I'm a typical rookie crypto trader who got in when things started hitting a trillion dollars in capitalization last December (yes, I was late and I can still remember enough to kick myself when I had chance to buy BTC at $800/coin). Anyhoo, I've been trading actively since Christmas season, and made a whopping $19 net gain the first 30 days (which of course is better than losing my shirt). But I learned the hard way about trading fees and how they eroded my gains, how a momentary panic in a day can lose out a massive gain in a week, and how alt coins are often duds and the tried and true core coins just continue to deliver.

However, now some four months later, I've been able to crunch the data on my trading and the value of why HODLing is pretty much the better place to be hands down.

The figures speak for themselves. Had I just held my positions and added to them, my gain would have been far more, probably double. $s on the left, gain percentage per day on the right, daily volume change in the middle.

Sometimes looking in the mirror is the best financial advice for yourself.

(This is my particular situation. I fully expect 100 percent risk, and it doesn't represent any financial advice to anyone else).