Topic: It's incredibly hard to sell when you are in a profit position, because of greed (Read 599 times)

It is very hard to act properly, as you said, always waiting for some right moment without even knowing what that moment is. Those predictions about 50 or even more hundreds can guide people on that side but as we could see, those predictions were wrong. And what now? Waiting for at least half of its ATH value to get some satisfaction. And again it is the question would you sell again.
A guy here said that you can only make mistake once, after that you will learn. I agree with him. You just need to track the happenings on the market and react. But big number of people are waiting, believing in 50 thousand. Greed could cause missing the opportunity to earn some. I am sure that big% of people have that same issue and have no solution to overcome it. I am different kind of person, I like to play safe, but I knows tons of people that are, and have no way to solve this problem. Simply It's in their nature.

Bitcoin trading is so enticing especially when it is moving in our favor.  Sometimes it will seem the upward movement will continue forever and that is why people were still buying when bitcoin went as high as $20,000 in 2027. Greed is really the reason why many of us lose profits and our hard earned capitals.

This is trader's life, not just happen on crypto trading but also happen on stock trading.
For what I can catch the difference is crypto has more quicker profit gaining so most people feel surprise and can't believe it can happen !
After they realize, it's already too late but again this is trader's life, who can expect what will happen next 

most answers come from hero/legend... with a signature. We look for interesting subject, that say a lot about bttalk cause most of topic are so stupid...

I should have mining much more (btc) and not sell my exchange... 'cause of green as said but of mtgox too; earlier, I lost more 10k btc.. Times change...

I'd say you got it completely backwards

In reality, it is exactly the other way around. As a trading wisdom goes, there are two cardinal sins of trading - giving losses too much rope (or hope) and taking profits prematurely. As the second sin implies, selling too early, not holding it for too long, is what many traders suffer from. Most people don't know when to sell and thus end up selling too early earning dust in the end and missing on a lot of profit opportunities

Yeah it's true, people are greedy about Bitcoin,they won't sell the coin even though it's already rise very high and will be regret when the price fall down, it's in every people mindset that they need to make the profit as big as possible, but professional investors always got the price limit they know when to sell and when to buy back

Yep, this is a huge part of technical analysis. It's why identifying levels where high volumes were exchanged is so useful: these levels represent high concentrations of break-even positions. There's going to be lots of support/resistance at those areas, so they're good levels to watch for price reversals.

Well the old stock market paradigm is that you never trade alone, always leave some profits in the trade for the next guy.  So that really means you must leave a reason for a counterparty to your trade and for a really big holding thats increasingly obvious, you must giving that person a part to play in the holding and its rise.    If there is no buyers, its a quick sell off because you dont want to be part of everyone selling all at once.


Ripple has giant overhang from its available reserves.   They put away some of these coins into long term store but they will be released and the whole monetary base will expand.     To me it seems very similar to how QE expanded the amount of dollars available, we didnt see giant inflation immediately but until the government can run a surplus and so raise interest rates and repurchase the debt...   All that debt turns into dollars, massive over supply.   Ripple has this pencilled in for sure I think

Also time should be a kind of decay factor to your position, if its a trade then its not forever.  Sell a bit every day, news can be happening and you dont read it or its not written even but its a given that over time the situation is changing and the trade you started is now something else.
I'm way too guilty of being stagnant in a trade, people are super active with ants in their pants probably do far better.   Investment on the other hand is something else and I hope distinct in peoples minds

He also said "Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new."

As most of the ones I read above I won't make the same mistake and I'll take profits at my targets - if it come again.

+1

Other than that a cold wallet is the best wallet.

Same for me. I was going to start selling at some set price, but this price was above the previous ATH.

“Three great forces rule the world: stupidity, fear and greed.”

― Albert Einstein

A lot of people do a whole lot and the funniest part is that even those who have experienced certain situations in the past just always end up not learning, but that is basically something about life we cannot discard yeah? Greed is something normal for every individual generally but it is left for you to learn, build on yourself, to be able to have a plan for future occurrences as they will happen again and without that, it would always be an issue for people who think moon is something that will last forever without a correction or refuel and planning towards that is always important.

What is really interesting is this... this is what I've learnt in 10 years of trading different markets such as Cryptos, stocks, futures, forex, etc.

Most traders have a fear of losing money AFTER they are in profit.

So if a trader enters BTC at $20K, some will most likely have held after $10K broke, then $6K and are sitting at a huge 80% loss. They hold because they were never in profit.

However say this trader bought BTC when it was $3K and it hit $20K and they didn't take profit, most likely they put in a sell order at break-even at $3K.

This is the way most markets move. They know that people are sitting on big profits and they know that many of them will exit at break-even.

So in the future if this happens to you. Try to always scale-in and scale-out of a position. The fees are percentage based with most crypto exchanges so you won't pay any less in fees if you were to buy it all at once.

Patience is the best solution  whatever happens in the market dude,, Which is just mark your target and let your money grow dont be afraid if the market fluctuate after you buy because it's normal scenario due to the volatility , so always bear it on your mind to avoid being greedy because it can cause losses and regrets at the end.   Just relax and sit down drink some wine and be patient!

