“Everybody should leave me alone” — 5 people share their first crypto dip experience

Like any other investment asset, the cryptocurrency market has its ups and downs. That is, seasons when they are rising and seasons when they fall. And like every other asset, crypto investors are likely to remember the first time their money was lost as an asset’s price dropped. For some, it’s chaotic because they invested a significant amount in the dipping asset, and for others, it’s a learning experience.

For this week’s crypto diaries, we asked 5 people in our community to share the first time they personally experienced a drop in the price of crypto and how it impacted their relationship with cryptocurrencies. Read their stories below.

Kelechi, 31

My first dip was in 2018. My brother convinced me to buy crypto in February of that year when the price dropped because he thought that was the lowest possible price crypto could fall to. He was of the opinion that the prices would increase in a month or two. So in March of that year, I used a small fraction of the money I usually set aside for investments just to test the waters — I invested like $120 in Bitcoin. The price did increase from about $6,500 to $7,500. My brother said to leave it long-term for more profit, so I decided that I’d take it out in December and add the profit for end-of-year expenses.

However, by December, Bitcoin dropped to $3,500. I was so angry at my brother lol! But he always warned me that crypto is high-risk so I should only invest disposable income and thankfully, I did.

I was tempted to take the money out, but after reading a bit more about crypto and how it works, I decided to just leave the money there and see what happens. I took that $120 out in like May of 2019 so I gained a little profit. But in that time I learnt a lot about crypto and started actively investing myself. Overall, I’ll say that I have gained some and lost some.

Bimbo, 28

My first crypto dip experience is the current one lol. I have been hearing about crypto since like 2020. I also know a few people who made mad profit after a few months of investing. So, when everyone was going on about buying the dip, I decided to do the same. I’m not much of an investor but I read somewhere that 20% of your income should go into investing, and that’s what I did. 10% in Bitcoin, 10% in Ethereum. I decided I’d leave it for six months and take out the profits.

The six-month mark was November of 2020. By then Bitcoin’s price had increased from $35,000 — when I invested — to almost $60,000. I saw how much I had gained and got selfish 🥲. I told myself I’d leave it for another 6 months, take the profit out and start over with another 20% of my income. But by May of 2021, the price of Bitcoin and Ethereum had dropped significantly (to $37,800). I didn’t even try to be risky with it. I just sold it quickly — thankfully I didn’t lose any money!

The whole incident really stressed me because I’m not swimming in money or anything and I also have a lot of expenses. After that experience, I will not be investing in anything anymore. Not even “low-risk” investments. Everybody should leave me alone.

Zainab, 29

I have always thought of investing as glorified gambling so I’ve never been much into it. But I have a lot of friends who consider themselves “finance enthusiasts” and they talk a lot (honestly, a bit too much) about financial assets. In early 2021, they started to go on about crypto to me. One of them encouraged me to try out Ethereum, Bitcoin and Solana, so I gave it a go.

In May of 2021, I put about ₦60,000 ($120) in Bitcoin, and then I used that Bitcoin to buy some Ethereum and Solana. I remember that this was around the time when the price of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies had fallen, and everyone was talking about buying the dip, so I guess I bought the dip.

I completely forgot about it until about May this year, when everyone was talking about how badly crypto had fallen. I decided to check my wallet. My ₦60,000 had become a little over ₦30,000. I decided I’d just leave the money there for another year and see what happens. I’m not worried about it. In fact, I’ve been reading quite a bit about crypto trends since May and considering what I’ve read, I won’t be surprised if it swings high again before the end of this year.

Toheeb, 24

The first crypto price drop I experienced was in March 2020. It was a few days after I invested ₦30,000($71) in Bitcoin. In my mind, my money was only supposed to go up, but that did not happen.

I couldn’t escape conversations about how much money people were making from investing in crypto, so I decided to try it out and hopefully make some money in the process. But I didn’t have any idea when exactly I would make this money because I wasn’t sure how long I intended to keep the money there.

Turns out that I didn’t have to worry so much about it because the market condition made that decision for me. A few days after investing, the price of Bitcoin started swinging. For some reason, I hadn’t anticipated that and it only showed that I wasn’t ready for crypto investments.

As the value of my portfolio kept dwindling, I had my heart in my mouth and hoped it would go back up. At that point, I wasn’t even interested in making a profit anymore. As long as I had my capital intact, I was fine. Thankfully, that happened as the price of Bitcoin rose to what it was when I bought it. I immediately took everything out in April 2020. No profit, no loss.

The experience made me nervous! But mostly, it made me realise that there was a lot more to learn about crypto before investing in it.

Ola, 26

Crypto has been on my radar since about 2019. I tried buying some around December of that year, but the apps were too confusing, so I gave up. In December of 2021, I switched to a bank that has crypto trading built-in, so I bought some through the app. I bought about £400 worth of a few tokens — Cardano, Ethereum and LUNA. Remember the LUNA crash? I’m still hurting from that one.

It’s been a while since I checked my wallet, and I don’t intend to do so now. But last time I checked, my wallet was down to about £120.

I’m not anti-crypto now, I use stablecoins a lot — My sister lives abroad so I send money to her through USDT. But I’m not much of a risk taker so I don’t think I will be investing or buying any highly volatile cryptocurrencies anytime soon. It is a little too high risk for my taste.