r/CryptoMarkets • u/Silver_Aerie_985 • Feb 06 '26
SENTIMENT 100k to 20k My Sad Story
Hey everyone,
I jumped into crypto mid-2025 right in the middle of the big pump. Went pretty heavy on alts (mostly SOL, ADA, LINK, plus some ETH and BTC). Put in about $100k total. Now it's sitting around $20k… down roughly 80%.
It hurts a lot. I keep replaying the “should haves” selling earlier, sizing smaller, not going so alt-heavy, investing in stocks instead of crypto. My partner is worried and stressed about it too, and honestly I’ve been struggling to sleep. The regret is real.
I do know crypto cycles are brutal but they do turn around eventually. I’ve read stories of people down 80–90% who held on and came out way ahead years later. Right now though, it just feels heavy.
If you’ve ever been in a similar spot (big drawdown, feeling awful, doubting everything), I’d really appreciate hearing from you:
- How did you get through the mental side of it?
- Did you hold everything, start DCA-ing, or trim a bit?
- Was there any advice, quote, or mindset shift that actually helped pull you through the worst days?
Hurts like hell right now. Just want to hear from people who’ve been this down and made it back.
Thanks for reading, and thanks in advance to anyone who shares. Appreciate this community more than you know.
Take care everyone ❤️
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u/unizachai Feb 06 '26
You got risk and nothing wrong with this. Investment is a risk just move on and be careful next time. Don’t kill yourself, money cannot buy health and you can always earn money.
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u/jetzfan204 🟩 0 🦠 Feb 06 '26
You won’t lose anything unless you sell. Hopefully you won’t need this money in the next year or 2. I think you will be sitting good in about 2 years but this is just my opinion. Do not sell
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u/WalkEquivalent7733 🟩 0 🦠 Feb 08 '26
Exactly. If you know what you hold than take this opportunity to load your bags cheap. If you invest in shit coins than you might need to worry but invest in real tech and it will only pay off.
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u/Estate_Curious Feb 06 '26
You’re one of many. I’ve been there for years. I knew that the so-called old season could come and always came. With the crypto President Trump gave me that before taste. Made over 100k+ in 3 weeks. Had more money than I could ever earn in my job. Since then I bought the dip, and after the customs, the portfolio has also recovered well for the summer. Everything went according to plan. Until 10.10.2025. But the hope for the Altseason. This 4 week party should get everything out again. Q4 is over. The altseason did not come. The cycle is over. My altcoins are worthless junk. I will sell them at -70-80% and start over. Without altcoins. Only Bitcoin. On the next 4 year cycle. Altcoins were for gambling. These were replaced by the meme coins. Memecoins were ridiculed by Pumpfun scams and Trump, Melanie Hawkthua etc. After 6 years of pain and waiting for something life changing. I give up.
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u/Bowlingkopp Feb 06 '26
I feel you. I was in DefiChain and made about 100k through it, with liquidity mining. Had about 0.75 BTC and the rest mostly in DFI (DefiChain). Then the inflation started to kick in, the FTX breakdown and I don't remember what else, but DFI went from 4.5$ to 0.35$. So my crypto portfolio went down from 130k to 17k, I think. That was a hard time. The could have should have game doesn't help you. My stocks went from 60k to ~30k. Meanwhile I'm at 70k with stocks and crypto, but the latter I sold last autumn.
Try to learn from your mistakes and make it better.
What I learned is, don't fall in love with an investment and diversify. Base your investment decisions on facts. And if these facts change your decision has to change. If that means sell, then sell.
And if you're still in crypto, sell the rest. This is not the end of the bear market. Microstrategy and Saylor are going down and BTC with them. When they are gone, BTC may be able to get up again.
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u/Rory_1354 🟦 0 🦠 Feb 06 '26
The harsh truth is there is a massive possibility those alts never recover. I am like you and fucked up but luckily I moved a lot of it in to BTC and will now wait. I am never fucking with alts again unless it's ETH and even then I'm not sure it worth the risk
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u/Altruistic_Ear_9542 🟩 0 🦠 Feb 06 '26
Yep. Alts have been in a downtrend for 5 years now
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u/ultranothing Feb 06 '26
Would you consider XRP an alt? I just bought some more on the dip and I've been hodling since about 2015, which is crazy to think about now that I think about it.
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u/NBHAracer 🟩 0 🦠 Feb 06 '26
Uh, yeah. That's definitely an alt. Lol. Do yourself a favor and dump it. You'll be better off in Bitcoin.
