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After 2 tough years, it appears the bear market is finally behind us.
If it’s anything like the last few crypto cycles, it’s time for another 2+ years of “up only”.
In crypto, these bull markets bring opportunities unlike any other market.
During the last cycle, the crypto industry went from a total market cap of $90 billion to more than $3 trillion in less than 3 years!
A 33x. 🤯
These moments are where life changing wealth is made.
But these moments are also the time where most people fuck it up and end up worse off than they were before the bull market.
Today’s PRO report is all about helping you NOT fuck this up.
The fact that you are in crypto, reading this PRO report and allocating capital to this industry at this time in history, is incredible.
Give yourself a pat on the back.
You have the potential to 5x, 10x, 20x+ your wealth over the next few years… IF you don’t fuck this up.
Unfortunately, many of you will.
In the last cycle, I was the only one of my close friends to come out with more money than I put in, and I even made a bunch of mistakes.
Many of my friends waited to buy the top and then sold the bottom.
Some of them who actually bought early enough, lost their crypto from using leverage, getting greedy by chasing yield and/or not taking wallet security seriously.
And finally, some of them traded away their best investments for shitcoins and chased the “next big thing”.
I don’t blame them though... These cycles are not easy.
Looking back, it seems so easy to make money in an asset class that does a 33x in just a few years… but in reality, as you’re about to find out, it’s damn hard.
Below I’m going to outline my top 5 tips to win during the coming crypto bull market.
This is exactly what I wish I had (and my friends needed) during my first crypto cycle.
1. Have A Plan… And Stick To It!
This is so obvious, yet most non-professional investors (most of us in crypto) don’t do it.
If you want to lose weight or gain muscle… What do you do? You create an exercise and nutrition plan and execute it.
If you stick to it, consistently, overtime, you significantly improve your chances of success.
This is true of just about anything you want to achieve in life.
So why do so many people blindly put $1,000’s into crypto and then just hope for the best? It’s pure suicide.
You need to understand how volatile crypto is in these bull markets. The price is volatile, the narratives are volatile, the media is volatile.
Everything changes, all the time. If you don’t have a plan, there’s no way you’ll make your way through that volatility. Let me give you a bit of perspective…
Below is a picture of Ethereum’s price chart on a monthly basis. I’ve circled June 2021, one of the craziest months of last cycle:
$ETH opened the month at $2,776
It then skyrocketed to $4,380 (up 66% in a few days)
Then it dropped to $1,730 (down 61% in a few days)
And finally closed the month back at $2,707 ($69 off from where it opened…)
WTF? LOL 😂
Do you understand how hard that is to stomach? Although you think you can handle that without a problem.. Here’s what happened psychologically to most people:
When $ETH almost doubled to $4,380 in a few days, everyone on Twitter was calling for $ETH to go to $20k. So those without a plan started FOMOing more money into $ETH to not miss out.
Once it dropped to $1,730 a few days later, people got scared that that was the top and the cycle was over and we would now go much lower. So those same people ended up selling.
A few days later the price of $ETH went back to where it was when the month started, and those with a plan (who didn’t panic buy or sell) continued to ride $ETH up to $5,000 in the coming months.
This is just one piece, out of one month, from the last crypto cycle. Scenarios like this will happen every month during this coming cycle too. If you don’t build a plan and stick to it, you can kiss your money-making dreams goodbye. 😴
Building a plan is THE most important thing you can do. If you have yet to do this, go do it NOW.
It’s impossible for me to simply give you a plan, as everyone is different and your plan will depend on your time horizons, your amount of investments, your risk tolerance, your skillset and so much more.
That said, here’s what what I recommend you think through right now:
What assets are you investing in and why?
The ‘why’ is extremely important because as price decouples from fundamentals (whether that’s up or down) you can look back at the ‘why’ to see if anything has changed fundamentally.
If not, stick to the plan.
If so, it might be time to make changes.
Of your extra cash flow, what % will you invest in crypto and what % will you save in cash or put into other investments?
Whatever that % is, once crypto does a 2x or 3x in a couple weeks, you will immediately want to put 100% of your money into crypto (the brain is so damn greedy).
Don’t do it. Stick to your plan.
That cash will be very important during the bear market or if something in your life happens that requires $$$... which WILL happen!
Have a plan to buy your crypto.
Do you want to dollar cost average a certain amount into the market every month? Do you want to buy below a certain number? Do you want to invest a certain amount before a certain date?
Whatever you decide to do, stick to it. Don’t let the markets change you.
