Sad Bitcoin Story

danny1213 on 03/01/2021 - 16:27
Last edited 07/01/2021 - 17:18

So I bought Bitcoin back in 2017, put $10,000 in there and bought while the prices were driving up insanely. They were worth around $18,500 per Bitcoin at the time.

During the next 3 years it drove down and down and I started feeling really miserable about it considering my $10,000 was worth a mere $2,000 at one stage. I decided to leave it and stop looking at it.

Late last year my friend started talking about Bitcoin again, so I began getting interested in looking at it. The value of Bitcoin slowly crept back up and stayed stagnant around the 18,000 - 19,000 mark - so I decided to sell. I just wanted my money back, I sold breaking even, getting my $10,000 out (and maybe a $100 profit)

A couple months later now, my original $10,000 investment is worth around $23,000 and I am just kicking myself in the foot.

I feel like I am the most unlucky person in the world when it comes to this and am trying to get over it - but it just burns!!

Has anyone had any other similar experiences, and what's the best way to just move on without thinking "coulda, woulda, shoulda" :(

Financial Cryptocurrency

Comments

  • tedzr on 05/01/2021 - 10:25

    DYOR & don't feel bad. You still made a little profit. Could be a lot worse. You made your call. Can't blame your friends. .

    "J.P. Morgan once had a friend who was so worried about his stock holdings that he could not sleep at night. The friend asked, ‘What should I do about my stocks?’ Morgan replied, ‘Sell down to your sleeping point’ "

  • Click_It on 05/01/2021 - 11:40
    +2

    A mentor of mine has a saying.

    People always support you when they are doing better than you, and critisise you when you are doing better than them. Family and friends do generally fall in that latter category unfortunately.

    Think about all the people who critisise you, how many of them are doing better than you? For me, all those doing better than me have nothing but praise and I surround myself with high achievers because it naturally motivates me.

    As for BTC in general to the OP, the lesson here is to educate yourself. It's true for anything, you would have then understood BTC moves in cycles after it's halving and would have held on. Now tilt that rear vision mirror back up, nothing will be achieved at pondering on what could have been, it's time to focus on what COULD be. What will you do next? Whether its bitcoin or something else, project forward my friend.

    EDIT: I've got a crypto play right now myself, if I had listened to any of my friends it never would have happened. Those friends are all successful in their own right but none understand cryptocurrency, that's cool it's not their thing. I backed myself and educated myself and I'm in a good position now because of it.

    EDIT2: Please don't listen to all the "experts" on the sideline, I heard someone saying yesterday BTC will be $5k in 12 months time. It's just not true and I could explain for hours why that's the case. Listen to the people who are in the game but always DYOR, that is paramount. If you 10X your money, that's all your own work! If you lose everything… That's all your bad choices.

    • whooah1979 on 05/01/2021 - 11:46
      +2

      Halving, bull, bear, accumulate, halving, bull, bear, accumulate, halving, bull, bear, accumulate. Anyone that can understand these steps understand how to make gains with digital assets.

      • Click_It on 05/01/2021 - 11:46
        +1

        Right on!

  • itsTricky83 on 05/01/2021 - 13:09

    Gotta look on the bright side here.
    At least you don't have your $10K in XRP with it worth a fraction of your initial buy in, with a lawsuit on Ripples hands driving down the price (which I hope they win) all while BTC is going nuts.
    Crypto can be tricky, but rather than taking the advice of friends and family; I recommend learning more about the 'Indicators' that you can overlay onto the standard charts.
    Top 4 Indicators for me =
    MACD
    RSI
    OBV
    Bolinger Bands
    Each takes no longer than 10 minutes to learn what they mean, and you'll feel more comfortable about your choices, whether they are buy or sell….
    That is of course if you aren't completely burnt out by your experience!

