Bear Market Skills

Dear reader,

I don’t know about you, but bull markets stress me out. The speculation and mindless hype becomes overwhelming. The correlation between price and realistic utility gets blown out of proportion; hence my bullishness about this inevitable bear market, a feeling I’ve been fostering since May 19 2021.

Don’t get me wrong, I hate to see people losing money, but at the same time, if you understand the dynamics of this ecosystem, you know that times like these are when future winners are moulded. When the market reaches into its deepest depths of despair and the crypto community sounds like an empty recording studio, that’s when I’ll put my toreador outfit back on. Hopefully by then, the bags will be packed.

So what are you doing now, dear reader? What are your feelings now that Bitcoin Cash is priced under 200 Dollars?

I can tell you what I’m doing. I’m working. Building. Networking. Scooping. If anyone deserves to make it next time around, it’s the people out here putting in the reps right now, when the going has already gotten tough. So if you’re reading this, give yourself a pat on the back for being in the right place at the right time. Now wipe that smirk off your face. We’ve got work to do.

What work?

Well here are some suggestions, mere suggestions mind you, certainly not financial advice. None of that certified chit chat over here I’m afraid. If you want to get ahead in this crypto game you’ll need to position yourself as close as possible to the left side of the information chain. 

I presume, oh noble reader, that you are neither a coder nor a wealthy investor. Chances are you’re a crypto enthusiast who is desperately trying to be “early” for once and is currently down quite a bit on their portfolio at the moment. Well if that’s you, then take a look at this list of bear market skills that you can work on over the next year or two as we patiently wait out the remainder of this Bitcoin halvening cycle:

• Whale watching

• Developer tracking

• Reading podcast notes

• Networking

• Work for your bags

• Token launch bingo

But before we dive into this list, let’s just remind ourselves who we’re playing against here. At the end of the day, crypto is nothing more than an expensive game of Hot Potato. Market participants pass the potato around until the music stops. Whoever holds the potato when the music stops get eliminated. That’s all you need to know. The trick of the game is to be as early as possible and pass that potato onto the next person before the music stops. Stick that image in your head and move on.

The graph. Did I get you right earlier? You’re not a coder or venture capital manager are you? (If you are, well shoot. Send me a DM on Twitter, let’s talk). No. You’re reading up about crypto in a bear market though, so it’s possible that you’re not intending on holding that potato too long either. Good.

We need to move that pointer from the right as far as possible to the left. We also need to understand exponentials and that the guys to the left of us are still several Xs in profit as we navigate this bloody mess that is Crypto 2022. If they need some cash, we can still dump lower. Remember that, dear reader…

So what on earth can we do to save our poor souls? We need to work for our bags, that’s what. We need to sharpen our tools, gather our wits and turn our thoughts into action.

First of all, here’s a list of people who aren’t going to make it:

• The Youtube sheep

• The risk averse

• The over leveraged

• The fairweather arrivals

• The cheapskates

It’s been said in the past that only the dumb and the smart invest their money in crypto. Well if you’re dumb enough to spend your time here after losing your money, just be smart enough to learn from your mistakes! That’s the trick to growing as a person, and growing your portfolio in parallel.

So let’s explore these bear market skills, shall we?

The Foundry

I tricked you. This one’s not on the list, but we already agreed that you’re not a coder or vc fund. These guys are in the business of printing money out of thin air. If you have access to these people, NOW is the time to get friendly.

Whale watching

Look at addresses who were early to successful de-fi projects. Track this in a spreadsheet. Can you find ones that were early to multiple successful projects? Did they hold on with conviction? Are they busy on multiple chains? Find your whales, set alerts. Learn from the best.  

Developer tracking

Learn which chains use which code languages. See where the developers are working. Once the prices dump, if they are not confident about the future prospects of a certain ecosystem, don’t think they won’t jump ship to another similar coded project with a seemingly brighter future. These migrations are precursors to the future market movers.

Reading podcast notes

Podcasts are an absolute treasure trove, if you know where to look. Whether they offer hints of future project launches or just the opportunity to sit inside the brain of someone smarter than you for an hour or two, the knowledge gained is often priceless. The challenge however is consuming all the shows in a timely manner. Luckily there are community interns that make concise bullet point show notes and share them on Twitter. Do not underestimate the potential hidden within those Tweets.

Networking

It’s not what you know, it’s who you know. The people you support through the hard times, will remember you during the good times. Now’s the time to build your human capital. Practice paying forward; don’t always expect an equivalent return. As long as you stand your ground and don’t let people run over you or take advantage of your kindness, your time will come.

Work for your bags

Lots of people got ridiculously rich in the lower end of the altcoin markets just by pumping their bags. If you’re involved in any of these projects, you should learn that memes move the market much more than utility. The lower the market cap of your so-called investment, the bigger the role you can actively play in the attention it grabs. While the hype buyers rebuild their fiat portfolio, take the opportunity to practice your meme skills and grow your social capital.

Token launch bingo

This one is extremely reckless and risky. It is all but guaranteed to lose you money! You could try scouting out Dex Screener for freshly launched pairs. Once again, this is pretty much THE RISKIEST THING you can do in crypto (aside from sharing your seed phrase). The majority of these launches are pure scams that will lock your capital into the smart contract, not giving you the option to sell. If you do find an honest project however, the possibility to 10x your investment in a matter of hours is there. Be careful though, the liquidity is extremely low, slippage is volatile and once again the risk is immense. Don’t gamble more than you’re willing to lose.

Sleep

This one’s a bonus. Well done for making it this far. I’m sure you’re pretty tired by now and that’s normal. Crypto is a 24/7 casino-rollercoaster-cockfight. There are a lot of insomniac lunatics in the space. Do yourself a favour, do your brain a favour: get some good sleep. You will function far better. Set your stop losses and grab some Z’s. Your ability to make intelligent decisions will be far stronger. When the bull market resumes, you want to be sure that you’re well rested.

So there’s some food for thought. How are you planning on spending your time in the crypto markets over the coming two years? Are there any skills you want to learn or improve upon? Let me know in the comments below!

Signing off for now,

Jase – Digital Media Freelancer

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Original content, copyright JaseDMF 2022.

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