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Lewis Young, a self-employed electrician, had a back-up plan in case he made a loss when he started investing in cryptocurrency in January 2019. “I told myself I would go back on to a construction site and do overtime. I can add £10,000 to my £44,000 annual earnings that way. I am young enough to start again if I make a loss.”
The 35-year-old from Camberwell, south London, had savings of £35,000. “Brexit has put me off trying to get on the property ladder at the moment, and interest rates are so low [I don’t get much interest on my savings]. I decided to go into a market of the future, and digital currency is the future – no one will use cash.”His first investment was $646 (£500) in bitcoin and from there he quickly started investing in different cryptocurrencies. He admits it was a rollercoaster of emotions during the early months. “You can get caught up in the hype, buy something and then wake up the next morning and be $2,000 down. At one point my investments, which had risen a lot, fell back by $5,000 – I was like ‘argh do I stay in or do I get it out?’. I held on and they went back up by $3,000 but then I took the money out because I thought I was up enough.”
A personal high in May provided another lesson. “At the height of my investments I’d put in about $12,000 and it doubled to $24,000. But I didn’t take the money out – I wasn’t as clued up as I am now. I didn’t tell anyone what I was doing because I was investing a lot of my savings. The humiliation if I had lost that amount would have been terrible.”
After making $11,000 (£8,500) in 11 months, he now has investments in a dozen currencies using three trading platforms, and plans to continue investing long term. “I find the ups and downs fascinating. A year ago, one of the newer coins was 16p – now it’s £3 per coin. Once you get into it, it’s quite a wormhole!”
What I did
I researched cryptocurrency and watched finance themed interviews on the likes of London Real.
I set up an account with trading platform eToro where I invested $646 in bitcoin. I put in $4,000 more after the value went up.
A month later I decided to cover all bases and invest between $30 and $6,000 in other cryptocurrencies including: ethereum, bitcoin cash, eos, zec, litecoin, stellar, ripple, ada, neo and miota. I used two other trading platforms Coinbase and Binance to do this as you cannot get the smaller coins on eToro.
I continued to invest and navigated several highs and lows. I invested the most in bitcoin. Bitcoin cash (another cryptocurrency) has also done well for me – it currently stands 137% up. However, I have had days where a currency has been minus 60%. I only risk what I am willing to lose.
My investments overall rose $11,000 and I cashed out $5,000 – this amount I made from bitcoin. I split the remaining $6,000 between my eToro account and wallets on Coinbase and Binance. My eToro account is valued at around $13,000 right now, up $4,000. I check my investments once a day when I am on the bus to work.
What worked
It took me a day to sign up to eToro and get an account going. The app was easy to download, it transfers your British pounds to dollars and gives you everyday information on each currency.
I did my research. All these other coins are used by different people for different things. You might find that some of them resonate with you when your read their story about how and why they were created. I watch the markets on eToro and Coinbase. You can go as far back as three years to see the span of the ups and downs. I read crypto news at the likes of Cointelegraph. It takes a while for currencies to become a viable option to invest in. Big companies are using these currencies in blockchain devices that not a lot of people know about.
I look at it every day. Obviously when you put a lot of money in, there is pressure to know what you are doing.
Investing in a range of currencies. It’s good to keep your eggs in different baskets. This is how I split my early investments: bitcoin $6,000, ethereum $2,000, bitcoin cash $1,500, ripple $500, eos $500, zec $500, litecoin $400, stellar $200, neo $120, ada $30, and miota $30.
Using a mix of platforms. Coinbase makes buying smaller currencies possible but eToro has other markets on its app such as gold and Tesla shares. Investing in cryptocurrency made me start asking what else I could do with my money so I put some money in Tesla. It gives you variety.
It takes 24 hours to move cryptocurrency from your account to your bank account. There is a £25 fee for withdrawals and another fee varies according to the currency you are cashing out.
Transferring money between wallets involves copying a generated code. I have learnt how to do this – if you find yourself wanting to quickly move currency or cash some out then it’s good to know.
You have to be wise to the risk of losing it all. I told myself I would have to accept any loss – and go back on to a construction site and do overtime.
And what didn’t
Getting swept away by it. You don’t want it to take over your life, where you are checking it every hour. You can get like that when you start seeing it go up and down. You have to have a strategy. Either do what I do and check it at regular intervals, or be on it non-stop for 12 hours a day. It is super volatile and not like any other market.