  • Hunter14 on 05/01/2021 - 14:27
    +1

    I feel many of the people making those negative comments are those that are not in it but fear they will miss out so try to downplay it. It’s only human nature to be envious of other people’s success. I personally don’t see BTC working as a fiat replacement for now but I recognise the value it has been bestowed by more and more people. I see it as a digital commodity, an alternative and potential replacement for gold.

    It has been accepted by Paypal and Square which are the two biggest market leader for FinTech. Once the traditional banks and big companies have admitted they have bought in then I predict there will be mass FOMO like we have never seen. I actually believe they have already been buying substantially in the background while prices are ‘low’ but no one wants to be the first to come out and admit it.

    • whooah1979 on 05/01/2021 - 14:33

      The more they print more the price will go up.

      https://www.afr.com/markets/equity-markets/how-central-banks…

      How central banks boosted bitcoin
      Deficits, debt and fears of currency debasement have stoked the record-breaking rally in digital currencies.

      Paypal and Square made the smart play and is now rewarded higher stock prices and revenue from tx fees.
      https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/news/bitcoin-….

      https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2020/12/07/ho…

      • Hunter14 on 05/01/2021 - 15:00

        Exactly. However, it could have gone the other way too if BTC wasn't widely accepted as a gold alternative.

        They made a well calculated business decision, knowing there was a huge inflation catalyst, which paid off handsomely.

        I think it may be wise for even risk adverse people to have at least 1% of their investments in BTC.

        • whooah1979 on 06/01/2021 - 11:30
          +1

          A lot of people are still stuck in the Blockbuster epoch not realising that Netflix started out as the new geek on the block that nobody wanted to play with. Blockbuster didn’t want to play nor share the sandbox with Netflix. Netflix did what geeks do and played hard enough to bury Blockbuster in their on sandbox. They both got what they deserved.

          People that are not open minded nowadays days will get what they deserve.

  • Baghern on 05/01/2021 - 14:40
    +2

    There is nothing unlucky about this story.

    You bought into a volatile investment product and couldn't handle the up and downs.

    This is no different to stocks

  • GUYANDSON on 05/01/2021 - 15:05
    +9

    I've got loads of emails from around 2009-2012 when I actively mined. Working in pools to earn now silly amounts of BTC and inevitably trading it away. I've got mining pool emails notifying of payouts of 1000's of BTC. I've also got message trails in my email of trades I did back then, 4000 BTC for new graphics card, 100BTC for someone else to order a few novels, 50BTC for a Shogun: Total War II game code, 20BTC for $20USD etc etc In the end I cashed out in 2013 for around $15K total. Which was a load of money for then 21YO me who was still attending uni.

    Even then I learned not to mourn opportunity lost, I jumped in when a coin was worth 5c, the community around it then said the same things that people are saying now. You have a few core believers but you have everyone else breathing down your neck about how it's a scam and it's a ponzi scheme etc etc. I watched it go from 5c to 10c, 10c to 20c, 20c to $1, $1 to $10, $10 to $20, $20 to $100 and so on. Every step of the way you had people saying it was a scam, at the same time you had people lamenting that they lost out on the big bucks.

    Be glad you got out ahead, there are plenty of people who managed worse off.

  • aerona on 05/01/2021 - 16:57

    You live and you learn. Everyone makes mistakes in their first trades.

    P. S
    What is with all the main page topics lately. I'm feeling someones picking post all these controversial topics to get a reaction from ozb just to bring in more traffic. Instead its bringing alot of negativity recently. Maybe its just me?

    • whooah1979 on 05/01/2021 - 17:00
      +1

      People who are on the sideline learn nothing.

  • kathmandu-jeff on 05/01/2021 - 17:13
    -2

    People need to understand that Bitcoin (and other crypotcurrencies) is not investing. It's just gambling. Bitcoin doesn't have any intrinsic value unlike traditional currencies which are backed up by the government and their gold reserves etc. This means there is no reason why the value of bitcoin can't just drop to zero overnight. Unlike traditional currencies, a government can't step in and introduce policies to prevent this.