You don't cash out at a mere 50%, that's weak sauce. If you're even considering that as a possibility then you don't understand this game. However, when you're doing 1000% and price is pumping, then I don't consider it WRONG to cash out a portion. I personally sold at $2,500+ in the June 2017 pump and I have zero regrets - and I would've still had zero even if it went to $100,000. The critical word here being portion - taking profits off the table doesn't mean you step off the rollercoaster, it just means you apply the brakes a little.

You only have to do a few right things:)
- buy low
- sell high

The only problem is you don't know what 'low' and 'high' is


Eg it goes 10x. It's now low or high?
Easy.
It's high.
Is it?
It went from 150 to 1500usd. So now you sold at 1500usd because it already did a 10x.
You lose, because it did another 10x, to 15 000 usd. And more.
Even now it's over 3000usd, more than 2x more than the sell in this theoretical scenario.

With every cycle people get smarter.
I also am getting smarter.
Unfortunately i am pretty dumb, so it takes me some time.

For all people who got rekt in the fall of the bubble, like me:
There will be a big danger of selling too early in the next bubble.
Cause i am a burned child now, having had a trauma.
I will eg see 30k, think 'omg, it already 10x from 3k', and sell. Then it will go to 100k.

A sad truth which most people do experience specially for long term holders. They decide to hold even more because of believing that the price would go even more. They are afraid to lose easy profits overtime.
So in result they would end up on holding in the end even the price is already hitting on the floor.This do leaves only but regret which I'm experiencing as of now, due to greed I cant deny I'm still ending up
on hoping for another recovery or atleast a considerable price to sell on.

Honestly this is the only thing I didn't had any problems with. No matter when I profit I take out my profits and leave the market. I have always done the same, I have never waited long enough to lose money when I was profiting. I did had money and prices went down of course but never when I was on profit, it was always I get in and price goes down type of deal, if I get in and prices go up I sell.

Never turn down free money people, in the end it will take away more than just your profits if you wait too long. I have sold all my coins at 20 thousand for example, I knew it would go down, lately I sold a lot at 4.1 or so ranges as well, and right now I am buying more and more which will turn into me waiting for 4.5 or so and I will sell again. I don't care if it goes to 10k one day, I will buy on the road once again it will always stop to take a breather and than I will get there.

Yes people become greed if they see the market in good position. It is the human nature that he wants more and more but in some case people acquire good benefit and some case it will not be profitable. So people lost their thinking in greed and make mistake by hurry up during transactions. They are not studying the market correctly and making some wrong decision in the greed of huge profit.

Well, that is a whole lot true and until people actually learn from the mistakes that comes with greed before they will be able to know how to handle themselves, and that is if they actually let go of that greed. I believe excitement, greed and ignorance tend to work a whole lot together. Sure, the media are always there to create the hype and excitements which brings about FOMO and then a lot of promises assumed in people's head, and the only way to be able to handle yourself without having to miss out on any possibilities on the way up and on the way down by monitoring possibilities of trend change is by seeking knowledge which helps eliminate the ignorance and greed from the picture.

I wonder sometimes if people still do jump in without a plan, but every time I read about how tough it is to decide, I guess the answer is yeah, people still come in here without thinking ahead.

1. If you're a speculator, you have your targets. And you have your loss estimates. So you don't decide on the spot, you let the market decide for you.
2. If you're a holder, you also have targets - price or duration. Anything else in between that is irrelevant.

Greed, even if we view it as good, should still mean you can take profits at your targets. I'm greedy for the long game, so missing out at 20k's fine by me.

You make it sound so easy when it's anything but.
When price went from long time trend of $400s back in 2016, jumped to $600s in a month what to do - sell because you don't want to be greedy or hold? what about when it hit $1k, then what? what about when it hit $2500 area for a couple weeks - sell for sure so not to be greedy, right? WRONG. It went almost 10x from there.
Nothing is easy about this market so everybody stop saying shit like it is simply overcoming the nature of greed and fear. It just not that simple, and people hold not out of greed - but out of fear that it will go higher and leave them behind. So much bullshit needs to be called out on this subforum because there is a thousand more times bullshit vs good advice.

Really, in all honesty it is hard to make a decision when your coins are in greens because greed is a part of the human race. Like I will always say,  learn to take position in lows and learn to take profit when in greens.

if you are a trader you have to get rid of greed, need the right consideration to sell and buy. don't sell too fast and don't hold on for too long, many people are disappointed because they sell too fast and hold too long.

Get off your high horses, nobody here including you guys would gaf about this if they knew bitcoin was going to zero from here, and especially if bitcoin never became worth more than a few cents.

Absolutely correct! They only say " technology" because it gives a lot of profit over the short period of time, unlike any other investments that could give you profit for years. Behind the peoples technology patronage is a greedy mind that are forever discontented and thats a human nature.

