduce in value somewhat to wherever it was and that gain gets stripped away, one dip at a time.
While early on i used to get the gut wrenching feeling at a 30% drop, these days it hardly registers emotionally at all. This isn't through desensitization of frequency (maybe partly) or because I am rich enough not not care (quite the opposite), it is just that I have already written it off psychologically. There are other benefits to taking this position as well, especially on Hive.
For example, when there are price fluctuations up and down, I am largely unaffected at the content level, as my contributions are independent of the price of the token that rewards it. Also, I look long and look at gathering the tokens, not the price. Because I have a long view on Hive (I earlier had on Steem also), the immediate price doesn't mean as much as the future price of the token - when I will consider taking some profits.
The other area accepting loss is it reinforces the idea that the HIVE isn't mine until it is in my wallet - which means I am less emotionally affected by being downvoted - as annoying as it is. Those who think that getting downvoted takes away from them is mistaken, because unless that HIVE is under your control and usable, it isn't yours. Prior to payout, that HIVE dollar amount on the post indicates that some portion of the future token print is earmarked to be transferred into a wallet, but earmarks are not set in stone, they are the corners of the page turned down, and they can be unfolded and flattened again.
Life may be a stage and all of this might be a game - but the greatest limiting factor isn't a lack of money to invest, it is the emotional position we each take and the fears we have. We fear losing money, we fear losing opportunity, we fear losing face - we fear losing. Because of fear, we let opportunity after opportunity pass us by and while we "protect" ourselves from the various losses, we also wall ourselves off from gains.
One of my favorite books I have read as a child has a passage on love that speaks to me of opportunity and the overcoming of fear. It is by Khalil Gibran, a poet.
When love beckons to you, follow him,
Though his ways are hard and steep.
And when his wings enfold you yield to
him,
Though the sword hidden among his
pinions may wound you.
And when he speaks to you believe in
him,
Though his voice may shatter your dreams
as the north wind lays waste the garden.
While this may reference being open to and investing into love and loving fully despite the pain that may come, it also applies to the world of investment in general. The path is hard, steep and just when you think you are up, the sword drops and cuts you down - but to have the potential of the future, one must risk the swing of the blade.
People buy on hype, people sell out of fear, people hesitate in uncertainty. When you have already fully accepted the loss prior to its realization, what you are investing with is no longer yours, no longer in your possession - it is a tool, a hammer, a pen, a car. What you build, write and where you go with it is up to you.
Not everyone is skilled with the tools they use - very few have control of their emotions.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
That's a staggering gain, 500%
My crypto portfolio is also at an all time high, mainly because I had hardly anything in it back in 2017.
That's mainly thanks to Hive, most of which i bought when it was Steem, and when that was down in the dumps so it's all good.
Of course I'm not focussing on the several thousand Steem I bought at 1K odd sats, I'm focussing on the several thousand Hive I didn't buy at 1K odd sats.
It's only crypto that puts me in this negative frame of mind.
I'm sure it's the same with professional traders, and they're well known for getting burnt out with extreme stress.
The problem with Crypto is that it brings that to the masses too.
I think our onboarding material needs to have something on this wonderful-horrible aspect too!
I actually powered up 5K of that liquid I mentioned to stop me thinking about gains. Now it's locked it's mostly irrelevant and it's done wonders for my peace of mind, which is better than worrying about price fluctations for sure.
Edit: Mega lol on my part. It's @manoldonchev here writing from my wife's account...obviously.
— tarazkp
I have been going through that, so having some fresh experience of my own.
— revisesociology
Part of their professionalism and key to the success of those who are successful should certainly be a way to cope with those factors. And stress. If they're doing it like I'm doing it during my first week, that doesn't seem very professional. I think developing a solid state of mind should be their first task. Keeping that emotional distance and wielding the tools of the pro.
Of course, amateurs have nice results sometimes. Is it mostly because they weren't there when they could have made mistakes?
But about five times more amateurs fail to compensate for those that succeed. Maybe it's the same with pros, actually.
Does one success make you a pro? Does one mistake make you an amateur? Do five of them?
Failure is a must. I love a certain brand of online games that spams my e-mail from time to time.
Fail Better Games.
Let me continue, then, from my own account this time ;)
— revisesociology
It is a choice given and a chance given. With all its risks. But I see it as an opportunity to train and learn to handle risks.
It is a problem if people go gambling but gambling is also available across the world. Easier to access than crypto, even online. Well, with prohibitions or limitations in some states, of course.
