snifadog wrote:it's a bull market now, all I do is long alt futures but the game is tough. things don't go up in a straight line, pull backs can finish you off. well explained jones, however doing what you have written is very hard. it's the psychology that's hardest of all. my game plan is to allocate heavy into my preferred alts and hope for the best when the altseason comes. forget about DCA, now is the time to ape big into 2-3 coins, one 10x can set you up for life
True. If it was easy everyone would do it and very few people make money long term in trading. Those that do make millions.
You trade altcoin futures?
![d'oh!](/Images/Emoticons/eusa_doh.gif)
You are a braver (more skilled) man than I. I trade altcoins but without leverage. The only futures I would trade are bitcoin futures. Alts are twice as risky because there is coin-specific risk and bitcoin risk. That's two layers of risk to deal with, which doubles your chances of getting stopped out even when you spot good set-ups. If it works for you
longterm congratulations. I might borrow some tips. Personally, I will only start trading altcoin futures when they decouple from bitcoin i.e when bitcoin risk ceases to exist. As of now, if bitcoin dumps, 99% of the alts dump too so it's not a game I would risk playing with leverage.
DCA is not a strategy
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. It only works during the early stages of a bull market. The problem is, nobody knows how long a bull market will last. Imagine people who dollar cost averaged alts in Dec 2017 they are still underwater 3 years later. DCA is the type of knowledge availed to the retail market. It won't make you money unless you are very lucky to invest early in a bull market. In other words, you are putting yourself at the mercy of the market.
2-3 coins can offer massive gains, or a massive drawdown. That's extremely poor risk management.
![Laughing out loudly](/Images/Emoticons/msp_lol.gif)
. On the flip side, you can hit a home run for the same reason (poor risk management) which then reinforces bad behavior because you get positive affirmation for poor risk management. So, don't try it with your life-savings. I will tell you a short story that happened about 2-3 weeks ago. I had a position on a coin STRAT on binance. The coin announced a migration to another chain or something (I'm not blockchain tech savvy). Trading was postponed for a week or so. When trading resumed, the coin crashed like 50% and was trading under a new ticker symbol. Now, imagine if I hadn't managed risk well. That would have been a 25% drawdown if I had the entire blockfolio in 2 coins. Shitcoins also get hacked often etc and unless you are an insider, you never know the integrity of the developers.
I would ask any trader, before they begin trading, whether they have a strategy with a positive expectancy/statistical edge, because that's the only way to make money long term in markets. Trading is a mathematical endeavor. Any pro will tell you his win rate, risk-reward, and maximum drawdown. Anyone who can't tell you those figures is a typical retail trader/gambler. Gamblers make a lot of money but they eventually lose it to the house in the long run. Most retail traders who made money in 2017 gave it all back in 2018 and 2019. Everyone makes money in the short term. Only professionals make and keep the money long term.
Since men have learned to shoot without missing, I have learned to fly without perching