What attracted you to trading?‍

Gaming, Money and Coding. For me, it was the ability to see trading as a game, an easy-to-track levelling system being my profit and losses, with an easily “hackable” interface in the form of algos. I love all 3 of the above, this was the easiest way to combine all of them and base my progress with practically no barrier to entry.

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How long have you been trading?‍

I started in 2017, made some money, lost some in the years following and returned fully in 2020, I mainly focused on crypto. This included buying scams and losing money with friends along the way. WAGMI? A word of advice, don't tell your friends what to buy. It's always awkward later, especially when they do things besides staring at charts all day.

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How long did it take you to become profitable? Were there any major milestones where things just started to click?‍

Honestly, it's a combination of a few things. I joined a bullish market, so I did get an easier ride than most people. I started spacemanbtc.com when I got more experimental with indicators, and it was as I got more experimental that things started to click. Trialling what worked for me and experimenting with small sizes on the things I was curious about helped me remove that itch to risk it all on the next big thing. I was coding what I thought was the next big thing, but because I knew eyes were watching my releases, I had to make sure it worked before releasing it. 1 year for me to understand trading properly. I was profitable before then, but that was the luck of the bulla on my side.

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Trialling what worked for me and experimenting with small sizes on the things I was curious about helped me remove that itch to risk it all on the next big thing

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What does a typical day look like for you?‍

Depends when you ask me; right now it's a little more relaxed but slowly ramping up again. I wake up, make tea, as the queen would have wanted, read 1-2 chapters of whatever book I'm reading (new hobby since bear market), and go to the gym. After I'm back, I spend some time looking at HTF Asteroids Belt and look to see if anyone needs help with the indicators.

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Who did you look up to when you first started trading? 

Man, I can make a fat list on this one, cubantobacco is probably the easiest to mention, he was my Pinescript hero and made me realise I could do it too. I'd been coding for a long time, but Pinescript made it relatable to trading.

My good man redxbt. I watched his streams daily and realised how lucky the bulla market made me when I asked dumb questions.

‍Bollingerbeans, introduced me to crypto again in January 2020 when I wasn’t sure, was dabbling in small-cap stocks before he converted me and changed my life.

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Tell us about your most memorable trade?

SEC Suing ripple and sending it to hell, fucking love that one period not necessarily one trade. I was just shorting the love out of ripple, not even getting good entries, remember making a decent profit just because I was being degen as fuck. Towards the bottom 0.18ish is where I closed my positions and stopped, I remember having just a bad vibe; as odd as that sounds, it was literally that, ‘a bad vibe’. I closed my positions; I don't know who was watching over me.
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I was just shorting the love out of ripple, not even getting good entries, remember making a decent profit just because I was being degen as fuck.

Price reached 0.175 roughly and spiked to 0.25 along that line, and at the time, I was positioned awfully, not using stops, and I remember thinking I survived with pure luck. I checked random group chats and saw other degens being blown out. I felt like the luckiest man alive. Before, I gave back half later by continuing to short ripple still (kek), but man, it was the most adrenaline and memorable. 

Runner-up goes to YFI. I remember longing to 9k. My dad was curious about trading at the time, and on the same day, it was up a lot. I sold early compared to the peak but made a decent amount as it was pretty up-only that day. He then wanted to invest when I told him what happened. I replied hell no, I have no time to manage his trades too. Glad I said no I’ve seen a lot of bad stories since, but it was sweet seeing him take interest.

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

Patience, I'm sure all of us say the same/similar; all my biggest Ls were trying to trade when I had no confirmation in my system but eager to do SOMETHING. I still do it but less often.

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all my biggest Ls were trying to trade when I had no confirmation in my system but eager to do SOMETHING

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What drives you to keep trading?

Curiosity killed the cat, I think it's obvious by now I like trying things hence why I release so many indicators. Usually, I'm playing with an idea and have found some alpha. I think for as long as I can find alpha somewhere, I'm going to code a program/indicator to try to trade with it.

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

Not yet. For me it's being able to put all my family in a nice position. I'm doing well, but not everyone, not yet.

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Trading:

What's the most important quality in a trader and why?

