Personal

What attracted you to trading?

I fell into it by chance. I was early in Bitcoin in my teens, and though I didn't hang onto my first coins (thanks in part to MTGox), I had the foresight/luck to get back in with a small sum in 2014. Not as a trader but as a plain boring holder.

I had never been particularly interested in trading until I saw my little stack of Bitcoin rising rapidly in late 2016. The price cracked $1,000 and carried into ATHs, pulling my interest into the markets. I put everything I could into Bitcoin and spent hours reading obsessively, starting in r/Bitcoinmarkets.

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How long have you been trading, and what markets have you traded?

I've only traded crypto. My first real trade was in early 2017, a friend of mine urged me to get into Ethereum, and sure enough, I converted a good portion of my stack. Over three months, I saw that value 3X - and that was enough to hook me.

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How long did it take you to become profitable? 

At least a year in a bull market. To be determined, maybe never, in a bear market. I like to say, "I'd rather be a bull than a trader." That means developing the patience and restraint to step away when it's not my time. I'm not interested in painstakingly working hard each day to be in the top 5 or 10% of traders to be profitable in all conditions. Instead, I just want to wait until I see easy money sitting on the floor and pick it up when it's there.

I didn't know what I was doing in 2017, but by the end of the year, I managed to make more than I had ever expected by virtue of the bullrun. I slowly lost everything throughout 2018, day by day, week by week. It was a humbling experience I'm lucky to have gone through at a young age. I learned what I could do well and what I certainly couldn't.

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Did you consider quitting during this period?

After experiencing the volatility and opportunity to shift the course of my life so dramatically, I knew I could never go back to the predictable professional working path. Since my teens, I was always working on side-missions I created, cooking up ideas to get ahead, but no experience had been quite as empowering as the crypto markets.

In mid-2018, even after losing most of my earnings, I decided to go all in crypto, left school and burned all the ships. It wasn't just trading, but the crypto movement I saw as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I never stopped trading (though maybe I should have taken a break) and invested my time in all other aspects of learning and positioning myself in crypto.

If it were solely trading that I had been into, I might have decided that I wasn't cut out for it and pursued other ventures. In a way, I did just that in the current downturn. But I never believed for a second that I didn't have a place in crypto, no matter how bad of times it got.

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Were there any major milestones where things just started to click?

Completing each half of each cycle has been a significant milestone. Despite losing everything in my first bear market, I firmly believed in crypto's future and invested my time in what I knew best - social media. I watched everything I could, talked to everyone, and of course, watched the charts religiously. 

I had a firm idea of what it would look like when the next bull run began to start, and after a year of not losing or making money (2019), I was able to risk-on aggressively with what little I scraped together in 2020. I learned many bull lessons in 2017 that positioned me to come back strong. 

The experience gave me the confidence to trade the bull well, and I quickly set myself up to milk the rest of the 2020-2021 run. I'm down from ATHs today, but my experience kept me from repeating 2018 and I'm blessed to be positioned better than I ever hoped for when it's my time again.

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Did you create a written trading plan during the bearmarket?

After my first cycle, I did, scratching and saving notepads here and there. I came to understand myself better through the process and gave myself rules.  The core of my trading plan returns to one rule I seldom break: long only. As you've probably noticed, the oft-repeated theme here, I am, first and foremost, a bull, even if that means waiting a very long time between trades. It's been a while since I've revisited my notes, and I certainly should again sometime in the next six months.

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I am, first and foremost, a bull, even if that means waiting a very long time between trades

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What does a typical day look like for you?

I wake up mid-morning and get outside in the sun as quickly as possible, taking a walk to explore the city. Daytime in Asia is quiet, and I take it easy, eat, run an errand or two, enjoy a videogame, and get an afternoon nap.  I work out in the evening and get home in time to shower, eat, and settle into misc crypto-focused work until my team in the West wake up. 

Depending on the day, I may have some crypto-focused calls and team work, but my biggest excitement and focus at the moment is working with the Betterbrand team, my health and wellness supplement company. I'm sure my focus on crypto will rekindle when the time comes. 

I don't always make it, but I try to sleep at least four, or five hours before sunrise. It's a compromise working internationally.

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‍How has the way you trade changed as you’ve become more involved in business? ‍

Becoming more involved in business and entrepreneurship was vital in helping me to escape the addiction of trading and treat trading more appropriately for my skillset. 

For me, trading has become a powerful opportunity that comes and goes, something I can pick up and put down, not something I need to do. Entrepreneurship has given me something more stable, and long-term sustainable to focus on and derive reward from without the intense highs and lows trading can bring.

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Was trading always a means to an end for you ?

It may have started as a means to an end but I also got sucked into the addiction of trading, for better and worse. My original goal was simply to make enough money to cover my tuition. Addiction pushed me past that goal and also brought me back below it too. Happy to not be stuck in that addiction today and just healthily interested in the markets.  Do I still love the markets? Sure, I only love bull markets, though :)

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Addiction pushed me past that goal and also brought me back below it too.

