What's Left After the Crypto Crash

Exactly How Much I Lost

In November 2024, I bought Bitcoin at $97,000. Practically the top. Got swept up in the "it's going to $100K" atmosphere. Invested 12 million won. Also bought 8 million won worth of Ethereum around the same time.

When the market started dipping in mid-2025, I couldn't cut my losses. "It's just a correction, it'll bounce back." It didn't bounce back. At the lowest point, Bitcoin had dropped 42% and Ethereum had dropped 58%.

Out of 20 million won invested, I recovered 10.87 million. Net loss: 9.13 million won. Two months of salary, gone. (Writing that number still stings.)

Breaking Down My Mistakes

First, I bought on FOMO. People around me were asking "you still haven't bought?" and my judgment got clouded. My Twitter timeline was all profit screenshots, and not buying felt like falling behind. Textbook emotional buying.

Second, I went all-in. Put the entire 20 million in at once. Dollar-cost averaging would have lowered my average entry. But I was thinking "the faster I get in, the bigger the returns."

Third, I had no stop-loss plan. No "sell if it drops X percent" rule. Just held. Didn't sell at -10%. Didn't sell at -20%. At -40% it felt like too much of a loss to sell, so I still didn't sell.

How the Loss Affected Daily Life

I was checking crypto prices 23 times a day. On the subway, while coding, during meals, before bed. Every dip tanked my mood. I couldn't focus on code. I was opening Binance while doing PR reviews.

The psychological impact was bigger than I expected. I wasn't sleeping well. Losing 9.13 million won hit my self-esteem. "I'm a stupid investor" -- that self-deprecation went on for a month.

But honestly, 9.13 million won isn't a life-ruining amount. It's recoverable with a year of disciplined saving. Realizing that helped.

Is Crypto Itself the Problem

It's hard to declare crypto a bad investment outright. If you'd bought in 2020 and sold in 2024, the returns would have been enormous. The problem was my timing and my approach.

Buying at the top isn't crypto's fault -- it's my judgment's fault. I would have gotten the same result with stocks if I'd behaved the same way. The pattern of FOMO-buying, going all-in, and failing to cut losses doesn't discriminate by asset class.

Admitting this took some time. Blaming crypto is easier.

What Remains

After losing 9.13 million won, what's left? Calling it tuition was expensive tuition.

I developed investment principles. Only invest money I can afford to lose. Dollar-cost average. Set stop-loss levels in advance. I wrote these three rules on paper and stuck them next to my monitor.

I started practicing separating emotions from investments. Reduced price checks to twice a day -- morning and evening. Turned off real-time alerts. If it's a long-term investment, you don't need to know the real-time price.

I still have about 3.4 million won worth of crypto in my account. Haven't sold, haven't added more. If it goes up, great. If not, I'll consider it additional tuition. But I can't help the occasional "I should've just sold back then" thought.