Most crypto investors and traders, especially beginners, focus on solutions without properly understanding the problems

Table of content

• Introduction
• The main problem to solve
• Mainstream crypto education
• Basic problem-solving process
• Jumping to solutions
• Problems
• It's still possible to win
• Start thinking and exploring deeper
• Advice for newbies
• Conclusion

Not financial advice.

Introduction

Well, crypto investors and traders face many problems, and it doesn't matter if they are beginners or more knowledgeable.

Some problems are solvable. Others are way outside your control, forcing you to prepare for multiple possibilities and take risks. You also must be aware of them. Unfortunately, on some decisions, you are just gambling. Even experienced people do it, but the difference is that more experienced are fully aware that they are gambling.

Some problems you can fix once and for all. Others, like political agendas, are an ongoing battle. They will adjust whenever the crypto community adjusts and implements a winning strategy. This cycle keeps repeating.

The main problem to solve

For crypto investors and traders main problem is, solving how to make a profit in the crypto market(or is it?) and avoiding as many mistakes as possible.

The main problem is to understand in what position you are actually in.

Jumping too soon to solutions and you quickly can start solving the wrong problems or, even worse, be part of someone else solution. If you are new here, understand one thing. Some individuals, groups, and larger networks spend years developing strategies to exploit you. They know the most common learning paths, beginner's thoughts, and emotions.

But I know your hands are itching to make a move, beliefs and emotions drive this behavior, and those feelings and thoughts were influenced by someone else. Crypto is also addicting, not only because it can be profitable, but it is also an exciting movement. It's a high chance that some values are aligned with yours.

Mainstream crypto education

Mainstream crypto investing and trading educational websites and influencers tell you about technical and fundamental analysis, some including on-chain analysis too. Some swear that TA is the answer. They are filled with a variety of beliefs. Some are necessary so the next bull market would come again.

These analyses have their place in the thinking process. It's also important how you think about them. Expectedly about TA because you can become an artist. It is not enough; there is much more to take into consideration. Failure to allocate enough time to understand what you are solving here will increase the chance of losing money, time, and energy.

People hoard the most profitable information and ideas, leaving you with scraps. Great ideas are drowning in a sea of unreliable information.

Basic problem-solving process

So basic problem-solving process is:

• Define the problem
  • How will you solve a problem if you do not spend any time defining it?
  • What will you solve then?
• Determine the root causes of the problem
  • Defining the problem is an excellent first step, but understanding why we have this problem in the first place is even more powerful
• Brainstorms possible solutions
  • This part could be easier if you did not skip the first two steps. It depends on how big the problem you are targeting, but you are still in a much better position to solve it
• Analyze, experiment, and implement solutions
  • Well, you have your solutions, but they are still hypotheses. Now you have to start implementing it and do the necessary experimentation. While you are doing it, you must analyze any feedback you get.
• Review and adjust until the problem is solved if it is solvable. Otherwise, repeat until you die.
  • So finally, you have some results to review; depending on your strategy and market conditions, it could take a few hours or even years.
  • This is another critical step, full of cognitive tarps. Even if your outcome is profitable, you just got another problem, and on a surface level, it seems to be profitable.

Jumping to solutions

Never underestimate the first two steps. Unfortunately, mainstream crypto education seems to skip the first two steps or focus on them very shallowly. The result is your money is flowing to the wrong places at the wrong time and for the wrong reasons. This post is also shallow, and it is just scratching the surface.

Because you are implementing solutions too fast, you often start implementing patterns heavily influenced by others. Your growth is limited. You are stuck in a loop until you extract the necessary insight by yourself or by reading other people's work.

But anyways, if you put in enough work for the long term, it becomes expensive(or not) lessons. You will increase your chances for success. Some factors are still outside your control, and can ruin your day.

Problems

Two main categories are internal and external:

• Internal problems include:
  • Lack of skills and knowledge
    • Easy one, we are aware of it. But we are not fully aware of what skills we need
  • Lack of critical thinking
    • Focus on this first
  • Emotional control
  • Lack of discipline
  • Information overload
  • Etc.
• External problems include:
  • Political, economic, and sociological forces
    • This is a vast, complex, and very important
  • An organized(and non-organized) resistance against crypto
    • It is not only government but anyone who sees it as a threat. It includes entities that will suffer profit-wise or ideologically in some way.
  • Organized crypto investors and traders exploiters
  • Powerful and wealthy people create solid networks and gain access to top-quality information
  • Informational and psychological warfare
  • Lack of good information sources
    • We can make two main groups here, lack of good information because:
      • Wrong source because the author is naive and lacks skills, unintentionally misleading people.
      • The author is not naive and consciously misled people to make money.
  • Etc.

More and more we list factors and relationships between them, we can see that there is another problem, it is way too much.

This post's goal is not to write as many factors but enough to start thinking and see if you are trapped in an artificial solution-action loop. So you can see how complex everything is. The cherry on top of everything listed and not listed is interacting in very complex and hard-to-predict ways.

It's still possible to win

But some people and groups manage to win and are not superhumans; they navigate this complexity and strategize much better than others. Spot what is important and focus on it. They understand what problems need more focus. What to learn, what to ignore. But they were still taking risks.

You also can increase the chances of success, but by any means, it is not guaranteed. You must not rush putting money and your valuable attention everywhere. Eventually, you will spread yourself too thin. The quality of your decisions will strongly suffer. You must figure out what is essential and what to prioritize. A good start would be understanding why the odds are stacked against you.

Start thinking and exploring deeper

Don't forget to dig deeper internally. When was the last time you removed yourself from all distractions and reflected on your internal processes? Did you really question your belief? Do you write down your thoughts and analyze what internal and external structure was responsible for them?

Internally there is infinity to explore. Oh, yea, we are investors. We should not go too much philosophical. Or are we creating the wrong identity? We should choose more powerful words about ourselves and do what is necessary, so they come true. Of course, word selection is the easy part.

Advice for newbies

If you have already made up your mind to invest. Keep it very simple:

• DCA to BTC or ETH small amounts
• Don't be too greedy
• Master basics
• Explore internally and develop yourself.
• Explore what will get in your way to success.
• Plan accordingly

Conclusion

It is much more to uncover, so stay tuned for more posts. I hope it will help to make better decisions. Just remember to pause from time to time and build a habit of thinking for yourself.