One of our greatest strengths is our ability to forget and move on. Something that is vital to your success in the cryptocurrency market. We welcome the extreme price volatility when it goes in our favor to the upside. However, we become depressed from it when it goes against us. You cannot have the price upside to the moon, without several scary stops along the way.

As time goes by we actually forget how emotionally difficult some of the times that we’ve had in crypto were. How they not only made us question our conviction in this market but also resulted in us seeing the value of our net worth vanish in minutes. While the times we are currently going through in the crypto market are difficult. Most people would that the cryptocurrency market isn’t going anywhere. It might take some time, but it will definitely recover in the future when the economy also improves. However years ago during the younger days of Bitcoin and the crypto market that wasn’t a guarantee. Not only did we see the value of our portfolio drastically decrease, but there were real worries that this might be the end of the cryptocurrency market. 

This is the first article in what will be an ongoing periodic article series for me sharing the difficult times I’ve had in the market, in hopes that it will let you know that we have all gone through these difficult times before. And that we can even thrive after them. 

The March 2020 Price Crash

One of the most difficult times I have gone through during my years was the price crash in March 2020. Covid was just beginning to spread rapidly around the world, and it was still very mysterious and scary. There were real fears of how deadly it was and how it would affect the world. In an instant, everyone began panicking and the last thing on their mind was investable assets. Our focus changed to cash and the necessities of life. 

Before the day began, Bitcoin’s price was in the mid $7,000 range and had been moving sideways for weeks. But when the covid fear began spreading, the price of BTC began tumbling, and that is when the liquidation contagion began. The price began dropping faster and faster with no end in sight. In what seemed like minutes the price was down 50% to about $3,500. One of the top exchanges at the time was BitMex. This was where most of the leveraged trading on Bitcoin was happening. Due to the liquidations, the order book was completely empty on the exchange with more and more liquidations continuing to happen. It was a formula that very well could have sent Bitcoin down to nearly zero. Now what happened next is heavily rumored. But the rumor is that Arthur Hayes, the founder/CEO of BitMex, ordered the exchange to be unplugged. In order to stop the cascade of price drops, and it worked. A few hours later the price began recovering slightly. While the worst of it was over, it would still be a long journey of recovery until we would see new all-time highs in the market.

But what most people forget is just how scary that time was when those prices were dropping so quickly. Most of us had never seen such giant price movements during our time in the industry. There was real panic if this was the end of the industry as we knew it.

While seeing my portfolio being cut in half in mere minutes was painful. Oddly enough, it wasn’t the most painful thing that I did that day. I have one of the strongest convictions about the future of Bitcoin, but I would be lying if even I wasn’t questioning it that day. The price of Bitcoin had dropped to $3,500, and Ethereum went down to $80. Cardano even went to $0.01. While I sat staring at my computer screen in panic along with everyone else in the crypto market; I also thought these were incredible once-in-a-lifetime types of buying opportunities and so I literally went all in on crypto. While I would almost always recommend people to never go all-in on crypto and only invest what they can afford to lose. However, in this situation, I ignored that advice and it was life-changing for me. 

Luckily it turned out to be similar to that famous Warren Buffet quote.

These types of stories don’t always end up with a happy ending. Many people like to follow that advice from Warrant Buffet, only to see the price continue to fall. They are trying to catch falling knives. 

However, the point of today’s article is that even in your darkest hour in this market. When you truly are worried that it could spell not only the end of your portfolio but also this entire industry. If you stay calm and focused, make strategic moves. They could end up being the best thing you’ve ever done.

How about you? When was your scariest time in crypto?

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