    Arguably you're better off putting it all on black.

    • whooah1979 on 05/01/2021 - 17:55

      Why make some from scratch (and spend billions) when they can use existing digital assets that works. This is smart play by Brian Brooks.
      https://www.forbes.com/sites/haileylennon/2021/01/04/occ-reg…

      OCC Regulator Implements Groundbreaking Cryptocurrency Guidance For Banks And The Future Of Payments
      Today’s Interpretive Letter

      Today the OCC published Interpretive Letter 1174, which explains banks may use new technologies, including independent node verification networks (INVNs) and stablecoins, to perform bank-permissible functions, such as payment activities. Said simply, a bank may use stablecoins (cryptocurrencies designed to minimize the price volatility) to facilitate payment transactions for customers.

      In doing so, a bank may issue stablecoins, exchange stablecoins for fiat currency, as well as validate, store, and record payments transactions by serving as a node on a blockchain (INVN).

  • snajper on 05/01/2021 - 17:32
    +2

    It is not a sad story. You have taken a gamble and you got your money back. Sad story is when people loose their livelihood because of it.

  • tjswinno on 05/01/2021 - 17:38
    +2

    Is that all? You got your money back? In high school I mined 5 bitcoin and sold them for $10 to buy pizza. Back then it was just something to do with your space CPU cycles. We can't predict the future of this stuff, just be happy you aren't down.

    • Aerith-Waifu on 06/01/2021 - 00:04

      why did you stop at 5? A friend of mine back then mined at least 5000 but he sold them at around 10c by memory and he was the happiest guy alive back then…………..

    • Leeroy Jenkins on 06/01/2021 - 09:19

      When was the reward of mining only 5 BTC? Mind telling me how that's possible/works?

  • Skinnerr on 05/01/2021 - 19:02
    +2

    Start a new cc - Sadcoin.

  • pull the lever on 05/01/2021 - 20:15
    +2

    You got your money back, and then some; try losing it all.

    This happened to me with alt coins back in the 2017 bubble.

    • Skinnerr on 06/01/2021 - 17:13

      Dogecoin? 🐶

  • baker bob on 05/01/2021 - 20:35

    If you play the pokies, bet on black and it is red, do you beat yourself up about it and think about it over and over? You basically bet on the other colour, that's what crypto is. You buy it with money you are happy to lose.

  • lnq on 05/01/2021 - 20:50
    +1

    anyone who believe we are not alone in the universe should hold bitcoin, bitcoin is the only valuable asset that we can use to trade with aliens! think about it. gold silver or energy are abundant across universe! US gov about to release documents regarding to existence of E.T.
    https://www.foxnews.com/politics/covid-19-bill-180-day-count…

  • timetoquit on 05/01/2021 - 20:58
    -1

    don't feel bad. I sold my APT shares @ $60 to take profits and to spread my portofilo around little more. I had over 5k units, but sold 90% of them in hopes of jumping back in, but never did. I took some decent profit over 100k, always been very bullish APT. I even sold off 20k worth of losses in IOTA/XRP to reduce my taxes and they too have since doubled (i think?) still hold a small parcel of APT but could, woulda, shoulda, its all timing and we often don't get it right! I'm still learning to remove the emotions of investing… I envy those who can set a % and move on. Think of it as an opportunity cost holding them for too long 👌😉

    Lucky I took a decent holding in FMG 🤣

  • CalmLemons on 05/01/2021 - 22:33
    +2

    be glad you aren't buying at $40000AUD now

  • Aerith-Waifu on 06/01/2021 - 00:02
    +1

    Let me ask you this, how would you feel if BTC is now back to $2000? You should be happy that you have not lost money, money people did

    • MrFrugalSpend on 06/01/2021 - 00:16
      -1

      This - OP has done well to come out on top - its not a sad bitcoin story at all. Its sad that OP thinks it is sad. Investment gets a lot worse than that.
      And this isn't really investment, crypto is more like gambling than an investment so to come out on top is a win.
      OP can rest assured it will be a happy story again when it crashes back below half again in future.