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‍Has being involved in business made you more sensitive to fundamentals/macro outlook than you were when you were a trader?

I would say the other way around - being involved in trading has made me more sensitive to fundamentals/macro outlook and has contributed to my views in business. I'm very thankful for all the things we get to learn about logging into Crypto Twitter each day.

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As an anon with a large following - how aware are you what you share can impact markets. Do you edit yourself much when sharing on social?

Over time I've become pretty sensitive to this. I don't take short-term trades on low caps, and if I do plan to, I won't broadcast the trade. When it comes to these plays, I put on my investor hat and look forward weeks, months, and potentially years out. 

I try to position myself as a supporter of the project, and that carries a responsibility not there when you just share a trade idea.

It's come to bite me in the ass a few times when half my brain sees tides turning, and I rationally think, "OK, I should sell here," and the other half says, "but people believe in me, and I just gave them confidence." 

There is a time and place to take profits (or cut losses), and I will avoid signalling confidence in something when I'm trying to exit.

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I try to position myself as a supporter of the project, and that carries a responsibility not there when you just share a trade idea.

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‍Would you say you’ve ‘made it’? What does ‘making it’ look like to you?

It would be hard for me to say I haven't made it. I'm confident I would have found success eventually through entrepreneurship, but how much further would that have been away? How many hours would I have had to work for someone else in the meantime?

Trading put me financially ahead for at least 10-20 years and gave me the freedom I never believed I'd have so young. I've been able to see the world and work with friends building things I love without the impending stress of debt and the cost of living.

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Trading

What's the worst thing about trading and why?

Trading is addicting, and an overwhelming majority of traders lose money over time. For most, it's akin to gambling, activating the same reward and pain pathways. In a way, it's not much different from drug addiction.  I'm not going to discourage any individual from trying, putting in the work and time to be in the top 10%, there will be winners, but the grim reality of trading is that it will cost most their money and their mental health.

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the grim reality of trading is that it will cost most their money and their mental health.

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‍What's the most important quality in a trader?

I'm unsure this is the absolute most important quality, but the first that comes to mind is emotional control and the ability to project your (and other's) emotions onto the chart. The market plays on emotions to make the most participants hurt the most. 

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Why do you think you have success trading?

Loss, experience, patience, and forgiving markets.

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What's something you've learned in the last six months that has made you a better trader?

Mostly the last six months have reaffirmed what I already learned from the previous bear market. I made some of the same mistakes as in the past, but not so severely. 

One of the biggest mistakes I made in 2018 I repeated in early 2022, involved putting my faith too long in the hands of highly successful people I respected. 

Some of my trading involves reading dozens of different signals from these other traders and amalgamating them into my decision-making process.

It's all too easy sometimes to fall into the cognitive dissonance of the crowd. All humans make mistakes, and often others' first motivation isn't to help you; they're just talking their book. 

Unless you're literally working at a firm, or have very close, unshakeable bonds with fellow traders, you have to remember there is no "we" in trading.

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One of the biggest mistakes I made in 2018 I repeated in early 2022, involved putting my faith too long in the hands of highly successful people I respected. 

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‍What's the mistake you find hardest to avoid when trading?

I think miss-sizing and overconfidence are one of the toughest traps I've fallen into.  Take a step back after significant shifts in PNL, and come to terms with the breadth of both wins and losses before trying to keep the winning streak going or "make it all back in one trade."

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If you could give someone starting trading tomorrow one piece of advice what would it be?

Expect to lose for a long time; plan and risk accordingly. If you start on a winning streak, don't get a big head; sometimes the market just gives.

In the long run, the cards are stacked against you. If you are clever and determined enough, you can become consistently profitable, but you don't want to lose your shirt before you get there.

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In the long run, the cards are stacked against you.

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‍Tell us about your most memorable trade.

In my early days, I joined CryptoYoda's Jedi inner circle paid group. I listened devoutly and copytraded him with great success until we were told to buy doge > 100 something sats. It coincided with me discovering leverage for the first time. Of course, I aped my Poloniex stack 2.5x long at the top of that chart in summer '17 and held it all the way down until I was margin called, losing the most notional BTC of my career. 

At the beginning of the trade, I actually thought I had enough money to prop the market up, and I did, for a very, very short time. Stuck in the trade, I watched the chart bleed down every day with the same sickening feeling, not knowing what was happening or what to do. Paralyzed. It wasn't the last time I lost money with leverage, but it was the deepest cut and a big wake-up call.

Cut losers.

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I watched the chart bleed down every day with the same sickening feeling, not knowing what was happening or what to do. Paralyzed.

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‍What’s the best trading advice you’ve been given?

View each trade first as an opportunity to lose money, and as an opportunity to make money second.

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What drives you to keep trading?

Greed and rationalism, I suppose. As I said, if I see money on the floor in front of me, I want to pick it up. How could I not? Happy to wait until it's there.

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Fill in the blanks

Most traders would be better off not trading.

What separates the pros from the rest is discipline.

A good trader should never become cocky.