Since I entered the cryptocurrency market years ago; there has always been 1 thing that I have struggled with. It wasn’t about whether I should buy Bitcoin, Ethereum, or other altcoins. It wasn’t about having conviction in the future of this market either. Instead, I have struggled with the idea of selling portions of my portfolio during bullish times to take profits. I call this the Bitcoin Infection.
Over the years, the value of my crypto portfolio has grown to amounts that I never thought I’d be able to have. Especially during bull cycles. However, until the moment when we actually push the sell button, these are just gains on paper. With as volatile as the crypto market is, the future is not guaranteed. Many of us learned this lesson the hard way last year.
While selling our crypto isn’t an idea that many of us want to think about quite yet; especially with prices still so far below previous all-time highs. However, over the years I have learned that making impulse decisions in crypto rarely works out well. FOMOing in on skyrocketing crypto, or feeling the panic and selling near the lows. Our emotions are our biggest weakness as investors and will often cause us to buy at the top, and sell near the bottom.
It goes even deeper than this. During bull cycles, greed will begin to take over your mind. As you see the value of your portfolio grow; you’ll begin to imagine how your life is going to change. Thoughts of quitting your job and becoming rich will begin popping into your head. You also may begin finding yourself going to car and housing websites to see what you can afford to buy.
As the price of Bitcoin and Ethereum rise to unprecedented levels; you’ll have more money than you’ve ever had before. You will be aware that if you sold a portion of your portfolio now to take profits; it would significantly change your life. Finally growing your savings and no longer living paycheck to paycheck. Being able to pay off debt. But most importantly, being able to remove a lot of the stress that having little to no cash can have on people.
But this FOMO and greed have infected our minds. We begin to think prices are good, but they will continue going up. We’ll take profits at even higher prices. After all, it would be foolish to take profits now if prices will go even higher. As we learned last year when the bull market was cut short, companies became insolvent and many people lost their crypto. All the while prices dipped lower than we ever thought we’d see again. The future is not guaranteed.
Perhaps one of the problems is that many of us become “too attached” to our crypto holdings. I am guilty of this as well. We have the conviction that Bitcoin and crypto are going to change the world. That prices will soar to levels that cause the largest transfer of wealth the world has ever seen before. Which makes us feel that we need to accumulate as much as possible before this happens. Selling now would only make reaching our accumulation goals much harder to reach.
We have all likely seen the famous Bitcoin Matrix movie meme where Morpheus tells Neo that he’ll never need to sell his Bitcoin. That in the future he will be able to use it for everything. This very well could happen, and I’m a firm believer that it will happen eventually. With that said, if you can change your life by selling, you should take that opportunity. Those chances very rarely come along in life.
There is a stigma within the most hardcore crypto enthusiasts that people who sell are sometimes looked down upon. Often they will say those people weren’t true Bitcoiners.
But let me stress this key point to you one more time. If you can significantly change your life; or reach the goals that you initially set out for. There is absolutely no shame in selling your crypto and I would actually recommend you to do so.
As for me, I have the Bitcoin infection that I discussed throughout this article. It pains me to sell my BTC and I would prefer not to. The goal I have personally set is to sell a portion of my portfolio when it would allow me to retire and still live comfortably. To this day, I have never sold any of my crypto for cash. We each have our individual crypto moons and we should always do what is best for our situation. If you can change your life, do it. Don’t let the crypto infection of greed get in your way.
How about you? Do you have the Bitcoin and crypto infection?
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As always, thank you for reading!