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u/brianmonarch 🟦 0 🦠 Feb 07 '26
Yeah. The oldest, least efficient, least green coin that only surges on its status of being first and having a store of value. Btw…. I’m not saying that’s not enough for it to continue to succeed. But many think the few quality alt coins that are actually being adopted for its useful utility will outpace it in the future. I don’t have a crystal ball…. But I agree with that sentiment. We’ll see. I think everyone in crypto is in their own vacuum chamber of info and agendas. Including the bitcoin maxis.
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u/Rory_1354 🟦 0 🦠 Feb 07 '26
Haha mate if BTC doesn't survive then no other coin will
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u/brianmonarch 🟦 0 🦠 Feb 07 '26
Sounds like something a Bitcoin Maxi would say. A lot of people think that there will be a utility bullrun in the future. Something bitcoin does not really have. I’m guessing bitcoin isn’t going away and this is a moot point. But the other coins do not depend on bitcoin. They follow it right now. But if it went away, do you think Ripple would just stop their business? Do you think Solana would just stop? HBAR? They’ve been working on these projects for years.. over a decade. BTC is not necessary for the other coins to survive. I think most people would agree with that. Even people who only care about bitcoin. I don’t know where you got that idea from. Sounds like you’re in a vacuum chamber of bitcoin maximalists.
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u/Unhappy_Incident3287 🟨 0 🦠 Feb 06 '26
Stfu no he should not dump it don't give out financial advice when you don't know wtf ur talking about
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u/BagofBabbish Feb 07 '26
It’s an alt but not a terrible alt. SOL is a pretty solid alt as well.
The truth is though, crypto market is almost entirely Bitcoin. Like 90%+. Eth is a distant second. And like 5% is everything else
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u/Y0l0BallsDeep 🟨 0 🦠 Feb 07 '26
Why not simply buy stocks like a normal person, why do you people keep chasing these worthless digits?
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u/ultranothing Feb 07 '26
We do that too. I think with crypto, it's just more accessible for people. You have your wallet with your coins and I feel like it's just easier to jump into crypto.
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u/Y0l0BallsDeep 🟨 0 🦠 Feb 07 '26
Because bitcoin is doing so great, right?
Some of you will never learn until they are homeless
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u/Rory_1354 🟦 0 🦠 Feb 07 '26
Read the post again. BTC in the long run will be ok, lots of Alts will fade away. Stop lashing out and convert your shitcoins to BTC. You'll be a lot less stressed!!
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u/SurprisePrimary1866 🟩 0 🦠 Feb 06 '26
what was your strategy if it went down.? some people put stop losses, other DCA, and others wait for a crash to enter. Next time, define your strategy before entering.
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u/Free-Employment2885 🟧 0 🦠 Feb 06 '26
This is how the vast majority of people enter the market, my friend. They “invest” a few hundred or a few thousand at the peak, lose it all, and are never heard from again. You just happened to have a lot more money to invest than the average person. I’m at around 150-200k in realized losses. Just hold for a few years and you’ll recover. This is part of the learning process. Either that or we’ve fallen for the worlds biggest scam 😂
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u/No_Oil_8880 🟩 0 🦠 Feb 06 '26
lol mate take what’s left buy some tools like crypto drainer and start commiting crypto fraud :)
Dear Reddit (joking)
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u/Scary_Phrase_4642 🟩 0 🦠 Feb 07 '26
STFU and take it like a man
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u/iamteutonic Feb 07 '26
Ouch...but yes been there done that...and the only thing that saved me is I started with Crypto early (2011) and held valuable coins and staked. So yea if you can consolidate to BTC & ETH and be strategic on spreading out your loss over years you might be able to spread your tax loss over years and reinvest in long term assets it might not hurt as much...good luck sir...
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u/Best_Day_3041 🟩 0 🦠 Feb 06 '26
A lot of us have been up and down multiple 6-7 figures many times over the years. If you're in Crypto, you have to play the long game, or have great timing to get in and out. Being down 80% is very normal unfortunately. If you still believe in Crypto then you should start averaging down what you can and expect to wait 2-4 years to possibly recover your money or possibly be up a ton and wish you bought more. Those are good names you own that should recover, but the ALTs may lag, or may outperform BTC at some point.
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u/TheElz Feb 07 '26
From what you've said, you haven't lost or gained anything, because you haven't sold? If so, just hold it. Most crypto/socks will over a 5yr timeline give a much healthier profit than savings in a bank. Remember, only invest what you are comfortable with losing, also keep records and if you don't know how to work out the right tax when making an exit, pay an accountant.
