When you're new to anything, you're going to make mistakes. This is to be expected. Thinking you're going to walk into something as a complete beginner without having some learning curves is probably setting yourself up for disappointment, if I'm being honest.

I think this can intimidate folks newer to crypto because the stakes feel higher – making mistakes in crypto can cost you. So today, I wanted to share five mistakes I made when starting in this space to help you avoid these common newbie pitfalls.

One last thought before we dive in. The best (and only) way to learn in crypto is by doing. Don't let this list discourage you from exploring and experimenting in the space. It's meant to help guide you, not scare you.

NFTs

I went a little crazy with NFTs. NFTs are pretty magical, and they will take over basically everything. But not ALL NFTs are valuable or worthy. When it comes to NFTs, practice discernment. Know why you are buying. Do you like the art? Is it an investment - meaning you think you can resell it for a profit? Do you want to join a specific NFT community?

Always be able to answer the question WHY when it comes to your purchasing/investing choices in this space. And remember, FOMO is not an investment strategy.

Leverage

Leveraged trading is a risky business. I'll let one of the crypto's leading lawyers share his thoughts on the matter:
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But once, very early in my crypto days, I opened a leveraged trade without even realizing what I was doing, ooops. Luckily I figured it out pretty quickly and backed out of the position without losing anything, but use extra caution around leverage. If you don't even know what that means, you're not ready for it (it's okay, I'm not prepared for it either).

Passwords and Pins

When I first set up my Ledger hardware wallet* I forgot my pin in the first few days. I set a tough and safe pin on purpose, buuuut that's not helpful if you can't remember the damn thing. Luckily there were no assets in that wallet yet, so I just started from scratch, and I definitely committed my new pin number to memory and intentionally practiced using it.

*If specific crypto terms are new to you, grab our free 80-term glossary. It's inside our NFT mini-class, which you can grab here.

Too much at once

When I first got started in crypto, I did too many things. No one can be blamed for this. If you fall deep down the rabbit hole, its almost impossible not to be overly excited about all the new things you can try, learn and do. And the list of things you can try is basically endless. So here's my not-advice…try one thing at a time. Feel it out. Learn to navigate this one thing. Understanding this one thing, I can almost promise you, will help you better understand the space as a whole. When you think you have a reasonably solid understanding (it doesn't need to be perfect, learning culminates over time), move on to trying the next thing.

Apeing

I aped. Yes, I admit it. I jumped into investing in things without really knowing what they were. Sometimes I got lucky, and it worked out. Other times, I learned some lessons. This is one of those situations where you might do it anyway, and you'll have your own learning curves and lessons in this space (I feel like a crypto-mom telling teenagers not to do drugs…but you know they're going to anyway). You're going to be tempted to ape. All I can say is try to resist.

As you move into or through the crypto space, please take note of the lessons you learn, so you can share them with your BFF when she decides to jump into the crypto pool. Community and supporting each other are so important in this space.