Greed is what brought most people to crypto in the first place! Can't say it's the technology when most people have no idea what the blockchain is about, they think bitcoin is the blockchain. Good thing they have coinbase to help them invest

That is true, because of the greedy nature of someone who wants higher profits without thinking of crypto conditions that are not stable, but on the other hand people get big profits when they use the opportunity to sell them.

I have the same plan, maybe sell in 2020 if we go above $10,000 again. My personal experience is a little different. Bought at $3500 and of course did not sell at $19,000. I eventually sold at $6500 but bought back (less amount, needed the cash) at $7000, so a silly move in the end, but hopefully will learn from this rookie mistake.

Interesting, thanks for sharing!

I can't say I was shocked by the fall. As soon as a pal of mine called me out of nowhere asking for permission to buy XRP at $3 I knew the writing was on the wall. I'm shocked by how similar it's been to last time so far. Originally I wasn't going to budge a penny until 2020 but I didn't expect the magnitude of 2017 and I hadn't really planned for it. 

It's very, very easy to have a super high figure lodge in your mind and forget how little time it actually spent there. Hardly anyone would've achieved those peak sells. Exchanges were also so seized up at the peak that you might have had repeated failures attempting to get rid.

My ideal scenario is that my preplanned figures are reached on a very sluggish rise long before it goes nuts again.

I honesly don't gaf about missing fiat profits, what kills me is I could have 5x the bitcoins by selling then and buying back now. That's a real ass burner.

You're so right. The greed comes in play when you can't control emotions lol. Many people got many of the coins at very low prices and wanted to wait for like forever, before they will sell but plans backfired.
Anyways that'll drive up the next cycle buddy. And the new investors may experience the same and this cycle shall not end lol.

Great post!

In a similar situation myself. Started buying at around $600 as we were on the way down from Mt Gox high. Not going to go into figures but I lost ‘A LOT’ of unbanked profits on the way from $500 - $600 to $19,xxx by not selling.

I didn’t sell any of my bitcoin’s, I have the same amount now as I HODLED at the ATH but you can appreciate how much of a shock it was falling from $19,xxx to $3,xxx

I’m sure as hell selling nothing in this price range but after the next halving, maybe mid 2021 we’ll probably go on another epic bull run.

I won’t miss out on life changing profits next time

What's really incredible is to sit and watch your paper profits evaporate. That's a little mind blowing tbh, but like many here I'm playing on the house - if I actually had significant amt of real money on the line I'd probably have put a gun to my head by now.

What OGs do is sell a fraction of their coins to get their initial investment back, plus some profits. From there it's a piece of cake to hodl through massive increases or decreases without breaking a sweat.

Getting your initial investment back is one of the most important aspects of investing in general. Once you did that exactly that, you feel comfortable because you don't risk a single penny anymore.

Most of the OGs have been cashing out smaller fractions as the price kept going up, and that for years straight, which explains why most of them continue to smile even during the worst possible crashes.

I think people need to experience missing their opportunity once. When the chance comes around the second time they'd hopefully not make the same mistake as it might have taken several years to work its way back up.

I had a set proportion I was going to sell once it reached a set price. It didn't quite get there. It should get back there some day. When it is I'll be selling no matter what the future is looking like.

That's why all of the best investors are ones who are able to remove emotions from their decision making processes. If you have something precious and you continue to hold on to it tighter and tighter eventually you'll have nothing.

This is the nature of cryptocurrencies market!  It's a speculations market therefore greed and patience are the two force that determine either we make profits or not.  Investors are for profits and no one wanted to carry last in trading.  We are all greed about make profits!
Remember that some people buy bitcoin at $19000 and many are still holding uptill now.  That is the beauty of this market.  Those one can only lose if they sell at the current price and they will also make profits if it's been hold for a very long time and maybe price goes up as speculated.

This is a given fact; greed drives people to their own demise and losses, as attested by the tons of people who complained of bitcoin being a scam after not getting out early. I myself am a victim of greed when I played on online casinos. I have been playing slots and am in great profit, only to lose it all expecting that i can still manage to cram a little more wins. Luckily though I've learned my lesson, and have managed to profit on the last bull run and bag  the profits, and start a business that is still thriving up to now.

Hi folks,

Let's be honest a minute here, it is incredibly hard to sell, no matter the coin and no matter the profit.

Imagine those who bought Bitcoin at $1000, price went up to $19000 and all you could read on the Internet was predictions of $50,000, soon $100,000 (or much more than that... McAfee). Who would dare to sell in such frenetic phase?

And remember those who had some Ripple, they see a price of $2 per coin and think $2 is so low, so they wait (they of course compare the price to Bitcoin or even Ethereum at that time). I recently read an article predicting $500 for Ripple.

Greediness.

I know some people who bought Ripple at $0.50, were in a massive profit zone, they never sold and still hold today!

Let's face it, any decision in the crypto world is extremely hard to take!

So don't be too greedy, because:
-you will never sell even when the coin is down big time, hoping that it will go back up eventually
-you will never sell even when the coin is up...because if you do you will regret it when the coin has gained 100% again...


Opinions welcome