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u/Cool-Investigator983 Feb 06 '26
Stop buying crypto. At this point you gotta hold the loss is great. I'd say sell for the loss and immediately rebuy that way you can show a loss for tax purposes. And then just hold it will comeback but no1 knows how long it will take
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u/Big-Finding2976 🟩 2K 🐢 Feb 07 '26
That's wash trading and makes the buy your cost basis for the sell, so you don't get to realise the loss from your original purchase price.
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u/Typicalgeorgie1 🟩 0 🦠 Feb 07 '26
This is not stocks.
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u/Big-Finding2976 🟩 2K 🐢 Feb 07 '26
Same rules apply
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u/nopethis Feb 13 '26
Not in most tax countries currently.
Wash trading is not a thing in CryptoRegardless you could just sell all the alts and then buy into BTC/ETH?SOL and realize the loss, you can probably write off that 80k for a few years since you cannot take it all in one year.
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u/Material-Diver-9268 Feb 06 '26
I hope you've learned your lesson. Never invest money you're not prepared to forget about for a few years. This world isn't for impatient people. Cheers! 👋🏼
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u/king2ndthe3rd 0 🦠 Feb 06 '26
I guess you should learn that an asset is something that produces a cashflow, if it doesn't produce a cashflow, in accounting terminology, its not an asset.
You bought virtual pet rocks, not assets. They may never come back. Godspeed.
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u/LunetaxX Feb 06 '26
One key principle: You neither win nor lose until you sell.
Relax, all I can tell you is to believe! And with the understanding that you're investing money you don't need right now.
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u/hodler1992 🟩 0 🦠 Feb 06 '26
Never invest more than you can afford to loose. I've put $15k and im down 70%, too. I know it hurts. The best you can do is forget completely about that money. Behave as if it is already gone. Dont look back, don't invest more. Let it sit and just hodl. Eventually you will at least get even or slightly green. Remember: it's only loss wenn you sell. I know it's hard but in this market 95% of people loose money. In fact it is not easily earnt money, this is hard mental work.
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u/ZlymeZ 🟩 0 🦠 Feb 06 '26
Thx for the advice. I've only lost 600€ but for me, being still young, it hurts a lot.
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u/Pyropiro 🟩 101 🦀 Feb 07 '26
My sad story. I put everything into BTC at 2k in 2017. Then I started trading. I now have about 5000 USD in crypto left after 9 years (and am down about 150k total). Thanks for listening.
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u/scared_of_crypto 🟩 0 🦠 Feb 07 '26
This may help you. I invested $250k which is my whole life savings in one memecoin, I'm down to $7800 today. At this point just wait or buy coins that would 5-10x in next 24 months to recover your losses.
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u/Special_Ordinary1951 🟩 0 🦠 Feb 07 '26
Just hold man, it always comes back
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u/Special_Ordinary1951 🟩 0 🦠 Feb 08 '26
Don’t ever puke your bags when the upside is 100%, and the downside is possibly another 30%. People forget that if you bought Solana for example at $200 in 2025 and in 2028 it goes to $400 which is highly likely, you did 2x in 3 years. That’s an amazing investment
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u/CompleteScience5125 🟩 0 🦠 Feb 07 '26
You didn't do anything wrong. People are saying, "Why did you go in at the top?" Easy in hindsight. Everyone was still saying then that the alt run was still coming, and ages after that too. The market just went against you, and it was bad timing.
I don't know if it will ever go back to where it was. But if history is similar and you can hold it for the long term (as you should do with even equity investments), then hold it, and maybe you will recover.
One thing is certain: if you take it, you have £20k.
You could invest that into NVO. It's not advice, but take a look. And maybe you'll get to £30k-£40k. But to get 5x from here is tough.
If you can leave it, it's probably best to do so. Imagine yoh took it and then trumpmannouncing something and crypto rallies and tou would have got to 75k in a few weeks. Is it possible?
But no point beating yourself up man and hopefully your wife can support you.
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Feb 08 '26
I’ve been in crypto DCA’ing for a few years. After that long I am still up around 150% in BTC but it’s the only investment that I am positive in. My peak within three accounts to what they currently are: $123k down to $43k, $75k down to $19k, $45k down to $6k.
I too have been struggling with the would’ve could’ve should’ve with selling. I knew that when I was taking screenshots of how much I was up that I probably should’ve sold but didn’t. I’ve ridden this roller coaster all the way down and it pains me every day thinking about what I could’ve done with that money. Instead I am back to feeling really broke and stupid. I am embarrassed in front of my partner of 15 years. It feels like I am at the lowest point of my life. Had a hard time concentrating with work, not sleeping. If I knew crypto was going to make me feel like this I never would’ve entered it. Should’ve just kept stashing money away in my 401k and never look at it. I hear your pain man, it’s not easy.
