One debate that people in cryptocurrencies often have is whether they should buy coins now or later. There is often a “fear of missing out” when coins are surging.
My answer was complicated in December, but after the recent major correction in January, my answer is simple.
DON’T FOMO.
Never “Fear of Missing Out” Ever. Be patient. Research whichever coin you want to buy before buying it. Don’t blindly trust hype. Monitor the prices of coins before buying. Don’t buy any coin at an all-time high.
When Ripple went from $1 to $3, many people felt like they needed to buy it because they may never get it for <$2 again. And now, we can get Ripple for ~$1. This same rule applies to many other coins. There are always going to be sell-offs and corrections. People take profits. People re-allocate. Coins won’t be tripling every month; that’s not mathematically possible.
The early 2018 crypto crash happened exactly because many people bought at all-time highs thinking that it was “now or never” and that they never would be able to get the coins at the same price again if it kept growing at the rate it did grow. This “FOMO” (fear of missing out) caused people to over-buy coins at a higher price than they actually had valued it at just because of the expectation that it would keep rising. They bought on expectation of a future price (and when they expectation was not fulfilled, they sold).
When a coin is at an all-time high, waiting for a correction on that coin is a good idea a majority of the time. Sure, some people are kicking themselves for passing up on a $50 NEO ($100 now) or a $450 Ethereum ($900+ now). But the patient people also got Cardano at 40 cents (rather than $1.20), NEM at 60 cents (rather than $2) and Litecoin at under $200 (rather than 300). There are some coins that go far past their earlier price and never come back. But most coins will have a slump at some point, whether its on an individual basis or an entire market-wide crash.
FOMO’s even happen to the best of us sometimes, but as long as this market is young and growing it’s not fatal. Are people going to care that they got Ethereum for $1300 instead of $800 when it reaches $3000?
The market rewards patience. Don’t put money into coins the second you get it. Pause. Observe. Be patient. Wait for a correction to finish or a breakout to start. I personally monitor a coin’s prices for 1-3 weeks before buying into it.
The anxiety of needing every single surging coin is crazy; at the end of the day, we have limited resources and all we can do is the make the ROI we can. Getting every single coin before it takes off is impossible; it’s better to have an optimal set of several great coins than to spread oneself thin and buy a bunch of coins at FOMO price due to anxiety.
This industry is new and emerging. It could very well have decades of life in it. There will be a lot of opportunities (especially for the observant and patient), so no need to haste.