  • dublin101 on 06/01/2021 - 00:17
    +2

    sad bitcoin story? mate, it this a clickbait thread? what is this comment "I feel like I am the most unlucky person in the world" …

    nothing sad about this, you invested and came out even, you are probably in the top 10% of ppl to break even (rest may have lost).

    if you stayed in, you would have made 10 or 15k more - believe me, your LIFE would not have changed.

    Sad would be if you had lost 100k or so (assuming that would have taken you a while to save/pay back).

    Sad or better said "if only" story would have been if you invested that 10k 5 years ago and your return would have been millions, yeah maybe life changing somewhat.

  • onceupon8 on 06/01/2021 - 07:43

    Rule Number 1 of investing is: Never lose money. So you did OK to get your capital back. Although crypto isn't really investing.

    $10,000 was too much for you for a speculative "investment". When it got back to the price you paid, you sold. You couldn't risk it going back down again. Maybe consider a couple of hundred dollars where you can hold it and not worry if it nearly goes to zero, on the chance sometime in the future (maybe many years time) it may go up a lot more? BTC over $100k?

    There are a few referral offers going on which I have listed below. Some of them also have other deals that are better or can be combined together with the referral offer. ie. click on the "random" referral link and then also enter a promo code.

    a) Coinbase: USD $10 bonus with USD $100 purchase of Crypto: https://www.ozbargain.com.au/deals/coinbase.com
    b) Coinjar: 500 Coinjar points (approx $5) after completing ID verification: https://www.ozbargain.com.au/deals/coinjar.com
    c) Luno: $20 bonus Bitcoin with $199 purchase of Bitcoin: https://www.ozbargain.com.au/deals/luno.com
    d) Celsius: USD $20 bonus Bitcoin with USD $200 purchase/transfer of Crypto: https://www.ozbargain.com.au/deals/celsius.network

  • [Deactivated] on 06/01/2021 - 07:53
    +2

    Bought 0.5 bitcoins during March drop and sold at the start of November. Kicking myself I didn't hold off a little longer… Could have doubled my profits.

    Who knows how bitcoin will turn out!

  • playswithfire on 06/01/2021 - 08:16
    +3

    If you think that's sad… I tried to buy $100 of bitcoin back in 2010. The price was $0.71 per coin - so that would've been 140 bitcoins. Citibank blocked the transaction thinking it was fraudulent - I spoke with them the next day as I was driving to work, and then walked into a dumpster fire and completely forgot to try again. Life happened and I was kicking myself whenever I saw news about it going up and up. In 2013 I suggested to my ex when we bought a new house that maybe we should put $10k into Bitcoin, the price was $330/coin, so that would've been 30.3 bitcoins - but she said no, no way - well when it hit $18k around the time you bought it, that could've paid off the entire mortgage and then some.

    So please, don't feel like too much of an idiot - I could've been a millionaire from this.

  • Leeroy Jenkins on 06/01/2021 - 09:11

    Thanks for your post! It gives me an opportunity to look at what people's thoughts on crypto are.

  • sauteer on 06/01/2021 - 09:38

    I know a guy who lost $100k (AT THE TIME) worth of bitcoin in the mt Gox hack in 2014 bitcoin at the time was worth about $600 USD. I have no idea if he meant $100k USD or AUD but if you do the math on USD its: 100,000/600=167 bitcoins. today they'd have been worth: 34,000*166= $5.6Million.

    He didn't give a fk as he told me this story, just shrugged it off. Mind you he's worth about 100mil I think.

    • whooah1979 on 06/01/2021 - 10:00

      MT Gox is still an ongoing Court case. He could see 1/2 of his digital assets returned to him if his name is in the court documents. It has been a long 6 years but the potential award from the settlement would be worth the wait.

