This investment choice cost me 4 years of my life

[Bitcoin_people]

We have seen the sad situation of many people who invested their hard-earned money in altcoins and lost their money in the hope of high profits. This is very sad because we have seen that in 2021, when the price of Bitcoin was very low, those who had invested in Bitcoin have now become the owners of a lot of money. Of course, we should learn from this and every person should plan so that he does not face losses in the future. Currently, we can see on various social media that meme coins are advertised where huge returns are said but when people invest there, they face losses. So we have to refrain from these things and if we want to invest, we should definitely invest in Bitcoin. It is a reliable coin and there is hope of getting high returns here in the future.

[Jatiluhung]

I lost everything and with the look of things I believe I have been deceived once again, I hope someone can learn from me
(...)

I truly sympathize with what has happened to your crypto portfolio, which seems to have failed to meet your expectations for the 4-year cycle that usually brings altcoins soaring high and setting new ATHs, sometimes making altseason feel bigger than bitcoin season itself. But this cycle has seen a significant change. And the reason is actually quite logical. Just imagine how many altcoins are created every day. And we know that all the money that was usually channeled into a small number of altcoins in the previous cycle is now divided among various altcoin projects. For this reason, we cannot expect another super altseason. This is because liquidity in the market is more evenly distributed.

As a result, most altcoins are even creating new all-time highs (ATH) year after year. It’s as if the altseason never existed. In fact, a mini altseason did appear toward the end of last year. However, only a small fraction of altcoins managed to set new ATHs and deliver substantial gains for their holders. Examples include TON, SOL, BNB, and even ETH. Before that, there was also INJ and many others. Oh, and XRP didn't disappoint either. But I must admit that other altcoins were indeed disappointing.

Personally, I also invested heavily in altcoins at first. But I only bought when the price was really low, and after making a profit, I sold them immediately.

But your experience will truly be a lesson for us and for beginners who can avoid making the same mistakes you made several years ago. Thank you for sharing your experience, my friend.

[Catenaccio]

As a result, most altcoins are even creating new all-time highs (ATH) year after year. It’s as if the altseason never existed. In fact, a mini altseason did appear toward the end of last year. However, only a small fraction of altcoins managed to set new ATHs and deliver substantial gains for their holders. Examples include TON, SOL, BNB, and even ETH. Before that, there was also INJ and many others. Oh, and XRP didn't disappoint either. But I must admit that other altcoins were indeed disappointing.

I see you are talking oppositely with the fact about most altcoins. They are useless, and weak while they are abundant in the market so with lack of development dedication from founders and team members while community don't have enough demand on most altcoins, their prices fall and lose with time. There are very limited altcoins that can make new all time highs cycle by cycle and it's just big fact about risk of altcoins.

Most altcoins don't make new all time highs cycle by cycle but they mostly die with time and cycles.
How many altcoins failed?

[Wind_FURY]

Hey man! You are not the first person this has happened to, people have faced similar experience because they got greedy and refused to take profits when they were supposed to. They listened to hypes on altcoins and withdrew their bitcoin investment to buy altcoins, forgetting that altcoins are not guaranteed, only bitcoin is the most guaranteed cryptocurrency anyone can invest  in and be profitable if they are patient. These are lessons learnt, you'll do better as you progress on your investment journey. It is not too late, you can still make more money from bitcoin if you will not allow same mistakes to repeat again.

You're right, they should have taken profit, then waited for the Big Bitcoin DIP and bought it with every shitcoin profit they had, then stop looking at the market and come back again in two years.

Although this cycle, most of the surge was in Bitcoin, WHICH I believe will make the people who lost money or had less than average profit in shitcoins WILL invest in Bitcoin during the next cycle.

THAT will probably make "Bitcoin DeFi" the next "great narrative" which will attract shitcoin developers.

[lornadane]

Man, respect for sharing this. A lot of people go through similar pain but never talk about it. You’re right about one thing: profits only matter when they’re realized. Cycles, theories, YouTubers… none of that pays bills. Hopefully this thread saves a few newbies from repeating the same mistake.

