One of the first things I noticed upon entering the crypto investing arena in early 2017 was the overall impatience of the average crypto buyer. Wealth isn’t built in weeks or months, or even a few years. Sure some can get lucky with that one crypto that returned 900% in 6 months, but only if they knew exactly when to buy and only if they held until just before the very last downturn in January 2018. And then after executing that successful investment, you must do it again and again, each time correctly so as to not wipe out your earlier gains.

{Check out the new Coinbase Pro}

It isn’t as easy as most crypto YouTubers make it out to be. Headlines scream “How to make millions in crypto” or “Get rich overnight with bitcoin.” I’ve been a successful long-term investor in other arenas, and I don’t think crypto will end up being much different than other asset classes now that the 2017 hype has settled down. Starting out is also harder than it looks, unless you stick with what most consider the easiest exchange to use for buying: Coinbase.

{Interested in anonymous cryptos for your portfolio? Read our take on Privacy Coins}

Patience is your first and most important tip

So what does that mean going forward? It means simply that the path to building wealth using crypto investments will take patience and a disciplined long-term investing plan. Notice I keep using the term “investing” and not trading. I don’t trade. I don’t believe it works for the majority of people who try it. Impatience and emotion are difficult to overcome when trying to time trades. Strategies often go out the window when prices are plunging, and investors often panic sell. On the other hand, people become mesmerized by charts when prices are soaring and sometimes forget to take some gains when they should.

{XRP investors certainly understand patience as Ripple’s payment platforms slowly and steadily see progress.}

Learn basic cryptocurrency trading platforms

We covered GDAX pretty thoroughly in these two guides, Getting Started and Entering GDAX Orders. The principles mentioned in those two article apply regardless of your chosen platform. Use limit orders to your advantage. Roll into and out of positions gradually using ladder or tiered orders at a few different prices rather than dumping all your coins at once. We’ll cover that more in an upcoming article later in May.

{Is bitcoin’s intrinsic value any different than gold?}

Here’s my first video tip courtesy of YouTuber Chris Dunn, who has a really good channel for crypto investors and traders.

This was posted last year when bitcoin was beginning its big price run up, but the general messages are still important. His channel has been shared here before in our forums in the Scams section, as he covered 4 common scams pretty well.

In the coming weeks, we’ll post articles covering long-term strategies using crypto to build wealth, how to dollar-cost average correctly (it’s not what a lot of crypto social media posters think it is,) information and opinion posts on bitcoin compared with older more traditional asset classes, and curated links to resources that we find helpful.

That’s it for today. One video link and a general idea of where we are going next here at The Cryptocurrency Forums. Be sure to register for a free account and tell us what you’d like to see covered in these pages.

Thanks for reading.