For most people I recommend dollar cost averaging, that way you remove all the noise. June 2021 didn’t impact you if you stuck to DCA.
Have a plan to sell your crypto.
Do you want to dollar cost average a certain amount out of the market every month after a certain point?
Are you investing to buy a home or a car or something else? Or maybe you have no intentions to sell. 🤷
Whatever you decide, stick to it!
Figure out this plan before the bull market starts. As a rule of thumb, you probably never want to sell everything nor do you want to sell nothing.
Find a middle ground that makes sense for you.
If you want my plan for this cycle as well as more ways to think about building out a plan specific to you, then you need to take my Web3 Investing Masterclass.
I created this course for this exact reason and I can’t recommend this enough.
As a PRO member, you get a 50% discount & as a Founding member you get it for Free.
All you need is claim your PRO/Founding Pass and head here to grab your discount.
If you don’t want to take the masterclass, that’s fine, but go write down your plan now!
2. Manage Your Emotions
Avoid FOMO, don’t chase pumps, don’t panic sell…
It’s great to say all of this, but it’s SO difficult to actually achieve. No one is prepared for the emotions you will feel during a crypto bull cycle. Even the best will make mistakes driven by emotions.
What are the most common emotions?
Fear and Greed.
Fear that you’re missing out on the next big thing, fear that you don’t have enough allocated, fear that it’s all over and you’ll lose it all.
And greed is what caused the demise of some of the most “professional institutions” in crypto last cycle: Celsius, 3AC, BlockFi, Voyager, FTX, Genesis, etc. They all wanted to make more and their customers did too.
Investing in crypto is 80% psychological and 20% tactical. The industry went up 33x last cycle, you could put money in ANY token and you will make money. But it’s greed and fear that caused most people to end up losing it.
This is why having a plan is so important. But just like in the example of losing weight, it’s learning to control your emotions that will allow you to stick to the plan and remain consistent.
Here’s my advice…
Once upon a time in the past life of Kyle, I was a health coach, helping people live a healthier lifestyle. Everyone knew you needed to move more, eat real food, sleep more, etc. to lose weight, yet 99% of people couldn't do it.
Why? It almost always came down to people managing their emotions.
Journaling was the single most useful tool for every client I helped in my career (including my own). This is also true of investing.
When you create your plan, make sure you write the entire thing down. But don’t just write down a plan, write down why you will buy this way, sell this way, buy these specific assets, etc. Put down your thesis and how you feel about that thesis.
Now, everytime the price jumps and falls in this cycle and you start to feel the need to buy more, make a trade or sell something… go back to this journal. Write down how you’re feeling, what emotions you’re feeling and what you want to do (ie. the trade you want to make).
Don’t do anything yet though.
Now, go back to your original plan and read it over completely. Ask yourself, do you still want to make that trade? Are you acting impulsively? Are you breaking your plan? Do you have a strong thesis for this trade?
I recommend writing down the answers to all of these questions to help you better understand how you’re feeling. This is also very useful to come back to and read next time you feel an urge to make a trade. It’s all about learning and understanding your emotions.
I’m not saying you should never break the plan or make a trade, it’s just probably a good idea to never do it impulsively.
As a rule of thumb, when I feel the need to buy/sell something, I wait 24 hours before I allow myself to do it. Take that time to journal, sleep and get your mind off it. 99% of the time you’ll realize it was fear or greed taking over your decision making.
The best investors in the world know how to master their emotions, will you?
3. Don’t Compare Yourself To Others
Social media is great during a bear market and your worst nightmare in a bull market.
We’re in the very early stages of this bull market and you can already see it.
Screenshots of people’s gains, people bragging about a token they got in early and on and on.
First of all, most of it is a pure lie. Second of all, they don’t share all the losses or the things they missed too.
Don’t get caught in this hype, because it will be everywhere.
The other thing to consider is that your plan might be different than someone else's, and that’s ok.
For example, I have 0 investments that I expect a 100x - 1000x on. It’s not my goal this cycle. My goal is to 5-10x my portfolio, that’s it. I know that, it’s in my journal and it’s part of my plan.
This means that when I see others posting about their 100x gain or that “X token will be the next 1000x”, I don’t care. It’s not what I’m looking for. I have a portfolio of investments that I feel can give me a 5-10x with minimal risk, and I’m happy with that.
If you find that you continue to get FOMO because you’re comparing yourself to others, here’s what to do:
Block these people on Twitter. If that’s not enough, delete Twitter entirely.