So, it is giving the people the responsibility to handle themselves. Which they should be able to do as individuals, anyway.
Yep, it is a massive gain in 18 days - 400% technically as I have been told - so "not as great" :D
Locking it away into stake is seen as risky, but I think it takes away a lot of the pressure and stress of it all, plus allows other games to be played, like curation.
As said, not everyone is cut out for this, in more ways than the investing side too. Traders are a type of animal that have emotions most don't.
When the price is multiplied by 5 it means that it's a 400% gain, not 500%. 100% is a double, 200% x3, 300% x4, 400% x5. Always go one less with the percentages. Loved this post, upvoted!
Yeah you are right. For most I guess it is an infinite gain, as they sold what they got for free :D
man when did you hit 100k? im already mad i sold out of my orca position. going bearish is not my strong suit.
in addition to the massive gain one could have made from buying the atl and selling the ath, one could have also gone x3 on Steem the day before the fork happened. That's potentially a what, x15 gain in 5 weeks?
Things are gonna get crazy when they open the economy after the halving.
A couple weeks back I bit the bullet and went pretty big to power in.
I unfortunately missed the Steem runup :/ I went bear too.
A few weeks right?
https://www.thehalvening.com/
17 days.
Thanks. Excited?
Not really :D
Still salty about selling out of my Orca position.
I hope I get my $1200 stimulus check soon.
However, I've stopped being worried about Bitcoin crashing,
so that's a nice feeling.
Unfortunately, the only thing bullish about the halving event in the short term is speculation, which could swing either way. Miners getting their income cut in half is not bullish for the network an day 1. The security of the network will be weakened as hash-power declines.
So, the scarcity won't drive price up? is it that the miners will have to sell more?
There is no scarcity on day one.
Scarcity builds up over time.
Not enough time has passed right when the halving happens,
which is why we see these speculative pump/dumps that try to price in the halving fail every single time.
Also yes, miner capitulation is also a thing.
Miners sell all their Bitcoin to pay the power bill.
However, because the value of Bitcoin is already so oversold, who knows what will happen.
It's very possible a pump will happen because the lockdown delayed it.
I bought into Steem as a great project idea, moved from Steem to Hive out of personal dissatisfaction, still in the throes of moving.
Investing time, effort, satoshi's is not always about watching movement in profit, but growing a platform you feel will be beneficial to many in the long run.
Earnings and seeing profit go up is exciting, no one can say it is not, a little trading may make additional profit to buy me some !BEER at the end of the day, keep smiling!
Aren't well all? :D
This is the biggest value of the gains, eyes on the project.
At some point, I will take a little profit and buy a bottle of nice wine.
All Time Hive ... I love that title Taraz!
Great post, I like the part where you mention emotions and fear.
I'm into crypto since march 2017, things are still good for me, but I would like to cash out something in the next months.
Let's wait and see.
Hugs
Steemitri The Mannequin
Thanks, I think it will come up again - hopefully :)
Hopefully it keeps climbing so some can take gains happily, and some can buy in before it climbs even further.
People don't always buy on hype. People certainly don't always sell out of fear. That view sort of gives people little credit.
*Unrealized profits. Most people are staked and illiquid.
China exchange listing pumps are exciting, but I don't see the rest of the crypto community lining up just yet to push us up to a new level of adoption, development, or price discovery. I think much of the trading recently was people playing the scenario, or just blindly buying a shiny new coin on the news.
Where in the sentence did I use the word, "always"?
Loophole.
Stop by one of these days.
Glad I bought in! Wish I bought in more but isn’t that how it goes. I find I’m not very emotional at all when I don’t put in more than I can afford. Just excited when things go well. Wondering if I should shelf a bit in btc now I’m case it drops again but also don’t want to do anything to contribute to it dropping again. Want to see this go sky high
At the levels I play, I don't think it will affect price much. :)
I bought at 12 cent hive though. It feels really good to know how it feels to sell at a rise. Well I guess we'd relish it while we can
Relish while one can - hold while one can :D
It's funny because this is the first financial social blockchain article I have read in a while right after I wrote one myself which is also rare. It is so true, taking money out of fiat and into the crypto sphere, it becomes something else. Something meant to be spent in a world that doesn't yet exist.
It is up to us how we build that world. Most take their gains and buy back into the past.
They are wack, what can I say!
Bro. This post is already ancient. We're at 60cents now.
I should try to keep up with the times...