  • lint on 06/01/2021 - 10:47
    +1

    No point chasing after what could've happened, you'll just staying awake at night tearing your hair out. You're still in a decent position since you didn't lose any money.

    I made about $30k on Bitcoin but if I were to look at missed opportunities, it would be something like "Oh but if I sold at the 2017 peak and then bought again at the low, I would've made $100k."

    You have to get really lucky to time it right, just be happy you didn't make a loss on it.

  • Dack Smith on 06/01/2021 - 11:43

    Your family and friends screwed you over with shit advice and it ended up costing you lots of money.

    They are to blame

    You will never get over this sadness and regret until you have dumped them out of your life entirely.

    • [Deactivated] on 06/01/2021 - 11:50

      Time to find a new family

  • GC67 on 06/01/2021 - 14:15
    +1

    lol
    I sold all of my BTC, XRP & ETH, which I’d held for 24 months, on the 22nd Dec
    Cause I saw a way to get my initial investment back

    3 days later could have gained approx 25%
    2 weeks later, could have doubled my money.

    😩

    Having said all that, I laughed at a mate who tried to convince me to buy BTC at $150(?) approx per coin watt back when…

  • SgtBatten on 06/01/2021 - 15:39

    Mate i used to have hundreds of BTC, but i used them at the time. got nothing in it now but i dont let it get me down (most of the time). I did what i needed/wanted at the time.

  • USER DC on 06/01/2021 - 19:54
    +2

    Its best to treat investment as investment hence just forget your investment till your retirement or something. And then think of withdrawing.

    Over long run you will surely find some better highs and lows all the time.

    Life isn't of a couple days rather many years

  • harthagan on 06/01/2021 - 21:38

    Anyone know about buying light coin? My mate reckons they are gonna go high this year, it seems a bit risky to me though.

    • PopCounty on 06/01/2021 - 22:23

      Bitcoin is gold of cryptos. So would always contain value within. All other coins are alt coin. So have to understand what problem these are solving. If you find satisfactory answer, go for it. If not, you’re just gambling. So no matter what ur friend says, you may win or you may lose.

  • leiiv on 06/01/2021 - 22:10

    No one would have imagined that it only takes 10 years before anyone is willing to pay for BTC so much..

  • bigkris74 on 06/01/2021 - 23:22
    +2

    In 2012 I put AU$230 in to a Mt Gox account in hope of buying Bitcoin. Had no idea what is was but sounded fun (IT nerd). At about AU$15 each, took so long to confirm, lost my job days after and forgot about it. Next thing I knew (long time later) Mt Gox got ripped and went ass up. By this time Bitcoin was taking it's first big run and was reaching thousands, I had the light bulb moment … wish I hadn't, was super pissed.

    Oh well, life is short and I'm over it … sort of. :|

  • hearitfromhorse on 06/01/2021 - 23:30
    +5

    I bought 1 BTC at 5K and sold at $25K last time it went nuts. Watched it go down to 4K again and considered putting the 25K back in (6 btc). But I didn't. Now it's 44K. That's an opportunity loss of $264K …. feel better?

  • hasher22 on 07/01/2021 - 01:36
    +2

    With investments, you count on what you sell not what you could have sold it at.

    For example with me: I invested 6k in Z1P @ $7 share around July 2020. I went down to $5 then back up 6 then down to 5 again then up to 6.50 and I was kicking myself that I purchased it had a high price even though research told me otherwise. Anyways, it then went up to $9 and that's when I sold it. Crappy thing is, I now have 100% capital gain tax on it.

    I've had enough of volatile shares and trying to 'cash in' during covid and how people spend money.

    Now I look @ Z1P, its now at $5 again….

    Count that you broke even, learn, start again.

