Over the past year, I have been trying various strategies and listening to several podcasts, YouTube videos, and read several articles and books. Many experts state DYOR (do your own research). I find that the best way to learn is “actually do” what makes sense and learn from your mistakes to make it your own portfolio in the future. From my trial and error I discovered 3 key items for myself.

1. Dollar cost averaging - is when you buy crypto on a certain frequency like daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly. This comes with fees every time you trade or deposit depending on the exchange and bank you utilize. For example trades on Voyager seem to have zero or low fees, but Coinbase charges fees for every transaction. I do use both exchanges and have also used Binance and PayPal, and some soft wallets. The reason I am listing multiple is because I believe an person needs to try several platforms out before knowing what is right for them. I personally use multiple because I am still learning. 

                 Also DCA should focus on the top coins like Bitcoin, Ethereum, for example while altcoins are more risky to do DCA. I manually have been doing DCA to buy Bitcoin on a weekly to monthly basis. If I were to automatically DCA, I highly recommend a stable coin like USDC, USDT, or even DAI. These all mirror the dollar and correct to maintain their dollar value. You can also stake these coins and earn interest. 

1. Buy and hold - is a method I use in the stock market and only like to apply to Bitcoin, Ethereum, Cardano, and maybe some others I feel comfortable with since I did my research by reading the altcoin white paper. I would not Buy and hold an alternative coin because they are not as established and adopted. The more time a coin has proving itself will provide mor utility and acceptance in the market to establish its value. It do trade alt coins, but follow the market to develop my strategy. I have two options: sell and put profits in Bitcoin or stable coins. Then reinvest when I feel it’s a good time to get out of stable coins and back into alt coins. I have not sold any Bitcoin, but have been in and out of Ethereum. 
2. Sideways markets is when the market does not make significant gains or losses and just maintains within a tight range daily. As I am writing this article, I have seen several days of sideways pricing so I have been buying Bitcoin. The amount I purchase is small at $100 about every 2 weeks on Exodus because it allows me to use ApplePay and charge my credit card. The downside of this is the $10 fee that is on top of your purchase charged by the credit card company. 

Hope this was something you could take with you and use in the future cryptocurrency journey.