Clever (in your title) use of words @tarazkp. Nice touch / inspiration!
At heart, the HODLer type, I have, nonetheless, become more aware of the "pump and dump" game so prevalent in the cryptosphere, since first investing into it in August 2017.
So ...
Uncharacteristic of me, for the first time, I moved both the liquid HIVE and HBD I had in my wallet to Bittrex and sold it. For BTC. I will HODLer it for a short time => beyond both the "halvening" of BTC and the "pump" of the Huobi promotion. And then see how much HIVE I can repurchase for my BTC ...
For me, whether a nice gain or total loss, it isn't going to change my life. But ... It does provide a little uhhh ... "entertainment" while the madness "out there" continues ...
I am likely to do a little of the same, and see what happens. I haven't been very active in trading for a long time, just clicking back and forth occasionally with set and forgets. Not a great game plan, but keeps me ticking.
For me trading, in my "teeny weeny pea brain" is nothing more than "timing" the markets. Which makes about as much as sense as my "olden days" adventures of throwing the dice out onto the craps tables in Nevada and pretending somehow I could "control" how they would each turn face up. 🙃
For some "mysterious" reason, it rarely turned out the way it was "playing out" in my mind ... 😉 Worse, the few times they did kept me going on in the delusion that "it was my lucky day" ... 😏
That said, this is a "macro move" or so I am still deluding myself. And, therefore, this time will be different ...
I know a couple people who get their timing close enough more often than not, and I guess that indicates that - they are luckier than me! ;D
Yes, well if it is any consolation @tarazkp ...
... this goes double for me. 😉 HIVE has almost doubled, from where I sold it. Thinking I had done pretty well at that (which I did actually) ...
So ... The "pump" is really skyrocketing. I wonder when and how bad the "dump" will be? Starting sometime after Apr. 28th ...
it has quadrupled - I am glad I didn't sell much.
likely
Let's see what happens next. Some will return stating 'I am back', no doubt the abuse will increase, but I'm not all doom and gloom.
It seems to be stabilizing around 40c, both yours and my votes are going to be pushing $2 soon, it's a good feeling, isn't it?
Yeah. Once upon a time, it was reaching around the 15 mark for a little while, that was with a paid delegation and around 50K total SP. If it hits there again with 100+ HP it is going to be fun :)
I can't imagine the feeling, it's like being able to dish money out to people. With what happened yesterday, it's already making a difference to the weight. I know it's psychological but there's something about it.
Yeah, it is a really good feeling - many just raped harder...
It looks like I made a good choice to power down my Steem too buy Hive. I didn't get such a good rate yesterday, but I'm happy enough with where I am. I don't plan to sell any Hive for a while, but I am cashing out some Steem. May as well treat myself.
Have a little fun.
I am hoping for some Steem pumps over the next month or two - but it is hard to say if they will arrive.
It is interesting to see Hive around $0.43 USD, while Steem is around $0.16 USD. What could have caused the Hive price rise?
Likely the hype around Huobi and then some taking advantage of low sell pressure to drive price up. There wasn't a lot of resistance.
I like to believe that I have traded anything that can be traded (I understand that I am likely wrong, but not by much); and I can tell you 100% up days and 500% gain in 3 weeks, both are fairly uncommon outside crypto.
But we have been here before as well. So we know what comes next. Like @Pharesim, I like ATH as well, I even like an instrument that continues to make ATH at all scales. Yes, that happens too, quite common actually. In a bull market. Yeah, there, I said it!
Feeling bullish today?
This should have a √ box next to it like a term of use when signing in to #Hive for the 1st time.
"Those who think that getting downvoted takes away from them is mistaken, because unless that HIVE is under your control and usable, it isn't yours. Prior to payout,"
And the Tool analogy.... I deal with people all day every day that really CAN NOT use them, or DRIVE them very well.... LoL
The spike was crazy. Only those who sell now made a huge profit. For those powering up, it will just remain there and watch as the price fluctuates. However, seeing the bullish trend in hive gladdens our heart. I just hope the price didn't fall back to where it picked up from.
And yeah, the fear of failure has made many people lose several opportunities. No pain, no gain.
I don't mind it falling back for a couple months :)
@tarazkp, I thought you were a poet like Byron, were you really a cold stock investor?
Me? No. I dabble only. I am not cut out for it :)
I was joking. hahaha
I'm just glad I joined in on this adventure! It has been only improving myself.
Self-improvement is much better than trying to improve others :)
Some good news atleast.
Very well said!