[aysha9853]

This is tough to read and sadly very common in this space most people don’t fail because they’re lazy but because they chase returns without fully understanding the risks, Altcoins look attractive when everything is pumping but they can turn against you fast Bitcoin may feel slow or boring but it gives you time to think and manage risk better.

[WatChe]

This is tough to read and sadly very common in this space most people don’t fail because they’re lazy but because they chase returns without fully understanding the risks, Altcoins look attractive when everything is pumping but they can turn against you fast Bitcoin may feel slow or boring but it gives you time to think and manage risk better.

The key thing OP mentioned is that Bitcoin is the best coin for investment. If you opt for Alt coins then it's important to understand that not all alts are worthy for investment. Only top alts like Eth, bnb can be selected for investment but only if you have spare cash left after investing in Bitcoin.

We invest for profit and it's better to sell when we are getting our target profit. There are many stories where people never sold there coins in lust of more profit despite the fact they were getting good profit. Such people mostly end up selling there coins in loss. We never know what lies ahead that's why best approach is to take your target profit whenever you are getting it. 
 

[alastantiger]

man, this one really hurts to read. You can feel the frustration and regrets in every line.  Alot of people won admit it but many have the same mistake, getting married to a cycle, a narrative or someone else's confidence and forgetting to just protect what they already had. Turning $3k to $30k is no small thing but greed can blind you fast. The hardest part is knowing you were already there and still watched it slip away. that kind of regret stays longer than the loss itself.

If anyone is taking anything from this your experience, let it be this: the market doesnt care about cycles, predictions or Youtubers shouting 'bounce'. Take profit when its there an manage risk and dont ever go all in on one idea. losing money is painful and all but ignoring the lesson is worse.

[Rengga Jati]

1. Cycle doesn't matter, the profit you get is all that matters, get them secured, I failed to turn profits to usdt because I felt it's not the right time.
2. Do not trust 👎 those damnn YouTubers, we will bounce they kept screaming, today they started admitting that they were wrong all along.
3. Bitcoin and Bitcoin only is the best, I calculated $3,000 spent on BTC in 2022 @15,000 it's now worth $87,000.

These three notes serve as valuable notes on my experiences during this bull season. So, based on these lessons, at least this season, my mistakes weren't as bad and significant as last season.

I was fortunate not to be overly greedy this time, especially in Bitcoin, by not following the various Bitcoin influencers' hype that claimed BTC would reach 4150,000 at the time. I ultimately sold between $125,000 and $126,000 at the time, and it was a very good decision.

Next, don't trust YouTubers, streamers, influencers, and other public figures who bring FOMO to the certain coin. They only focus on money, have no intention of engaging us, and instead make us victims.

[SOKO-DEKE]

I am even ashamed to mention what I have left in my crypto wallet.

I don’t think it is that necessary to mention what is in your crypto wallet. What is important is understanding how crypto works sometimes. It is not all the time that crypto will be putting smiles on our faces. Sometimes we are always going to face some kind of challenges, and that is the reason why we are always advised to invest only what we can afford to lose. This is because of the nature of cryptocurrency, as it is volatile. Nobody knows when the price will go down or when it will rise again.

As far as you still have Bitcoin, I will say that you should still have hope that the Bitcoin price will recover, and also for some altcoins. It is also better that someone should always take profit and do whatever they want with the money, or divert it into physical investments. I have also lost some amount of money in altcoin investments this year. Mine was not that much, but it really pained me that I invested in some new projects.

[JeffBrad12]

There is one problem that is obvious, you treated altcoin as if it's a real investment. Hint: it's not an investment but money flip.
The real investment is bitcoin. You tread bitcoin like a gold and accumulate it while you flipped money in altcoin to convert it back to bitcoin.
The goal is to cultivate your bitcoin through flipping money and you'd be among the top gainer in this cycle. Never ever treat altcoin like a real investment because everybody can create one.

[dunfida]

This is tough to read and sadly very common in this space most people don’t fail because they’re lazy but because they chase returns without fully understanding the risks, Altcoins look attractive when everything is pumping but they can turn against you fast Bitcoin may feel slow or boring but it gives you time to think and manage risk better.

