Hello again Profiteers,

 

Alex (goldlotus) here, I hope you're all getting as sick of me as I am already!! So in my last post I covered my first experiences with digital cats which I last dabbled in just a few days ago. But we need to backtrack a bit now because during these couple of weeks trying to buy kitties I also made my first "real" trade attempts. I know all this stuff so far hasn't really been "trading", but I want to cover it all (more for my benefit and bad memory than anything) so thank you for humoring me.

But before we get into the trades I did make one more buy for a longer term hold. I bought me 1 whole Litecoin. Leading up to my purchase there had been buzz in the news about Litecoin as a possible alternative to Bitcoin with it's MUCH cheaper price and fees. I bought on Dec 7th at just about $100 (USD), the next day it went up over %60! by the next week it was in the $360's. It has since come down into the low 2's as the whole market has been down for the last week and a bit. I am very tempted to move the Litecoin into my Kraken account so I can sell it and put that money back to work (Canadians can't sell through Coinbase for now), still undecided.

Also on Dec 7th I got a little surprise bonus from Coinbase. I received $10 worth of Bitcoin for free! At first I didn't understand what was going on I thought it was a mistake or a scam because I got an email notification telling me about it but my actual account didn't say anything. I thought it was a phishing scam or something but it turns out it was a referral bonus for signing up to Coinbase through someone's referral link which I did not realize I had done. Ok, thanks!

 

- TRADE DETAILS -

DATE: - Dec 7 2017 @ 2:21 am

EXCHANGE: - Coinbase

BUY: - 1 LTC

RATE: - $125.04 CAD/LTC

COST: - $101.13 USD or $130.03 CAD

STATUS: - open

 

- BONUS DEPOSIT -

DATE: - Dec 7 2017 @ 2:26 am

EXCHANGE: - Coinbase

DEPOSIT: - 0.000658 BTC

VALUE: - $10 USD

 

As of now (Dec 31 2017 @ 1:26 am) I hold in my Coinbase account 0.00760019 BTC worth $97.28, a mere $20 (USD) more than it was when I bought it almost a month ago. I also have 1 LTC valued at $211.07 which is just a little more than a %100 gain so far. Together they give me just over $300, at one point they were worth a little over $500. I'm optimistic that they can return to those highs and beyond in the new year.

 

Alright, now onto the trades!

Now I'm not really taking anything too seriously just yet. I've started using the Crypto Watch trading platform through Kraken to watch prices and get comfortable looking at the charts and "level 2" stuff. Even though I've been watching Tim's video's for a year I'm still brand new to all this finance stuff and trading especially and especially this crypto trading thing that's new to everybody! Looking at screens of live charts, order books and time & sales for the first few times is a bit daunting. I've mainly just been watching and poking around slowly figuring it all out. But I ain't got time for that shit! I need to be comfortable and proficient navigating the platform and executing orders. There's really only one way to get there.

So my first attempt at actual trading was with one of the the crypto scene's many "alt-coins" known as Ripple or XRP. It had been trading basically sideways for some time between the 0.22 to 0.25 cent range. Then it made a big move up to 0.89 cents over 3 days, lots of time to get in! Buuuuut.... I missed the whole move. I had actually disconnected my laptop from the internet for a couple of days trying to create completely secure paper wallets for Bitcoin (didn't work). During this time I wasn't checking on anything that I wasn't currently holding, just checking Bitcoin and Ether on my phone. The funny thing was, I was talking to a co-worker about ripple and how I knew it was bound to go waaay up but I didn't want to get in just yet because it wasn't "in play". I didn't want my money just sitting there tied up and not moving. Little did I know that as I was speaking, Ripple was on the move for a %200+ gain. Well once I got home and realized what I had missed, I was a bit choked. But I remembered Tim's lessons. There will be tons and tons of missed plays throughout your trading career, you can't catch them all and you certainly shouldn't try. Although I remembered the lesson, that didn't stop me from rather hastily jumping in hoping there would be more up side.

I bought just over 701 XRP for 0.02987 BTC (around $533 USD). I'm kinda struggling with figuring out after the fact how much I spent on what. My kraken account doesn't show what any of these things were valued at in USD at the time of transaction. So I'm trying to figure it out as best I can with the info I do have, my shotty memory, shitty math skills etc.  :(  I really wish I had been writing all this stuff down at the time. I suppose that's what I get for being new, undisciplined and we'll say slightly over fixated on the 1 min ticks?. Lesson learned, write everything down AS YOU DO IT!!! (or at the very least IMMEDIATELY after!!!!)

 

 

You can see in the chart above my entry point was in the 0.75-0.76 range (I don't have an exact number here, sorry). Now again because I'm trying to go back in time I'm not able to pull up a more detailed chart, time travel is a bit tricky 1 hr candles is the best you get. You can see it hit a high of 0.89 and then had a pullback to the 0.65 area. It found a bit of support there and had started on it's way back up when I started looking at it, not sure what price exactly I saw it at. On the one minute chart I recall the setup looking way more impressive than it does here. I'm pretty sure I looked at the longer chart over the week and month but ignored the facts that a) this thing is already up huge, and b) Ripple has had a difficult time holding it's gains in the past. I just wanted something to be moving and I wanted to be in on that move.

All in all though I don't consider it a bad entry or trade. Like I said the 1 minute chart was looking very positive to me. I thought this big push over the last couple of days might be what Ripple needed to start really taking off. All of the other major players at the top of the coin market cap listings are trading for hundreds to thousands of dollars per coin. Ripple is up there with them only because it has many times more coins in circulation. If it ever decides to try and play catch up in price even just a little bit (which could happen the way things have been going, who knows), the gains could be enormous. At least that's my thinking at the time. But of course, within seconds of me getting in, the momentum shifts and I start to see red candles. But thankfully that didn't last long, we turned around and started heading back north. It got just up to 0.83 and then started losing steam again so I started looking for the door. I managed to get out in the 0.79's for a small gain. Not too bad for a first try, I'm actually kinda proud of myself! Even though it was hasty and I didn't really plan anything at all. I was calm and collected with basically all of my money on the line. I was patient (at least I think) in waiting to see what it could do. And then when it didn't look promising anymore, I got out.

I know my trading career will be full of losses and that doesn't bother me at all. But it feels really damn good just to not lose anything on the first one, let alone actually making a small profit. It's a great boost of confidence for myself, reaffirming my trust in Tim, his strategy and my dedication to studying. 1 year ago from today I could never in my wildest dreams have pictured myself doing what I am now, headed down this new path to a "career" in the world of finance?!?!!? WTF?!?!?!! The thought of it all is so alien to me, the fact that I am SO into it and excited for it absolutely blows my fuckin' mind. It's weird, but I like it :) and I don't plan on stopping!

 

- TRADE DETAILS -

DATE: - (Buy) Dec 14 2017 @ 8:08 pm / (Sell) Dec 15 2017 @ 12:13 am

EXCHANGE: - Kraken

BUY: - 702.824 XRP for 0.02987 BTC @ an ex rate of 0.00004250

COST: - should be right around $512.88 USD

SELL: - 701.911 XRP for $558.77 USD

STATUS: - trade completed

P/L: - PROFIT, my first one!!!! we'll call it a $45 (USD) gain, I'm new I'll take it :)

This early success with Ripple was not to last though, subsequent trades of XRP did not bode so well. You'll hear all about them in the next issues so come on back!

 

as always, thanks for reading

 

Peace

Alex