Now that we are finally primed for a new bull market after two years of crypto winter, what’s the best way to prepare for those gains? Let’s take a look at 5 need to know tips to make sure you’re not singing the crypto blues.
1. Always get your funds off the crypto exchange after you’ve finished trading
Exchanges are notoriously insecure, whether they get hacked, mismanage user funds, exit scam, or pull a surprise shotgun AML/KYC to seize your funds, you’re always at risk with your funds on the exchange. There are very valid reasons why “Not your keys, not your Bitcoin” is a mantra among traders and hodlers. Many traders have been cleaned out by hacks, unethical exchanges, and exit scams.
With surprise AML/KYC seizure, it may be possible to recover funds, if you don’t mind doxxing yourself, but some platforms simply make the demands for info so egregious that you may never get your coins back.
2. Don’t talk about your coins or trades on social media
Opsec (operational security) is king in the land of crypto. During the last bull market we saw people get kidnapped, become victims of home invasions, or $5 dollar wrench attacks, and get robbed for everything. All because they wanted to brag on social media. Please don’t do this, it’s like painting a big red target on your back.
On many social media profiles, people can find out where you are, where you live, who your friends and family are, etc. Not the kind of info you want criminals to have, especially when they see you posting about how much money you just made. Here’s a list of people who have been attacked for coins.
3. Keep your coins in a hardware wallet offline
Another opsec consideration in your mind as a trader, should be to store your coins offline in a hardware wallet. You can keep the hardware wallet and recovery seed in different, but secure locations. Hacking and ransomware is an epidemic online, and keeping your coins off your laptop, in a hardware wallet is an easy way to simply sidestep the risk of losing coins this way.
A thief can still possibly hack or steal your coins with a $5 wrench attack, so you’ve also got to take into consideration a safe way to store your hardware wallet, but keeping your coins in such a device is way more secure than on a device connected to the web.
4. Don’t fall victim to trading signal scammers or paid groups
During the last bull run, we saw a million and one trading coaches pop up out of nowhere offering courses, trading signals, and paid trading signal groups. These guys are frauds, if they were making money trading they wouldn’t be selling signals, or courses.
You can learn how to trade by taking free courses, or reading free ebooks about trading, and practicing on a demo account. Don’t pay money to a scammer who is just taking advantage of noob traders.
5. Do your own research on the crypto projects you’re investing in
Crypto is full of scammers, it is a mostly unregulated market, with highly valuable bearer assets. It attracts the most unscrupulous people on earth. During the ICO craze in 2017, we saw so many scams and terrible investments it was incredible.
The scammers in crypto basically forced the hand of the world’s regulatory agencies who stepped in en masse and put an end to the scammer’s free for all. There were exit scams, fake projects, affinity scams, outright thefts, unregistered securities, ponzi schemes, pyramid schemes. Basically, every kind of shady scam you can imagine. One ICO even used a picture of the actor Ryan Gosling, for their supposed “graphic designer”.
Do your due diligence and make sure you are fully aware of what you’re investing in, and if the exchange you’re using is scammy or not. Be careful out there, and make some money!
What do you think is the most important tip for new crypto traders? Let us know in the comments!
Images via Shutterstock