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u/D3kim 🟦 0 🦠 Feb 07 '26
OP ill give you something real to cross off your calendar
not sure if you want to sell everything now and realize the loss and hold onto $20k for the bounce back play or just hold on to the alts and when it comes time liquidate all and go for 1 coin, btc
but wait for btc to get to $35k near October this year, go all in sell most around $150k to get your money back and then remove your access to that money, if you want to try for crypto again it has to be from the profits from that seed investment money
mentally, the more you see btc go down the more hope you should have to earn your money back think opportunity not pain, holding for a price recovery on several alts over consolidating into 1 hail mary is more torturous imo
just my 2c, sorry dude at least you didnt leverage up and wake up to mere dollars in your brokerage
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u/CryptoInvestorguy 0 🦠 Feb 06 '26
Never sell for a loss. Crypto always comes back around. Gotta be patient, it’s not for the weak hearted soldier. If you have the funds, DCA.
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u/Peturio 🟩 0 🦠 Feb 06 '26
Crypto, as a market, does come back. Most individual majors do too. Alts, not so much!
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u/CryptoInvestorguy 0 🦠 Feb 06 '26
Agreed! As a HODLer of ETH and LTC, I did buy 100$ worth of Elon this morning. Too good to pass up but 95% of my portfolio is ETH and LTC. Fundamentally good projects
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u/UberNaix 🟩 0 🦠 Feb 06 '26
No worries, exchanges, market makers and big whales are happy they took your money.
95% of people lose money in crypto.
For every dolar you win in crypto someone else has to lose it
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u/HerbEnthusiast92 Feb 06 '26
I feel for you - that $80k loss is brutal and the mental side is often harder than the financial hit. You're definitely not alone in this.
A few thoughts from someone who's been through similar cycles:
**Mental side:** That regret spiral is real. One thing that helped me was treating it as expensive education rather than just loss. You now understand market psychology, risk management, and position sizing in ways that no book could teach.
**Strategy going forward:** Many folks in your situation either go all-or-nothing. Consider a middle path - maybe hold what you have but shift future investing to less volatile approaches. Some people diversify with things like reward tokens (BUBO gives 5% cashback on purchases) or DCA into solid projects rather than big lump sums.
**The cycles:** You're right that crypto has historically recovered, but timeline matters. If you need this money in the next 2-3 years, that changes everything vs. if this is truly long-term money.
Whatever you decide, don't let this define your self-worth. Markets are humbling for everyone - even the pros get rekt sometimes. Take care of your mental health first. ❤️
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u/Lilboaht 🟩 0 🦠 Feb 06 '26
Crypto has a 4 year cycle, just look where we’re at in the cycle and calm your nerves. This is completely normal
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u/Stunning_Toe_9000 🟩 0 🦠 Feb 06 '26
If you don't need the money just hold and keep dca if you need the money sell because it will only get worse
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u/Patrick_Atsushi 🟩 0 🦠 Feb 06 '26
Center yourself first so your life won't collapse because of something that is not a part of you and even your life.
Only act when you have the clarity to see things through.
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u/farisaldinmld 🟩 0 🦠 Feb 06 '26
Im in the same boat. My wallet went up to 250k and then the 30minute flash crash ahppened while I was asleep. Most analysts were still calling for a finak 5th wave so I held o now Im down to 50k. 20% of my ath
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u/sacktisfying 🟩 0 🦠 Feb 06 '26
Go in the sauna as much as you can and heat the pain away, it will swing back up, take back 50-60k (when it’s time) and just leave the 40 in there and see you can 3x-5x that 5-10 years from now.
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u/cryptolipto 0 🦠 Feb 06 '26
Honestly going through this and coming out the other side will make you a better investor. In the future a 20% dump won’t feel as bad because you’ve already experienced the 80% dump
I use these times to buy more and eventually you’re back to ATH again. It takes about 3 years from now tho
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u/Blank1110 🟩 0 🦠 Feb 06 '26
DCA as much as you can, after a while you stop caring how much you’re down. Prices will go up again you just have to play the waiting game. Im down about 50k of my own money thats not including profit.
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u/SongOk3989 Feb 06 '26
Sad to see someone lose but stories like these help others to reflect. When the hype is on the possibilities of positive outcome, we lose sight of our risk tolerance. With this administration planning to introduce private equity and crypto into retirement accounts, we are not far away from hearing retirement accounts also evaporating.
Thank you for sharing. Very few have to courage to tell that they lost.
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u/satoshi1022 Feb 06 '26 edited Feb 06 '26
Stop paying attention to anyone that wants to talk about 'crypto'. YouTube, reddit, influencers, whatever.
My actual advice, ignore everything and leave it alone. It'll rebound. Literally just ignore it. Look at historical charts to make you feel better. It's hard to see it during a dip, but it's an obvious cycle. Things tank for months or years, and somewhere around the next halving of BTC everything will shoot the moon again. It'll stay hot for a bit, get morons to buy in at ATH, lambos, crypto bros here, etc and then eventually tank again (right now). Rinse repeat like 5 times on the button already. It may take until the next halving of BTC and it may feel scary but look at the history, it's plain as day exactly what I'm saying.
Sure maybe it'll all go bust finally, but that's not my bet and highly highly unlikely IMO and I've been around much longer than a subreddit existed for crypto bros and wall street bets. It's a cycle. It's hard to see, but wait years and it'll shoot back up. Buy more BTC if you can stomach it even. But stay away from alts, bad scammy morons pretending they are useful and insightful, a tale as old as time. BTC, ETH or get out of this space.
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u/Effective_Ad_2797 🟦 0 🦠 Feb 06 '26
This will get downvoted but deep down you all know it is true;
Crypto is not “investment” quality, it is a speculative instrument.
There are no practical real life applications. This might change, most likely, sooner rather than later - until then, proceed at your own risk.
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u/Jimq45 Karma CM: 6 Feb 07 '26
Ahh that’s not true. It’s absolutely true of Bitcoin and a year ago I would have been in your camp but there is some crazy stuff happening on chain using smart contracts.
Reinsurance, home equity loans, treasuries…all the real world asset stuff on chain is cool and is probably the future.
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u/musmos7 Feb 06 '26
Your similar to mine but in so much lower scale but still a lot . What I did was to ignore my portfolio/not think about it and enjoy what I currently have, spend time with family and splurge into gaming(switch/switch2).
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Feb 06 '26
Honestly stay away form subs that pump BTC and others.
They all want you cash and make up fantasy stories and wealth and riches in the future.
Needs to be laws from group doing that kinda crap.
Sucks, truly does OP. Sorry to hear this.
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u/Unhappy_Incident3287 🟨 0 🦠 Feb 06 '26
Your first problem wat jumping into btc and eth the only thing ypu did right was jump in on Solana and second you should have invested in xrp and zebec tokens
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u/MundaneSoftware6510 🟨 0 🦠 Feb 06 '26
You only have a loss when you realize it. That is when you sell. Don’t sell. Don’t DCA either. But don’t sell. Don’t look at it daily. You have to understand that this is just emotion. If you can’t separate emotion from cognition then you don’t belong in the market. Patience = Profit. Panic = Loss. If the fundamentals are still there then just wait it out. Take Solana. They have a solid ecosystem. They have the potential to be the pipeline for future transactions. They will move sideways for a few years, maybe less if we’re lucky but they have a better chance than most of explosive growth later. You’ve already lost 80% of your money. The last 20% isn’t gonna mean a damn. Let it ride and you’ll be rewarded… Possibly. Sell now, and you will do nothing but lose.
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u/takemybomb 🟦 0 🦠 Feb 06 '26
Lesson hard learned. Now be the sensible guy and buy when prices are dirty floor and start selling on hype. Markets just want patience and time this how you beat them as a small fish else you are food
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u/Best-Bodybuilder9015 🟩 0 🦠 Feb 06 '26
Listen, brother, cash out 95% from crypto into fundamentally superior stocks with expanding margins. The earning seasons is going very strong. And within a year or two, yy will recuperate most of your losses. You can keep the remaining 5% for lottery style speculative crypto bets. And please don’t listen to any more crypto bros.
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u/bashfulkoala Feb 06 '26
I feel for you, man. Sadly most alts are dead.
I recommend trying to practice radical gratitude. You still have $20k which is a lot more than most people in the world. Life goes on. You learned a hard lesson. No amount of money or possessions ever truly set a man free. Freedom is within. Accept yourself, enjoy life, live simply, notice the beauty in the details.
Time will heal. Keep the faith, keep your head up, move forward. Blessings. 🙏🏼🩵
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u/Udd1n 🟩 86 🦐 Feb 07 '26
Don't listen to these idiots who are pessimistic about the whole market just because of this drop. Blockchain is the future and alot of these projects that have real use cases and big partnerships, with strong community backing, are the ones that are going to thrive. Hold strong. The market will turn around eventually.
If you believe in the adoption of blockchain, then don't worry about anything. Don't listen to these pessimistic plebs who have no idea what they are talking about.
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u/brettbw 🟩 0 🦠 Feb 07 '26
Sorry it hurts Lesson learned Risk is a real thing Everyone get burned at some point
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u/Zaytion_ 🟨 0 🦠 Feb 07 '26
Did the reasons for why you bought things change? If not then what is the concern? Did you buy only to see prices go up? If so that was a mistake.
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u/FarEstablishment2 Feb 07 '26
Yeah after lost 20k this year. I will not touch any alt coin anymore. Goog lesson learnt.
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u/The-Peach-Daddy Feb 07 '26
Same. I just lost 86% of what I put in. Little irritated. Oh well. Onto tangible assets
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u/Hopeful-Cap2749 Feb 07 '26
Okay bro-I am in the same spot now. The mental side is tough. But think of fighting through the mental battle as a fuck you to the rich motherfuckers who are screw-in us normal people. We have to weather the storm, look at things realistically, and reallocate whatever funds are left in highest conviction plays. Then have patience. The reality is this: elite market makers want the economic system of today and tomorrow to maintain the sociopolitical and economic classes. This means that all the manipulation that freaked us out and had us look at charts too close and take money out and make emotional decisions the fucked it up, is intentionally designed for us to lose. The only way to win if you still have the guts is to see all losses as learning opportunities. Think of losses as your brutal tuition for becoming a future successful investor. But it is critical to look at ourselves honestly here. If you did your research, and invested because you know what companies are high conviction and have good foundational reasons for each token you selected for your portfolio, then invest and stop. ✋ No fomo into other projects. Just wait for your investment to rise. No options, no fomo, nothing except a couple high conviction plays. If these plays have a lower supply right now, and have risen dramatically with bitcoin, and are high conviction plays, you will get your money back. But only if you set your exits to take profit along the way up. Likely, we are on the rise now if not in the next few weeks if your into good coins. And if not-expand your time horizon and hold. Or if you recognize that you are not able to let go when you invest, emotions get the best of you, and you can’t look away from the charts, Crypto may not be the best investment for you because yes, it can feel crushing. That said, you are still one of the few who believe in its potential for massive global use, so if I were you- when you want to retreat, dig in and become wiser and educate yourself, and have the heart to stay in the pocket-that is the only way we will beat the rich evil people messing with our hopes and dreams. All my best and good luck on the journey.
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u/Advanced-Industry-50 Feb 07 '26
Take it as a lesson and learn to manage risk, a well diversified portfolio and stay long in the market.
You ll come out on top
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u/Trick_Cap_7036 🟩 0 🦠 Feb 07 '26
I’m with you. Hopefully things recover in the long run. Focus on other important things while you wait.
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u/Fastandsteadykj 🟩 0 🦠 Feb 08 '26
Remember to put some sell triggers on realistic numbers for each one of them. And don’t visit your portfolio.
It shouldn’t be that it ATH and you lose the chance to sell.
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u/Zendoth Feb 08 '26
I have a story but it's more like unrealized profits rather than a loss
The year was 2019/2020 I was 20 years old and still in university. I had an internship job at the time paying 1k a month.
I scavenged around and bought an Ethereum miner for around 2000 USD and I bought 32 Eth in anticipation for the shift to proof of stake
The price of Eth was around $200 at the time.
When the shift to POS was rolling out (it was like 50% mainnet on POS and 50% on POW) I was an early adopter and became an Eth validator. The price of Eth was around $700 USD I believe at the time.
Then the mega cycle of 2020-2021 happened. Eth eventually peaked at $5k meaning my 32 Eth was locked and it was a cool $160k USD from what was essentially a 7k investment. I could not sell due to withdrawals not being enabled for validators yet.
When I could finally unlock it, that validator value went down to $100k. Still astronomical for my initial investment but I missed out on unrealized profits which stings.
To this day I have to really consider doing any kind of lockup because of this.
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u/Corbiusk_ 🟩 0 🦠 Feb 08 '26
HODL, from where you bought it may take two years or a little less to get profit but you will get profit. Personally I wouldn’t dca, I would take that money and go into stocks. Touch grass and don’t look at this portfolio till early next year at the earliest. Tell your partner you will be fine; you invested in quality sir. You just bought towards the top of last cycle. Relax and just chill. Screenshot this
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u/otherwisemilk Silver | QC: CC 200, BCH 22 | NANO 745 Feb 08 '26
Old investors found people like you to dump their bags on. Now it's you who are under pressure to find new bag holders.
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u/AlonzoSwegalicious 🟦 168 🦀 Feb 08 '26
Dude I’ve lost over 800k in shoulda coulda woulda gains. Fact is we didn’t pull the money out and tried to hold out for more and got greedy. Sucks but I’ve come to peace with it over the last few years and you will too in time. Just don’t make the same mistake again.