Patience and curiosity, the patience to keep trying and acknowledging it's gonna take a while, sure but mainly the patience to sit on your hands till the market suits you/your style. Curiosity for as long as the person remains curious about the market and interested, I feel like they will keep coming back to give it their best.

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as long as the person remains curious about the market and interested, I feel like they will keep coming back to give it their best.

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How would you describe the way you trade?

Asteroids belt + others, it's 90% Asteroids Belt for me now and whatever else I'm testing in that period.

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Has the way you trade changed over time?

Massively, I'm still learning some things e.g. market profile, and I started SpaceManBTC to learn with it. I'm still improving. I started in a bull market; it was easy. I improved and changed a lot when the Asteroid Belt came out; that was the combination of a lot of testing and experiments till then to create. If you follow my Twitter, you know It's a key part of my strategy now.

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Why do you think you have success trading?

Curiosity. It was the combination of my trying several things that made me realise the shortcomings of many systems and the benefits of others. I agree with almost everyone-  “stick to one system”! Yet I was so curious about many indicators/systems that I probably had a rare outcome of making me want to build my own set of systems with the understanding of what suits me best. If I wasn’t interested in trying so many, I don't think I'd be where I am today. I did, however, get better the more I stuck to one, so sticking to Asteroids Belt also made me better. Improve on one system, but you can learn from many what not to do/to do.

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trying several things that made me realise the shortcomings of many systems and the benefits of others.

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What's the worst thing about trading and why?

Time, I've always had an awful sleep schedule. It was made worse with trading/coding. I was trying to fit in experimenting with Pinescript and trading all at once, and I still struggle with it today. Only recently have I taken a step back and have started sleeping better. 

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What's something you've learned in the last 6 months that has made you a better trader?

Nothing to prove. I used to pump things out for content in early 2022. Now I just do what I want. I'm not sure if it made me a better trader in the last six months specifically, but slowing down and doing things at my own pace has made it easier to manage.

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slowing down and doing things at my own pace has made it easier to manage.

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

FOMO. I've gotten better recently, but I will fail again; it's inevitable. There's always something moving, even in a bear market. When you feel like you have killed it shorting, somewhere there's a coin, and there's an influencer who longed for the + 50% gain. I've improved recently. It helps to acknowledge what you made and remember there's always the next. Crypto is 24/7. You didn’t “miss”; you gained elsewhere, be it the markets or time away for health.

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You didn’t “miss”; you gained elsewhere, be it the markets or time away for health.

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

Don’t try to consume all the information at once. If you’re like me and have the itch to try it all, make sure to try it all. Break it down and figure out the benefits you pick up. For example, do you like RSI trading? Great, what and why does it work for you? And when it doesn't, what's causing you issues? What can make that system better? After that, you can take the next piece of curiosity and maybe try something else if you have an itch to scratch, but never try to load 15 things at once and expect a return. That's coming from the guy who probably releases more indicators than most, don't believe me? Check the number of Asteroid Belt charts that I've posted with just the belt open vs ones with five indicators up. Simplifying your chart/process should make it easier for you.

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Don’t try to consume all the information at once.

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‍What goals do you set for your trading?

To withdraw x amount a month, it doesn’t have to be a fixed amount; it just needs to be substantial to ensure you can continue. This is important, and it's easy to forget you still have bills to pay. Don't leave it all in crypto, and remember to keep learning. You can get comfortable easily, but there's still a lot happening, and I need to remind myself of this as well.

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Fill in the blanks

Most traders would be better off working a 9-5 in the bear market and trading no leverage. Trade the spot market with some of your 9-5 earnings at best.

What separates the pros from the rest is patience and networking. You can learn a lot from a good circle.

A good trader should never make it all back in one trade; too high risk, stick to your system. (exceptions exist, we are not the exception) 

The biggest misconception about trading is that you can win every time. I'm still trying to figure that out, and I'm damn well sure never giving up on it. I simply acknowledge that I'm just an idiot with a love for coding stuff rapidly. I’ve made some great friends along the way who taught me plenty. Thank you all, and I appreciate every single one of you. 

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