  • sAmiZZle on 07/01/2021 - 09:45

    As far as crypto sad stories go, this is is pretty much a nothing story. You made your money back and to be honest, in the world of cryptocurrency, you are fretting about what is effectively "pocket change". There are accounts of people who lost their crypto wallets on a failed USB or accidentally discarded hard drive with what would be worth $100 million+ today. I wouldn't stress that the price went up more now. You got in and out unscathed. Be happy.

  • mychips on 07/01/2021 - 11:03
    +2

    Classic shoulda woulda coulda.

    Hindsight is 20/20 and if anyone had the ability to go back in time, they'd be billionaires.

  • abctoz on 07/01/2021 - 12:35

    people lose a lot of money even in bull markets its normal,

    there are many assets out there that do 50x-100x, so if you think it burns now…

  • Neptunesblood on 07/01/2021 - 14:36

    A ‘friend’ of mine bought Bitcoin in 2012 and blew it on the dark web. Tears. Silk Road rings a bell.

  • SirFlibbled on 07/01/2021 - 15:04

    That's the joy of gambling on crypo (it's not investing). It's unpredictable and based on nothing. Like going to a casino, getting out without losses is a win

  • whooah1979 on 07/01/2021 - 15:32

    This happens and the price pumps.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2npCYNnV18

  • brad1-8tsi on 07/01/2021 - 19:24

    I've done it heaps.
    Bought CSL at $9, sold at $14. It's now $200+.
    Bought BHP $11, sold at $17 - now $46 (not sure if there have share splits or consolidations over the years)

    Recently was churning Capral every few weeks, buy at 10c, sell at 11c for $1k profit. They did a share consolditaion recently but I know they've gone up to beyond 15c.

    OTOH, I've had plenty that I've held onto and made good money on or lost a lot.

    Overall I'm in front and that's all that matters

  • merivetio on 07/01/2021 - 20:05
    +1

    Just think about the people who had hundreds, or thousands, of bitcoin on hard drives that have since been lost from back in the hey day of Bitcoin. Instead of being retired on their own island now they're living their normal lives.

    Also hindsight is 20/20 and there's nothing to regret here. Anyone can look at the history of the stock market/any investment and see that it continued going up and think 'oh damn I should've waited to sell'. If you tried to time it, it's basically just as likely you would be even worse off than you actually ended up being and could've ended up losing money instead.

    And to throw in a personal anecdote - I had a a couple Bitcoin, and tens of Ethereum from way back in ~2013. I've long since sold them all (before throwing in a bucketload more at crypto several years later). Do I fret over the couple hundred thousand dollars I could've made? No, as that would basically be wishing I had a time machine. Would be nice to have, but not a remotely realistic wish.

    If you 'wished' you could have made that extra money, you have to be equally be willing to 'wish' that you can stomach losing the $10,000 completely, and waiting until that same $10,000 is either worth $50,000 one day, or never make it there and be okay not getting a single cent of that back ever (hypothetical, of course).

  • sarahlump on 07/01/2021 - 22:18

    investing and stocks are just astrology for guys who's dads paid for them to go to college. prove me wrong/

  • vindictus on 08/01/2021 - 05:50
    +1

    Lol gotta love all the crypto fresh meat that buys in high every run then sells low and reminisces how much they lost in this stupid process. It's a speculative asset, its history is filled with runs and crashes, stop being emotional and just wait for the next run (now) and you'll make bank

  • easternculture on 09/01/2021 - 00:03
    +1

    Remeber this deal
    https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/196172

    I have 0.02097492 BTC roughly worth $900USD but cannot access it bc i used a fake name . I cannot reset the password nor reset the phone number for an OTP .

    I probably will kick myself if BTC every reaches a mil lol

    Life goes on …

  • ahara on 09/01/2021 - 19:38

    $3500 “investment” turned to half over the last two years. Will keep all coins for my kid(s) and give them when they are 18 yo.

    If they are worth nothing then, then so be it.

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