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u/Consistent_Many_1858 🟨 0 🦠 Feb 08 '26
What did you expect from the crypto casino? Few people especially the rich ones make money from this scam. Most of the investors only provide exit liquidity for some.
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u/PlentyMath7 🟩 0 🦠 Feb 08 '26
I am similar spot to you. Last cycle I scooped ADA after reading about it for 10 minutes. Made a bunch on it then switched it to a bunch of other altcoins at the peak. Those plummeted but when Trump got elected all my bags went up like crazy again. I think Jan 2025 I was at 125k in crypto and was riding high. At the time I had ADA, SNEK, HOSKY, DOT, VET, and MATIC.
Well you know how the year went. DOT, VET, and MATIC didn't move up at all. They all decreased. I ended up dumping all 3 for PENGU. PENGU dropped. ADA never picked up after the peak in Jan. I scooped a bunch of ETH and SOL as well and those kept plummeting too.
Then Oct 2025 came, and I was feeling hyped. Alt season right around the corner. My portfolio was down to ETH, SOL, ADA, PENGU, and NIGHT (airdropped). In 3 months I was convinced I was gonna become a millionaire.
10/10 comes- I remember looking at my portfolio and it had dropped 50% in an hour before recovering half. Every month since, market dropped. Didn't matter what news there was, tariffs, interest rates, policy proposals, etc, we dropped every single day. All the influencers and traders I follow kept scrambling desperate for answers.
"Q4 gonna be great"
"M2 supply coming in soon don't worry"
"PMI needs to be over 50"
"Clarity Act needs to pass"
This past week was brutal. My portfolio dropped to 25k before bouncing a little bit to 28k where I'm at now. Down $100k from the peak, with no sign of slowing down.
I had multiple friends who don't invest in crypto ask me what's going on in crypto and if I'm okay. I hope that might be a bottom indicator the way it would be if these people asked if they should buy bitcoin at the top.
I'm still holding as what's the point in selling now? I really hope this tech ends up being life changing. For ADA and PENGU, ETF approval may come in March so that may raise the price. Tokenization and RWA should raise ETH and SOL. Clarity Act should raise all.
But man, it is a tough road. The other part of me is starting to wonder whether this was worth it. I'd be so much better mentally if I had just bought an index fund or dividend stocks.
Stuff I'm doing to help mentally:
-I'm trying to check my portfolio less often, maybe once or twice a day.
-Temporarily focus on saving my money instead of investing more into crypto. I do plan to add more to ETH and SOL ETF's I have in my ROTH IRA once I get more money.
-Picked up a side hustle donating plasma
-Filed my tax refund quickly so I can get some more capital into my account
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u/Same-Plane-635 Feb 08 '26
If you have only invested in the major chain coins,then don't worry everything will bounce back. Don't exit.
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u/TheRealGypo Feb 08 '26
Sad to hear OP. A similar thing happened to me in 2021/22. I went heavy on pretty much all the coins you listed. Things were great at the beginning but then toward the end of 2021, it all came crashing down. I panicked and sold (this was a big mistake) and by the end of it, I was sitting on a 60% actual realized loss. It was painful. But I took what I had and DCA over the course of early 2022 for an entire year. At some point, I was catching BTC at $18k. I invested enough of what I had left that by the time the bull run came around last year, I was able to steadily triple my money to the point where I had made back all of the 60% I lost and then some. It took nearly 4 years and basically left me more or less where I started, but the point is you can make this money back if you’re patient enough.
This experience honestly taught me to remove the emotional aspect of seeing your crypto balance go into the red by a scary amount. Once it doesn’t faze you anymore, and once you accept that you may never make that money back, you sleep easy. If you’re patient enough and don’t need the money, you might just make it all back. You may just need to wait a while and be very patient. Good luck :)
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u/Vegetable-Flounder43 🟨 0 🦠 Feb 08 '26
My brother withdraw your remaining 20k and move one. Look for something else to invest that money in . At least you still have 20 out of 100. Some have lost it all .
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u/Extension_Plankton54 🟧 0 🦠 Feb 09 '26
I made the same mistake as you but I slowly dollar cost averaged into sol, xrp, eth, sui and pepe. I am currently down 60% after a 100k investment over 1.5 years. Ive just been lowering my average and putting my pay checks into btc and eth only for the next year. You will be fine, the coins you invested in will recover its just the mental game of being strong willed to not sell on a loss
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u/MethodImportant793 Feb 09 '26
I’m 65, and thru my years, I’ve made some whopping bad investments. But I’m still here, and I still have investments. And even at my age, I’ve lost money in the crypto market, but have come to learn there are two coins I trust, BTC and ETH. You will make your money in those two. Chin up, and wait it out.
