Twists, Turns, and Trades

The Emotional Rollercoaster Ride of Bitcoin.

This is a story about Twists, Turns, and Trades. Let's begin.

I remember when I was young, naive, and a bit reckless. I had started off on the right foot, doing things like dollar-cost averaging into the market and following sound saving and investment principles. Then, I began hearing whispers about something called Bitcoin. It piqued my curiosity and led me down a rabbit hole. I started researching the technology behind blockchain and was absolutely fascinated. This currency was decentralized, with a limited, finite quantity. It resembled gold, but in a digital form.

I began slowly dabbling in Bitcoin, buying small amounts here and there. Eventually, this led me to seek out like-minded individuals, joining Discord groups to discuss the topic. They started talking about these things called altcoins—names you might recognize, like Ethereum, Litecoin, and Dogecoin.

"Okay, let's check this out," I thought. At the time, to buy Bitcoin, you needed to open an account with the only Canadian brokerage available, which was QuadrigaCX. Note this is important; we’ll come back to it later in the story. I was all in, almost delusional. I liquidated $5,000, which was my entire portfolio, to buy BTC. I then transferred it to Binance to trade for these altcoins. As I started doing technical and fundamental analysis on these coins, I was surprised to find that I began making a profit. At one point, during my peak delusion and euphoria, I turned that $5,000 into $20,000. I thought I was hot stuff. I remember doing $10,000 swing trades at a time; I was an absolute degenerate. But in a bull market, everyone looks like a genius.

Here's where the descent begins. Remember that brokerage, QuadrigaCX? At the time, that’s where I stored all my Bitcoin. The exchange, which held over $250 million worth of Bitcoin, suddenly found itself in turmoil when its founder, Gerry Cotten, mysteriously died. He took with him all the hard wallets holding the BTC, leaving countless investors in the lurch. It was a situation eerily similar to what happened with FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried.

I won't dive into the fine details; there’s a full Documentary that outlines what happened.

In less than 24 hours, I lost everything. I can’t fully explain that feeling; you have to experience it firsthand. The emotional rollercoaster of peaks and valleys, going from euphoria to despair, was overwhelming. I wasn’t able to withdraw my funds at the same time the market was crashing, making my altcoins worthless. I've also come to the conclusion I was going to lose everything regardless. I learned some valuable lessons during those days that I carry with me to this day.

I now truly value cybersecurity; I no longer day trade and have returned to my fundamental roots. Based on my experience, I view Bitcoin as a Ponzi scheme. While I think the technology behind it is fascinating, fundamentally, the price only goes up if you sell it to the next buyer. It lacks real intrinsic value.

Everything is a learning experience—don’t make the same mistakes I did.