How To Survive The Next Bear Market

I know many of you out there are relatively new to crypto. For a while now, everything has been incredible and hopefully it will continue to be for a long time. However, this run will end eventually and when it does, you need to know how to position yourself to come out the other side with your portfolio intact.

Do not try to time the market – Obviously the most optimal thing to do is perfectly sell the top and buy back at the bottom, but realistically that won’t happen and I don’t think anyone advises that you try to do this. You will never time the market correctly and you will likely shrink your stack in the process. Crypto is unpredictable, but the only thing we know for sure is that it will eventually trend higher as we move towards global adoption.

Tend your crypto garden – Crypto as a whole will always trend upwards long term, but individual coins may not. When the Bear Market comes, it may be more comforting to disengage from crypto and avert your eyes from the carnage in your blockfolio, but this is a bad idea. Many alts will not survive to the next Bull Run. Your job is to keep up with your projects, see which dev teams are still active and which were just cashing in on the Bull Run. Dead projects won’t come back.

Identifying zombie projects – If a project is dead, the devs won’t just come out and tell you. They will still keep up appearances on social media, so you really have to dig to find out if anything is actually going on. A major telltale sign is announcing “partnerships” that are basically the devs self-dealing with their own projects or pooling their resources with other desperate crypto devs. They’re just trying to look active and stack partnerships on their website. Look for actual partnerships with established companies and real utility/synergy. Shitcoins on life support will often attempt publicity stunts by massively overstating news or baiting the crypto press with nothingburgers. (Verge was notorious for this) Good projects don’t need to exaggerate or deceive you.

Buy the dip, but later – You should absolutely buy the dip, but don’t be in any rush to do so. Bear Markets are long. Rather than try to buy the dip all the way down, take some time, wait until the despair has really set in and then double your stack. If you feel like you’re “catching the knife” you’re buying too soon. Wait until things are nice and slow and depressing. If you hold your fire and keep your powder dry, you can have some optimism that the lower it goes, the more you’ll have for next time.

Take some profits while you can – If you bought any time in the last few months, you should have gains that any reasonable person should be proud of. There’s no shame in taking some profit. This will lessen the mental anguish of seeing your portfolio at half its current value at some point. Personally, I bought an engagement ring and a nice watch. I’m never going to feel bad about that no matter what the price does after I sold.

TLDR: Crypto as a whole will always come back, you just need to pay attention and make sure you’re in coins that won’t die during the Bear Market. Sell some now, buy some later, but much later. You can’t time the market, but anyone can tell a Bull Market from a Bear Market. We’re currently in a Bull Market. At some point in the future there will be a Bear Market. Plan to have many of both over your lifetime.