I am only a few months into my crypto investing career and here are some vital lessons I've learned and wished I had understood from the start.

Outline your goals BEFORE you go into the market:

This is vital. Having a clear set of goals outlined before making your first investment is critical to your financial success. Write them down. Tattoo them on your kid. Make a smart contract with yourself (Someday…). Anything to keep yourself honest. Some things to think about: Are you investing longterm? Do you plan on day trading? How much money are you investing? Once the money is in and the market begins to fluctuate, even the most strong willed among us will have trouble staying true to their plans. Emotion will take control as the massive market fluctuations promise enticing but elusive rewards. “If only I could invest just $100 more…” Don’t fall for that trap.

DON’T Buy high and sell low:

The oldest adage in the book. You might think you’re immune to this mistake. I certainly did. It seems like common sense…I mean, honestly, how hard can it really be? When the market is low, buy. When the market is high, sell. The problem is, that buying high and selling low plays very much into our psychology. It’s very difficult to know when the market is at its high and when it’s at its low. A bull market is a bull market for a reason. When the trends are skyrocketing, it’s easy to get sucked into the excitement. “If only I’d invested in this coin yesterday! What if it keeps going up?” So you buy high. When the coin crashes, panic can easily ensue. In an effort to avoid more catastrophic losses, you sell low. Suddenly, without even intending to, you have let emotion control your investing decisions. Learn to control your emotions and take advantage of other people’s inability to do so. As Warren Buffet so wisely said:

“Be Fearful When Others Are Greedy and Greedy When Others Are Fearful.”

Don’t try to predict the market: you’re gambling:

Trying to predict the market is a fool’s game. You might make money, yes. But recognize, if you do, it was likely largely due to luck. The markets are so volatile and so much driven by speculation today that it’s virtually impossible to predict when either a run or crash might occur. Don’t try to predict them. Don’t try to predict when the markets are at their lowest or highest. Buy when the markets are in a downtrend, and sell when you’ve made a decent profit. Or better yet, invest for the longterm and don’t worry about the weekly swings—simply hold when the market is in a downtrend. Dollar cost averaging is a very effective way of eliminating the emotional aspects of the investing. Determine a certain amount of money to invest every week and invest it regardless of where the market is. That way, you’ll spread out the risk. You might also prevent a gray hair or two.