The key thing OP mentioned is that Bitcoin is the best coin for investment. If you opt for Alt coins then it's important to understand that not all alts are worthy for investment. Only top alts like Eth, bnb can be selected for investment but only if you have spare cash left after investing in Bitcoin.

We invest for profit and it's better to sell when we are getting our target profit. There are many stories where people never sold there coins in lust of more profit despite the fact they were getting good profit. Such people mostly end up selling there coins in loss. We never know what lies ahead that's why best approach is to take your target profit whenever you are getting it. 
 

What makes this situation hard is that most losses are not caused by lack of effort but by misplaced expectations. Many people chase fast returns without fully understanding how quickly risk compounds. Altcoins shine during strong market phases and that visual momentum convinces people that growth is guaranteed. When sentiment shifts those same assets collapse faster than anyone expects. Bitcoin feels slow because it moves with more weight and that slowness gives investors time to think and adjust. That breathing room is often what protects capital in the long run.

Bitcoin works well as a base because it rewards patience and reduces emotional pressure. It does not promise quick transformation but it offers consistency relative to the rest of the market. Altcoins require a different mindset because most of them are temporary narratives rather than lasting systems. Even strong names like ETH or BNB still carry higher risk than Bitcoin and should only be considered after a solid base is built. Using spare capital for alts rather than core funds keeps damage limited if things go wrong. This approach separates speculation from investment and that separation matters.

[letteredhub]

I have times without number made it  resounding to people that they should never treat altcoins in the same way they do with bitcoin investment. With altcoins as long as you have decided to taken the risk of putting your funds into it, ensure that at any pump in price every profit is taken and never assume price will correct itself to peak up again for another ATH. Most of all these altcoins, their first pump is their last and next is to dump and stay dead.

[OcTradism]

I have times without number made it  resounding to people that they should never treat altcoins in the same way they do with bitcoin investment. With altcoins as long as you have decided to taken the risk of putting your funds into it, ensure that at any pump in price every profit is taken and never assume price will correct itself to peak up again for another ATH. Most of all these altcoins, their first pump is their last and next is to dump and stay dead.

Bitcoin and altcoins are very different and they belong to different risky levels with altcoins are more risky than Bitcoin. In this market cycle, from 2024 to 2025, within two latest years, only Bitcoin performed well while most altcoins have underperformed and there is nothing as altcoin seasons. When money needs something safe to stay, they choose Bitcoin in cryptocurrency market, and if they want extra options, it's Ethereum or a little bit less attractive Solana and BNB.

Most of altcoins are very dangerous to hold in a long term as your investment as you can not know will they still survive in the market next 2 or 3 years, especially in bearish years many uncapable founders and developer teams abandon their altcoin projects.

[Bobrox]

Don't put your self at difficulty position after stupid decision when investing in cryptocurrency, learn more and get much experienced from all previous mistake and make better for the next plan investment. I believe your working hard will earn much money later and start again for investing but on the top altcoin or priority for investing in bitcoin only. You are not alone, I believe many cryptocurrency trader, holder and investor make many mistake during their investment assets from wrong coins investing, most loyal holding until too greedy for cryptocurrency assets investment and finally loss great chance to take much profit.
Start again for investing and you must have target how much price raise up to sell and don't be greedy after coins investment raise up don't be diamond hand keep holding it.

[Faisal2202]

1. Cycle doesn't matter, the profit you get is all that matters, get them secured, I failed to turn profits to usdt because I felt it's not the right time.
2. Do not trust 👎 those damnn YouTubers, we will bounce they kept screaming, today they started admitting that they were wrong all along.
3. Bitcoin and Bitcoin only is the best, I calculated $3,000 spent on BTC in 2022 @15,000 it's now worth $87,000.

I am even ashamed to mention what I have left in my crypto wallet.