Use your journal. Revisit the above tips about managing emotions and do the same thing when you notice you’re getting jealous or feeling FOMO.
Have a clear sell plan and remain laser focused on that.
Surround yourself with a solid community and use them to ask questions and support you.
If you’re not yet in the Web3 Academy PRO discord channels, get your PRO Pass NFT and join here!
P.S. - I’m releasing a ‘when to sell’ plan in the next few weeks so stay tuned for that.
4. Double Down On Learning & Using The Technology
It’s much easier to make decisions about your investments if you actually understand them.
Last cycle, over 400 million people invested in crypto, while less than 10 million people were active onchain.
This means that only 2.5% of investors had actually used the technology they were investing in!
The easiest way to get an edge on the market is to simply use it. If you use the apps, the chains and the tech, you can understand first hand if it's something other people will use or find useful.
Always use it before you invest in it. But don’t just use it once, come back to it monthly or every few months. Also do the same with its competitors. This industry innovates and adapts quickly. If you don’t use it, you will get left behind.
Bitcoiners that never used Ethereum and experienced smart contracts have missed out big time.
Ethereans that have never used Solana and experienced its speed and superior UX will miss out too.
When you’re not using the technology. Study it.
Read newsletters, listen to podcasts, attend IRL conferences or meetups and discuss in Discords.
Learn everything you possibly can about the things you're investing in and the things that might compete with what you’re investing in.
This isn’t that hard to do, yet 95% of the people in the bull market don’t do it. This is the easiest edge you can give yourself in crypto markets.
5. Don’t Forget About Taxes
Depending on where you live, this is big.
Remember, if you do this cycle right, you may 5x,10x, or 20x+ your portfolio in the next 1-2 years. That’s wild…
But here’s the mistake many have made before you.
My $10k portfolio does a 10x and I feel like we’re nearing the top, so I sell it to take profits. Yew! I just made $100k
Markets keep going up and everyone is screaming for them to do another 10x. I don’t want to miss out so I put it all back into the market. Why make $100k when it’s so easy to make $500k? Or $1 million?
Markets end up tanking by 90% and we go into a 2 year long bear market. You don’t sell on the way down because you’re hoping it’s not actually the end and you don’t want to be under your original $100k profit target. Afterall, no one knows when the cycle is over…
You now owe capital gains taxes on a $90k profit, yet your portfolio is sitting back at $10k. Depending on where in the world you live, you now need to dip into your $10k investment to pay your taxes, leaving you with less than you started, nothing at all or worst case, owing more than you originally put in!
These stories happen all the time after every cycle. Just wait until the next bear market, you will see people sharing their stories on X about blowing up their portfolio and going in the hole because of taxes.
It’s brutal. Don’t let that be you!
Trying to trade the markets by getting in and out of them is a death trap. I’m not saying don’t do it, but definitely don’t do it if you don’t understand risk management and the tax implications on your trades.
If you want to play around with 1-2% of your portfolio, that’s fine. Otherwise, stick to your plan!
Final Few Words To The Wise
If during this cycle, you nail the 5 tips above, then I can almost guarantee you will do extremely well (nothing is certain of course though).
Like I said, the industry went up 33x last cycle in market cap, it’s truly not hard at all to buy an asset that will go up. You could close your eyes and choose 5 tokens on CoimMarketCap and chances are that more of them will be winners than losers.
Most people’s biggest problem is simply getting in their own way. To go back to the weight loss/health analogy, the same is true...
Most people fail to lose weight because they put themselves in a terrible position to succeed.
If you want to sleep better, eat well, drink less and exercise more.
Is going to the bar or your friend’s place who drinks/eats crap a good place for you to be frequently? Hell no!
But that’s what everyone continues to do and then they wonder why they can’t stick to their plan and succeed.
This stuff isn’t rocket science. Do the work to understand what you’re investing in and then do everything you can to limit your ability to make stupid mistakes.
If you stay the course, hold on tight and do not get bucked off along the way, you just might not fuck this cycle up! That’s what I’m hoping for.
And of course, Web3 Academy PRO will be here to guide you along this cycle. We’ve got “when to sell plans” coming your way soon, and so much more to help you navigate this bull run and capitalize on the incredible opportunity that is crypto.
Thanks for reading. And remember, you're strong, you’re powerful, you’re alpha! ❤
How'd you feel about our read today?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kyle Reidhead
Founder of Web3 Academy and Impact3
Find him on Twitter
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Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and not financial advice. Conduct your own research and consult a financial advisor before making investment decisions or taking any action based on the content.
