“I wash my hands of this chaos!” That was me in December 2024, four years into trading cryptocurrencies. I was liquidated twice in that time, and nothing much seemed to work.
So, I decided I needed some more calm and logic. I got out of the crypto exchange altogether and decided to get more acquainted with Forex, precious metals, and even stocks. And man, was I wrong!
All’s well that ends well though. Here’s how it went down from the start!
Cryptomaniac Start
I look back at 2020 and I genuinely wonder what mad thoughts went through my head to decide to start trading with cryptocurrencies. But I did! I’d chosen the worst possible market to learn trading through, so I was keen to learn everything I could off the charts. I took as many technical analysis courses as I could, spending days watching videos, drawing crisscrossed lines, and looking for clues of the next move.
I honestly had no clue for a long while! Made every rookie mistake in the books. And of course, the crypto landscape didn’t help much by putting in wild moves.
I got liquidated once, but learned a lesson and got much more cautious. I particularly improved in technical analysis, but my execution remained rather poor. The second liquidation (a smaller number this time, thank the heavens) made me think I should stay away from crypto for a while, keep learning, organize my thoughts, and gather some more money to get back in the game.
Then, in the span of a month, I thought I’d found my way. It seemed that I was good at trading, but cryptocurrencies evaded me.
So, why not go to calmer, more rational markets?
Shift to Forex, Precious Metals, & Stocks
I quickly found an exchange, opened a demo account, and went to work. The technical foundations remained the same, so I tried my hand at everything! From the Dow Jones to France 40, from Brent Crude Oil to Gold, and from Microsoft to Ferrari, I saw it all and put fake money down on my analyses.
Then, I felt ready to put down some real money. So, I did. I turned out making steady but meager progress. It was starting to get a little dull, really! My capital wasn’t too big and I wasn’t going to put all my eggs in that basket again.
From a psychological point of view, you might say that I was doing okay: I’d gotten off that emotional roller coaster. But what do you do when you see the roller coaster coming right at you?
Back to Crypto
I’d kept an eye on cryptocurrencies, of course. I knew a lot about the market and I didn’t want my knowledge to fade. And as you know, Bitcoin started to move up.
Suddenly, crypto gurus start to multiply and everyone (and I mean everyone) puts money down on cryptocurrencies like it’s a big roulette table with great odds. All the while, I was out. I knew better than to invest a single dollar in there! I kept watching until Bitcoin’s new all-time high, $125,000. Then it hit me.
In my own words above on October 3rd, 2025, “when you’re on a boat and 90% of the people are standing on one side of it, chances are that it’s gonna flip!” Everyone was buying, and buying with crazy leverage.
In a flash of insight, I decided to take a broader approach to financial analysis. I took a deep and quick dive at the US economy, took a look at the sorry state of the world, and moved money to the exchange to short Bitcoin. I placed cheap buy orders for some altcoins I liked, too.
It took a while, but then Rektober 11 came with the biggest liquidation event in cryptocurrency history. More than $19 billion of poor retail traders’ money vanished into thin air. I was asleep when it happened, and I’m actually very proud of what happened next.
I woke up to astronomical ROIs I’d never seen and I went: “Oh, nice, profits. Hmm, I’m gonna close this one.” I was so calm it got weird after a while! I figured I wasn’t dreaming or in denial; I was finally getting a grip on trading psychology.
Then, I danced around a little for that milestone. And the money was nice, for sure!
Lessons Learned
That supremely accurate prediction and the work that went into it reshaped me as a trader, and even as a professional. I soon found out that big-picture analyses that had led to my success came in handy everywhere. I positioned more heavily in silver and it exploded. I expanded my gold holdings and it’s on the up and up. It’s quite a win streak!
Don’t get me wrong, I still make mistakes all the time. The difference is that no one mistake can ruin me anymore. (Nor can a hundred ones, I believe!) I went from a technical day trader to a long-term multifaceted trader in the span of maybe two weeks. I’m psychologically saner than ever (at least in trading), I can take my knowledge of macroeconomics and deep analyses to my day job, and I’m just surfing on every wave.
Still, the waves keep coming from all directions and the story is not over yet!