Federated Union of Cryptocurrency Traders demand more sleep

Moonhub
Moonhub
Nov 2 · 2 min read

FUCT says that 24/7 crypto trading is robbing them of their sanity.

The Federated Union of Cryptocurrency Traders (FUCT) has demanded that trading between the hours of 12am and 8am be banned for health reasons.

Unlike conventional stock markets, crypto markets are open 24/7 and traders can buy and sell digital currencies at any time, wherever they are in the world. ‘The crypto markets don’t sleep,’ says Richard Prior, head of FUCT. ‘And that means we don’t either.’

The effects of sleep deprivation have been the subject of extensive scientific research in recent years. Short-term sleep deprivation can result in loss of concentration, slower reactions and irritability — similar to the symptoms of alcohol impairment. Chronic sleep deprivation can have long-term health consequences, including depression, weight gain and metabolic disorders. Meanwhile acute sleep deprivation — where a person stays awake for 48 hours or more — can bring hallucinations and even temporary psychosis.

‘I remember one time I stayed awake for 96 hours straight to trade the BCash fork event,’ comments Richard, who has traded crypto professionally since 2014. ‘After a while the candles start to look like trees or ferns in a primeval forest. It was when the dinosaurs turned up and started giving me trading advice that I realised I needed more coffee.’

Richard has since changed his trading habits after being hospitalised for sleep deprivation. ‘It’s not so bad for swing traders. If you wait for the start of a 4h candle you can get in a good 3 hours sleep before waking up for a shower and coffee before it closes. But for day-traders, it’s a real problem. There is no ‘day’ in crypto. The markets never close. You can lose weeks before you realise the closing bell isn’t going to ring, the cat is eating the leather cover of the sofa and your wife has gone off with the Amazon delivery guy. That’s happened twice to me. Ironically, the second time the Amazon guy was delivering a new sofa cover.’

As head of FUCT, Richard is lobbying exchanges to close for at least 8 hours a day to allow traders to sleep and maintain their health. Crucially, it must be the same 8 hours, since exchanges are located in different jurisdictions and timezones. ‘So far we’ve had limited success. More than anything, we need to raise awareness of the sleep-deprived surrealistic hell that is the life of a professional crypto trader. I have to go, I think the spiders might be coming now.’

Article by Moonhub

Moonhub

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