I've written quite a few posts making fun of normies and nocoiners. I admit I've experienced a bit of PTSD when trying to discuss crypto with folks outside of the community — they look at me like I'm an alien or something. But there's so much value here that I can't keep it to myself. So I want to offer this short guide on making money in crypto.
There will be plenty of garbage out there, and your emotions will be tested depending on how deep you want to go. If you're just buying and HODLing bitcoin, that's fine. At this point, you'll do well. Maybe very well. You won't get rich from the HODL — that was for the early adopters pre-2017.
But there are still a few pathways to riches should you choose to take on the work.
1. 4get about a sure thing
Crypto has proven itself enough as a store of value and financial system to make its way into mainstream media. Our economy is strong and here to stay. It is not mature.
Because it is not mature, you will run into scammers at every turn. As a new investor, you should know that every coin represents a project. Every project is ideally trying to solve a problem. Your job is to find the good projects and get in early. Imagine being able to invest in Amazon when Bezos was still in his garage — there are opportunities like this everywhere in crypto. Yearn.Finance, a project that made people millionaires last August, was started with a 100% free airdrop.
But you'll have to muddle through the garbage to find these projects, and you won't have much information to go on at the beginning. By the time that you know all of the info you need to know to make a responsible decision on a project, the 100X opportunity has passed.
You'll need to learn how to spot a scammer from the tricks they all use.
Website is cut and paste from other crypto websites
English on website is broken
Telegram group is full of "wen lambo" memers or bots
They shill just a bit too hard before any product is available
They can't or refuse to answer any technical questions
Over time (and some losses), you'll likely develop an instinct for telling a scam from a legit project. You'll also learn to check things like "locked liquidity" on Team.Finance (do it!) and following whale wallets (that requires a whole nuther post).
Oh yeah, and just because something isn't a scam doesn't mean it's going to work. Find a way to talk to the developer, especially if they remain anonymous. Find out if this is a hard worker, whether he has a team, and what other work he's done.
2. understand the structure of crypto
When it comes to project launches, the crypto market now has tiers. Projects including YFDai, Trustswap, Polkastarter, Xio, Degen.VC and DuckDaoDime serve as incubators to launch vetted projects. If they come through one of these digital incubators, you can have a bit more faith in them. However, the cost of entry will be higher. You also usually need to stake coins in one of the platforms to get in on the best launch price.
There will also be projects that launch independently. These are more risky, because they are not audited by any of the teams above. But those independent projects are the ones that can go 100X for you.
You'll need to learn how to use Dextools, which is a site that lists projects before Uniswap. Dextools has a legitimacy score that you can trust somewhat. This is also where you get in on projects super early. Be warned: Some coins can show up on Dextools and disappear hours later, including projects from so-called "super developers" like Andre Cronje. Cronje, the guy behind Yearn.Finance that made many people rich, is also known to "test in prod." This basically means he tests on real people instead of using the testnet. If you ape into an Andre coin, just understand it may be a troll or a test.
There is one strategy that will save you a lot of hassle — always get back your investment capital as quickly as possible. This is especially important on the new projects. Even if a project is a complete scam, there will usually be an opportunity to quickly buy in and right back out at a profit. Watch closely. If you can buy 1000 tokens in a project for 1 ETH and sell back 600 2 minutes later for that same 1 ETH, you now have 400 free tokens to ride. Don't get greedy and try to keep all 1000. That's an easy way to get rekt.
3. get a crew
Telegram is the place to be for all of the gossip surrounding crypto. And this is a market that runs on gossip. People still raise hundreds of thousands of dollars based on a Medium article and a website, so we're not exactly in the mature stages of this thing quite yet. If you want to make money, you need to get information before anyone else has it. How do you do that? Get a crew.
You'll run into all kinds of people in Telegram. Every one of them thinks they are a pro market analyst. Everyone will be bragging about their big gains last night. Whatever. Only a few of them will have an inside lane on information. That's what you want to focus on, not somebody's 10X on a project. For all you know, that person could be a scammer.
Joining the huge groups moderated by these Youtube shills is NOT the way to go. Scammers target Telegram groups like "Elliotrades Crypto Crew." By the way, that's also the reason not to listen to people like Elliotrades. He gets his edge because he controls tens of thousands of people on social media. That allows him to pump and dump on outsiders like you. Until you learn the rhythm of the market, stay away from groups like this.
You will have to do your own research into projects that really interest you. Join the Telegram groups for those projects. Do it before you invest any money. See the difference between a "wen lambo" room and a room with legitimate investors. (By the way, there are ways to make money in both rooms. I'm not judging whichever you choose to be in.)
There are still pump and dump groups around, but it's best if you know these people from other groups first. If you go looking for pump and dump groups, you'll likely end up with scammers who will dump on YOU.
Wow. I'm going to need a part 2. And 3 and 4 and 5, most likely. Stay tuned.
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Always remember:
Burgerswap Bridge will steal your crypto
Deus.Finance is led by a psychotic wannabe despot
AllianceBlock is a shit project
All algorithmic stablecoins (Basis Cash, Mithril, Empty Set Dollar) are a SCAM
Don’t get your bitcoin from PayPal
Trade on BSC, not Ethereum
Ivan on Tech, Elliotrades and Bitboy are complete liars, and
If you are always losing money trading crypto, read here.
Gems I'm investing in: