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Ask HN: How do I minimize regret selling early?
A year ago when Covid hit, I sold 300 ETH at appx 30k USD and started to buy ETFs and others that have fallen dramatically.
My portfolio did well, I am up 35%.
I sold ETH's because the market started to crash when covid hit and I did not think it would rise again. I still cannot justify the rise of ETH and BTC to the levels it is now.
Regardless, I look back at my 35% gains, and I see what I could have had if I didn't sell.
How do I minimize my regret? I feel terrible, I could have changed the life of my parents and family if I were to sell 300 ETHS today.
I feel like I'll never get another opportunity to make this money again and I feel like a loser.
edit: (I had bought ETH in total for at most 10-15k USD many years ago by dollar cost averaging up)
- rupi 6y agoI don’t have anything that will make you feel better. However, you should use this as a learning opportunity. Think back to your decision and try to objectively review your decision making process. Why did you make that decision? What information did you take into account? What other factors were at play? Knowing what you know now, not counting the price, will you still make the same decision? Why or why not? You said you cannot explain the BTC and ETH price increases. Try to. Why do you think that happened? Could you have predicted those factors better? Believe it or not, you will face this kind of situation again but you will be better prepared for it if you do some decision analysis.
- helpme32 6y agoThank you. I took the decision because given my financial situation at the time, it made sense to cash out and put it into a safer investment that was not so volatile. I saw my ETH investment grow to 200k at its peak and go all the way down. When the crash happened, I could not predict ETH going back up. I could predict the stock market recovering, and I have done well with that recovery so far.
- WheelsAtLarge 6y agoNothing says that you were guaranteed a gain. Crypto is so volatile that your gain could have just as easily been a big loss. You should not regret what you could not have known and or controlled. It's very unlikely that most people will get out at the top of an investment. So, your sale was a rational choice. Also, everyone that sold when you did are also feeling regret of what could have been. It's a fantasy, no one knows the future. There are better ways to use your time than to regret a fantasy.
- helpme32 6y agoThank you. That puts a lot of things into perspective.
- kidgorgeous 6y ago"I feel like I'll never get another opportunity to make this money again and I feel like a loser." Be careful with this. Your beliefs become your reality and your reality is based on your beliefs. And half a mill is not alot of money if you're in the US. Try to focus your energies on building a company that does that in profit every single month, rather than waiting for some lucky break. My $0.02
- helpme32 6y agoRationally I agree with you. I guess it's this sinking feeling of feeling like an idiot for selling so early. Your two cents are correct. Thank you.
- emteycz 6y agoHow can you not justify the rise? Trust in governments is at all time low everywhere. Crypto has always risen when trust in governments has diminished. Not even talking about what's going on with the fiat currencies, especially Euro.
- jimmyvalmer 6y agoIt's almost impossible to reason with this kind of irrationality, so I won't try, except to say your "affliction" was a banally common pathology one hundred years ago, and gotten much worse with the internet-spawned proliferation of hyperspeculative instruments. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26029237 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26029237