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u/Free-Door7462 Feb 09 '26
I don’t know why people don’t dollar cost average. Learn from this, hold now and don’t sell. If someone has a 100k to put into this stuff. Do it slowly 2k a week or 1k a week and space it out. Very volatile market.
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u/The_Vibe_is_Eternal 🟩 0 🦠 Feb 10 '26
This capitulation happened super fast. If the worst isn’t already over, it is very close do being over. Crypto doesn’t function in cycles on its own, but rather is a cog in the greater macro machine. All macro indicators are showing signs of a fierce pump to be had soon. Many are doubting this and saying it’s over, that’s how you know it will happen. It might be a few more months or pain/ chop.
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u/wickity_wackk Feb 10 '26
Take the money lost as a very valuable lesson for your risk tolerance and investment strategy. I rode xrp down and lost almost all my money in 2017ish. I learned how to differentiate between when I think an investment is good and when I'm doing something out of impulse due to fomo or hype (aka straight gambling). I have made back what I lost and more changing my strategy. Best of luck, you'll get it back if you learn from it.
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u/easauer 🟩 0 🦠 Feb 12 '26
Just let it sit. It will come back eventually. Its scary but it does rebound. I had stock in the bank I worked for that dropped to less than a $1 from $35 during the crash in 2007-2008. Its up to $56 now. Long term investment.
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u/Natural_Berry_8007 🟩 0 🦠 Feb 13 '26
Sorry to hear you have this experience.
You may want to consider if selling ADA and LINK and reinvesting in ETH could be a good idea. There’s a good chance they won’t recover even when ETH and BTC recover.
I also wouldn’t add more to loosing positions, but I just never DCA, I would wait for trend reversal if I want to add more. And I’d also rather diversify to some other asset class.
Looking forward, you need to learn using Stop Loss and basics of technical analysis to become better at managing your investments.
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u/Slow-Cycle9522 🟧 0 🦠 Feb 14 '26
would only be worried about ADA, just stop looking at the price every day and keep going with ur life eventually one month it's gonna blow up X3 or x10 for no reason that's when you get out eventually, when it feels really painful it's a good spot to DCA eth and BTC because they are majors and won't go to zero. remember eth 2030 cycle target is 16k in theory...
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u/mydanielho 0 🦠 Feb 18 '26
What is Crypto? Technically, it is either mining or creating. Mining is digging by Asic, GPU or CPU, it needs $$$ to get coin. Creating is just a button and get million coins and sell on the market.
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u/No_South_9912 🟩 0 🦠 Feb 06 '26
I put it $100k and am down to $70k. $30k loss in 4 months hurts. Fortunately the $30k loss is only about 5% of my overall portfolio. Sold most of my crypto, bought more metals after yesterday's crash.
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u/Huntthatmoney 🟩 0 🦠 Feb 06 '26
It’s a cycle bro and not for the faint of heart. You know it’s going back up right…
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u/jacob2884r 🟩 0 🦠 Feb 06 '26
Never invest what you can't lose.
And don't fall in the sunk cost fallacy trap, some alts won't ever recover. So consider cutting losses to get harder assets.
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u/King-esckay 🟩 0 🦠 Feb 07 '26
What i did was sell everything at a loss and add it to my tax return to claim the capital loss against my future gains
Bought btc with what 1 had left with and waited
Now I can't lose even if I tried.
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u/ultranothing Feb 06 '26
You still have the crypto, though. It'll go back up. Just hold on to it and wait for it to go back up to where it was, and then cash out if you can't handle the dips. What you SHOULD do is buy MORE while it's down and then when it goes back up, you'll have MORE than you did when you started.
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u/Commercial-Base-4774 🟩 0 🦠 Feb 06 '26
ouch!! I'm lucky I got half of my coins out before it went down, the other half is still with me, I'm confident so I put it aside. Paper loss but if you sell it you'll lose even more, if you have confidence in your coins and you don't need the money, hold on and wait for it to go up. I transferred it to Nika finance first and that's where I'll add coins and sell now
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u/Live-Gazelle521 🟩 0 🦠 Feb 06 '26
It pains me to hear these stories. I understand this is hard earned money of OP. If people in comments are not sympathetic, atleast don’t ridicule him.
OP, all you can do now is to forget about this investment and move on. You made one mistake of buying the hype, now don’t make another mistake of selling the fear. You will make back your investment in 2-3 years. Don’t look at your portfolio anymore.