I put $50 a week into cryptocurrency for six months. I know, I know. But hear me out before you block me.
It was January 2025. Bitcoin had just dipped, everyone on Twitter was screaming about the next supercycle, and I had $200 of disposable cash burning a hole in my pocket. I told myself it was an experiment. Six months later, I’d learned a very expensive lesson about gambling disguised as investing.
How I Talked Myself Into It
The narrative is seductive. Early retirement. Financial freedom. The chance to 10x your money while traditional investors earn their boring 7% returns. I read articles about people who turned $1,000 into $100,000. What I didn’t read was how many people turned $10,000 into $3,000.
I opened a Coinbase account, bought $50 of Bitcoin, $25 of Ethereum, and $25 of something called Solana. I didn’t understand what Solana did. I still don’t, really.
The First Two Months: Euphoria
Bitcoin went up 12% in my first month. I felt like a genius. I started checking prices every hour. I joined a Discord server where people posted rocket ship emojis. I was emotionally invested in the price movement of an asset I couldn’t explain to my mom.
Total invested: $400. Total value: $452.
Months Three to Five: The Reality Check
Then everything dropped. Bitcoin lost 18% over six weeks. Ethereum dropped 25%. My Solana position went down 40%. I stopped checking the Discord.
I kept buying every week because I’d committed to the experiment. Watching money disappear and still depositing more felt idiotic. Because it was.
Total invested: $1,000. Total value: $682.
Month Six: The Escape
I sold everything at a $250 loss. Not catastrophic, but that $250 could’ve bought me 25 Chipotle burritos or half a car payment. Instead, it went to pay for my education in financial stupidity.
The only reason I didn’t lose more is that I capped the experiment. If I’d gone all in — the way some people do — I’d be writing a much sadder story.
The Lesson Nobody Wants to Hear
Crypto isn’t investing. It’s speculation. The difference is that investing has a reasonable expectation of returns based on underlying value. Speculation is betting on what someone else will pay later.
I’m not saying crypto can’t make you money. It can. Plenty of people have. But the same is true for the blackjack table. If you’re going to buy crypto, treat it like the gambling budget I discussed in my debt articles. Cap it at 5% of your investments. Assume you’ll lose it all. If it goes up, great. If not, you won’t cry.
I don’t own any crypto now. My index funds are up 9% since I sold. I sleep better.
TL;DR
- I lost $250 on a 6-month crypto experiment — cheap tuition for a valuable lesson
- Crypto is speculation, not investing; there’s a big difference
- If you must buy crypto, cap it at 5% of your total investments
- Index funds are boring. Boring wins over the long term.
Your mileage may vary. But probably not as much as you think.