I can't agree more with you, because I did the same mistake, and don't be ashamed because I also felt the same way but what we can do is to tell others about the lessons we learnt the hard way, even if people told us before but I did not listened, the mistakes I made cost me huge money, Like really huge for me, for others that amount can be small.

But the point is, we should book profit even if we are targetting for $100 but we are midway then just book the $50 forget the remaining and invest later when the market gives opportunity.

The other two advices are also the best one and I don't think I had to add something in them.

[Adams0001]

We have seen the sad situation of many people who invested their hard-earned money in altcoins and lost their money in the hope of high profits. This is very sad because we have seen that in 2021, when the price of Bitcoin was very low, those who had invested in Bitcoin have now become the owners of a lot of money. Of course, we should learn from this and every person should plan so that he does not face losses in the future. Currently, we can see on various social media that meme coins are advertised where huge returns are said but when people invest there, they face losses. So we have to refrain from these things and if we want to invest, we should definitely invest in Bitcoin. It is a reliable coin and there is hope of getting high returns here in the future.

I don't know why some investors always take high risk and they can't afford to lose the funds. Shitcoins is very risky and if you're not that stable I can't advice someone to invest in it because they is not guaranteed of getting profits but if you're someone that like risk you can invest and get profit if the price increases but you don't really know if the coin you buy will decrease or increase. Many people have lost alot of money in investing in shicoin but still they are investing because they don't like long term investment they prefer to get short term money then waiting for long term and if you need fast money you need to take risk before getting what you need and nothing comes easy in this life. You just need to know that anything you're doing all is about risk without taking risk he will be difficult for you to achieve your goals.

[OcTradism]

We have seen the sad situation of many people who invested their hard-earned money in altcoins and lost their money in the hope of high profits. This is very sad because we have seen that in 2021, when the price of Bitcoin was very low, those who had invested in Bitcoin have now become the owners of a lot of money. Of course, we should learn from this and every person should plan so that he does not face losses in the future. Currently, we can see on various social media that meme coins are advertised where huge returns are said but when people invest there, they face losses. So we have to refrain from these things and if we want to invest, we should definitely invest in Bitcoin. It is a reliable coin and there is hope of getting high returns here in the future.

Altcoins are dangerous while shitcoins and meme tokens are more dangerous as they even don't have any infrastructures and applicable products for society. Without these things, those shitcoins and meme tokens have no value and no value means price and trading volume will become zero with time. With value, even small value, it's still helpful for demand on a coin or token, and price as well as trading volume will be supported better.

I don't know why some investors always take high risk and they can't afford to lose the funds. Shitcoins is very risky and if you're not that stable I can't advice someone to invest in it because they is not guaranteed of getting profits but if you're someone that like risk you can invest and get profit if the price increases but you don't really know if the coin you buy will decrease or increase.

People are almost the same with greediness and if they let greediness controls their mind and actions, they will lose money as they will be the majority of people in the market, who are manipulated by market makers. The fact is market makers use their knowledge, experience and capital for set up manipulations with ultimate goal is making profit for themselves.

In a zero-sum market, profit for one means loss for the others, so if market makers get profit, it must come from the others, and more accurately from the majority in the market.

[MarjorieZimmermanGinger]

What ended up happening is we had a altcoin season and Bitcoin performed better as the last man standing, in the past it is always altcoins doing better after Bitcoin is done. Right now I don't see that happening, the charts are so so wrong and it looks like we are already in a bear market.

This is what happens when we miscalculate, and perhaps this should be a lesson for anyone who makes mistakes when starting to grow their assets in crypto. At the very least, this can be an important lesson for anyone so they don't make the same mistakes you did. Greed sometimes makes people lose control and can usually lead to far worse results because we are overly ambitious in chase large profits based on false accuracy and precision. Never trust influencers if you don't have your own perspective and do your own research. Even if what they say is true, without your own analysis and calculations, your investment will lack a more objective purpose.

[vanesha]

Calm yourself first, opportunities will always exist as long as you keep trying to find them. It’s okay if you want to save again and then invest with minimal capital. There might be a coin that can help you regain $30,000 from your investment. Don’t get tired or give up on getting back what you want.