Missing out when I doubled my $12,000 to $24,000. If my money doubles again I would take out the profit to put it towards my house deposit – I do plan to buy eventually. I’d leave my original stake in there. Or I would use half the profit to invest in a different kind of market. I would keep investing in something, keep the ball rolling.
The 35-year-old from Camberwell, south London, had savings of £35,000. “Brexit has put me off trying to get on the property ladder at the moment, and interest rates are so low [I don’t get much interest on my savings]. I decided to go into a market of the future, and digital currency is the future – no one will use cash.”His first investment was $646 (£500) in bitcoin and from there he quickly started investing in different cryptocurrencies. He admits it was a rollercoaster of emotions during the early months. “You can get caught up in the hype, buy something and then wake up the next morning and be $2,000 down. At one point my investments, which had risen a lot, fell back by $5,000 – I was like ‘argh do I stay in or do I get it out?’. I held on and they went back up by $3,000 but then I took the money out because I thought I was up enough.”
A personal high in May provided another lesson. “At the height of my investments I’d put in about $12,000 and it doubled to $24,000. But I didn’t take the money out – I wasn’t as clued up as I am now. I didn’t tell anyone what I was doing because I was investing a lot of my savings. The humiliation if I had lost that amount would have been terrible.”
After making $11,000 (£8,500) in 11 months, he now has investments in a dozen currencies using three trading platforms, and plans to continue investing long term. “I find the ups and downs fascinating. A year ago, one of the newer coins was 16p – now it’s £3 per coin. Once you get into it, it’s quite a wormhole!”
What I did
I researched cryptocurrency and watched finance themed interviews on the likes of London Real.
I set up an account with trading platform eToro where I invested $646 in bitcoin. I put in $4,000 more after the value went up.
A month later I decided to cover all bases and invest between $30 and $6,000 in other cryptocurrencies including: ethereum, bitcoin cash, eos, zec, litecoin, stellar, ripple, ada, neo and miota. I used two other trading platforms Coinbase and Binance to do this as you cannot get the smaller coins on eToro.
I continued to invest and navigated several highs and lows. I invested the most in bitcoin. Bitcoin cash (another cryptocurrency) has also done well for me – it currently stands 137% up. However, I have had days where a currency has been minus 60%. I only risk what I am willing to lose.
My investments overall rose $11,000 and I cashed out $5,000 – this amount I made from bitcoin. I split the remaining $6,000 between my eToro account and wallets on Coinbase and Binance. My eToro account is valued at around $13,000 right now, up $4,000. I check my investments once a day when I am on the bus to work.
What worked
It took me a day to sign up to eToro and get an account going. The app was easy to download, it transfers your British pounds to dollars and gives you everyday information on each currency.
I did my research. All these other coins are used by different people for different things. You might find that some of them resonate with you when your read their story about how and why they were created. I watch the markets on eToro and Coinbase. You can go as far back as three years to see the span of the ups and downs. I read crypto news at the likes of Cointelegraph. It takes a while for currencies to become a viable option to invest in. Big companies are using these currencies in blockchain devices that not a lot of people know about.
I look at it every day. Obviously when you put a lot of money in, there is pressure to know what you are doing.
Investing in a range of currencies. It’s good to keep your eggs in different baskets. This is how I split my early investments: bitcoin $6,000, ethereum $2,000, bitcoin cash $1,500, ripple $500, eos $500, zec $500, litecoin $400, stellar $200, neo $120, ada $30, and miota $30.
Using a mix of platforms. Coinbase makes buying smaller currencies possible but eToro has other markets on its app such as gold and Tesla shares. Investing in cryptocurrency made me start asking what else I could do with my money so I put some money in Tesla. It gives you variety.
It takes 24 hours to move cryptocurrency from your account to your bank account. There is a £25 fee for withdrawals and another fee varies according to the currency you are cashing out.
Transferring money between wallets involves copying a generated code. I have learnt how to do this – if you find yourself wanting to quickly move currency or cash some out then it’s good to know.
You have to be wise to the risk of losing it all. I told myself I would have to accept any loss – and go back on to a construction site and do overtime.
And what didn’t
Getting swept away by it. You don’t want it to take over your life, where you are checking it every hour. You can get like that when you start seeing it go up and down. You have to have a strategy. Either do what I do and check it at regular intervals, or be on it non-stop for 12 hours a day. It is super volatile and not like any other market.
Missing out when I doubled my $12,000 to $24,000. If my money doubles again I would take out the profit to put it towards my house deposit – I do plan to buy eventually. I’d leave my original stake in there. Or I would use half the profit to invest in a different kind of market. I would keep investing in something, keep the ball rolling.
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