the combination of the best performing asset in the history of finance being also the by far most volatile asset in history is a heavy weight to lift. we are not specially trained, hardened professional traders with balls of steel. most of us are regular guys who would have never chosen becoming traders. with selling the entire stash being just a mouseclick away, hodling btc is like trading - you choose not to sell, every new moment, every new day, every new wave of FUD.
We had no choice but to grow balls of steel ourselves. when your life savings can literally evaporate overnight, getting up in the morning, checking the price would be hyper stressful for a someone not used to it. it became routine for us. but it takes time for those balls to harden. and sometimes, for example when reaching a certain threshold money figure like $100 000 or even 1mio, even seasoned btc hodlers can experience high stress levels again.
I definitely recommend taking a little profit and treating yourself now and again. Not too much cause it hurts when the price goes up and the toy you bought for $50 would have got you $500 or even $5000 (though this in itself is good training to hodl) but it's definitely nice to know that even if everything went to 0, you'd still be ahead. Another thing is to make a plan and stick to it and remember that you can't predict the future, only make the most of probabilities. Also, you can't take it with you.
Just take your initial investment back as that relieves any stress.
Nothing beats Playing with House Money.
I agree with this. Hodl until you can take out your initial investment and still have plenty left over, and then liquidate it into some other deflationary asset like a house, land, a business, PMs, etc. And pay off any debts you owe.
That way no matter where Bitcoin goes from there, you can always say, "Well at least I have [X/Y/Z] to show for it."
(But for the love of god don't buy an expensive car with it, that's just stupid)And THAT little sub-thread holds such wisdom. Those of us who got in early enough (lucky in my case) can sell enough BTC to get their grubstake back, and enjoy the ride from then on.
That is what I have done, although I have done a little bit of extra trimming along the way of this run to buy some other good assets. Balance. Diversification. Similar to Dollar Cost Averaging, but on the way up.
It's been nice to sell tiny pieces of my stake for real money. But, the great bulk from here on out is HODL.
EDIT: And it has been Gemini (especially) and BitPay that gave me the confidence to HODL as well as sleep well at night. I am lucky indeed to have found W.O.