What I Learned from my First Semester in Wolverine Crypto Trading
When Rishi and Danny began this trading club, their mission was to form a community where “We learn by doing.” This is exactly what I’ve done over the past couple months, and I want to share some of the important takeaways I’ve gained from my time in the club.
Find a Community of Crypto Lovers
The in-person conversations with other people who share my passion for the technology have been my favorite part of the club. Why? I adopt the aggregate knowledge of everyone in the room. You can read all the whitepapers, reddit, Medium, and twitter you want, and you might even become super knowledgeable about cryptocurrency and blockchain technology by teaching yourself, but your learning experience will be accelerated, and more enjoyable, if you find a way to meet in person with like minded enthusiasts.
When you have a group of people who understand different areas of the technology, you can learn about new aspects of it more efficiently. This is because a person explaining a concept and answering questions as they come to you is infinitely more productive than simply watching a video or reading an article. Clarification and explanation of ideas that you don’t understand is key.
Plus, people in blockchain often have awesome ideas about the future of it, and I love to hear their opinions, predictions, and ideas about the technology during our meetings. Also, if you are passionate about the technology, it’s easy to find or form a group of your own. There is a tremendous and welcoming community surrounding the technology. Be sure to checkout and follow the Meetup pages for crypto, WCT, and Michigan Blockchain if you’re in Ann Arbor. Also if you’re considering elevating your knowledge and network in the space, check out the North American Blockchain Expo. They have an amazing lineup of speakers, and you can learn a ton at conferences like this. Find other crypto people- you won’t regret it.
Trading is Hard
To make money actually trading is no easier in cryptocurrencies than in stocks. However, that’s not to say that making money in cryptocurrencies is difficult. I think a lot of people who are new to this space, like myself, start trading cryptocurrencies and end up seeing large gains. Then they think to themselves “wow, I’m actually really good at this!” But the truth is that there’s so much money flowing into crypto right now, that it’s very difficult to lose money. In my opinion, outpacing the market defines you as a successful trader. Simply making a profit does not. However, this disillusionment is not all negative. It creates an incredibly forgiving environment for beginning traders to learn in. A beginner can come into crypto and learn the fundamentals of trading, while still making money. Plus, it attracts a ton of new people to blockchain technology. If you’re a beginner and want to make the most money I suggest just holding (or “hodling”) your currency.
Some Things I Learned About Actually Trading
Do your research. Cryptocurrency is no different than any other investment. You need to know exactly what you’re investing in, inside and out. Because cryptocurrency is difficult to understand at first and because it is difficult to differentiate between the technical aspects of altcoins, a lot of people forgo ampily researching the coins they buy. This brings me to my next point.
Don’t solely trade based off of twitter or reddit. In other words, don’t trade solely off of hype. It’s not that easy. Learn technical analysis and learn everything you can about a coin before buying. Buy a coin because you are excited about what it can do and believe the project will succeed.
Another major lesson I learned was not to let your emotions get the best of you. They will take you for a ride that you don’t wanna go on. Basically, just don’t get too excited about any one thing.
Finally, track your trades and constantly check your investments. The crypto space is extremely volatile and you need to be sure that one of your investments is not tanking. One of the best ways of doing this is to keep a google spreadsheet with all of your trades and profits/losses. There are numerous templates online that work well. Also, I recommend getting an app like Coin Ticker for easy access to your account.
It’s Not All about the Money
Sure money is nice, but blockchain is garnering attention for a reason. It’s truly revolutionary. If you don’t research how blockchain works for your investing, at the very least, do it for yourself. There are going to be a huge number of jobs in this field as it gets more popular. Studying the underlying technology or learning how the code works will help you capitalize on the amazing opportunities that are inevitably going to come, regardless of the price of Bitcoin.
