Protecting Profits: 15 Mistakes to Avoid in a Bull Market
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Protecting Profits: 15 Mistakes to Avoid in a Bull Market
Don't frequently switch positions and lose your profits.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: Edgy
Translation: TechFlow
Despite the current market rally, most people will end up losing money when the bull run ends.
They'll make preventable mistakes and lose life-changing wealth.
Here are 15 mistakes to avoid during a bull market (and how to prevent them):
1. Not taking profits
Nobody cares about your portfolio's all-time high—what matters is what you keep when the cycle ends.
Below is an example system you can adjust based on your risk tolerance.
Quick tips:
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If you're feeling like an investing genius or taking screenshots to brag about your gains, it's time to take profits.
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Taking profits means converting some holdings into fiat, stablecoins, or long-term investment tokens—not reinvesting everything into higher-risk projects.
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Create your own cycle exit plan.
You may have developed bad habits during the past two years of bear market. Strategies that worked in a bear market don't apply in a bull market.
Here are some examples of such bad habits...
2. Focusing on fundamentals instead of momentum
Bull markets are speculative.
Look for projects that meet these criteria:
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Can generate hype
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Have a simple, easy-to-understand narrative. Can people grasp why the price might rise in the future?
Too much fundamental analysis will ruin you.
3. Switching positions too quickly
Remember how narratives emerged and disappeared within days during the bear market?
Why? Illiquid market + lack of new capital = rapidly shifting market themes.
In a bull market, with more liquidity, narratives last longer. Don’t rotate positions so fast that you miss out on gains.
4. Losing momentum
Crypto market cap has doubled in the past few weeks.
You think it's "too expensive," so you wait for a pullback that never comes.
It keeps rising—10x more—because it's a bull market.
Price is a narrative.
5. Riding trends
You must spot trends early, ride them as long as possible, and exit before they collapse.
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Spot trends early (catch the wave)
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Invest (surf the wave)
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Take partial profits along the way and exit before the crash
6. Not thinking like a retail investor
Crypto Twitter ≠ the entire crypto space. You’ll end up chasing flywheel effects and governance issues that nobody actually wants.
Spend time on TikTok, IG (Instagram), Reddit, and YouTube. To understand regular people, you must spend time where they are.
7. Not narrowing down narratives
Focus on just 2–3 narratives.
I know you want to “catch every pump,” but if you spread yourself too thin, you won’t have any edge.
I believe the following sectors will perform well this cycle:
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AI
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RWA
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LRTfi
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DePIN
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Meme
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BRC20
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GameFi
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L1/L2
8. Chasing excessive yields
Staking tokens for airdrop points? No.
Depositing tokens for an extra 8% yield? Not worth the smart contract risk.
Remember those fools who deposited tokens into Celsius for an extra 5% yield?
Don’t do it. They want your principal, not just your interest.
9. Panicking during pullbacks
There will be many pullbacks on the way up. They’re healthy and expected.
Don’t use too much leverage, or you’ll get liquidated.
And don’t try to predict every single dip.
10. Over-diversifying investments
I’ve seen people post portfolios online with over 25 tokens.
You can’t possibly track that many projects.
And even if one token pumps 100x, your overall portfolio won’t benefit much due to small allocation.
I believe 5–7 tokens is the sweet spot.
Here’s a simple sample portfolio:
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Long-term holds: BTC, ETH, or SOL
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Narrative 1: Sector alpha (leader) + high-potential token
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Narrative 2: Sector alpha (leader) + high-potential token
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Narrative 3: Sector alpha (leader) + high-potential token
11. Comparing yourself to others
It’s easy to feel your gains are underwhelming compared to what others are posting on Twitter.
There’s survivorship bias in markets—don’t let FOMO drive your decisions.
I've seen this play out countless times:
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Your coin 10x’s
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But you feel behind because others are showing bigger gains
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So you chase 50x returns, which ultimately leads to failure
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Ending up with $0 profit
Instead, take profits gradually and stop comparing.
12. Trying to sell at the top
No one can perfectly time the peak of a cycle.
Many lose their wealth trying to sell the “top” at the wrong time.
Solution? Sell incrementally during the rise.
13. Revenge trading
If I lose money playing poker, I tend to keep playing and become more aggressive trying to win it back. It rarely works.
Don’t do this in crypto. When you’re emotional after a loss, it’s proof you shouldn’t be trading.
14. Not cutting losses fast enough
Nobody wins 100% of the time. It’s okay to lose, but holding onto losers isn’t.
Set clear conditions before entering a trade. For example, exit if the price drops more than 15%.
You might ask: “What if I sell and then the price goes up?”
But consider this:
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What if you hold it and it goes to $0?
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What if it stagnates while you could’ve redeployed that capital into another 10x opportunity?
Your capital has opportunity cost.
15. Understanding investor psychology
Remember, each cycle is different. We could have shorter or longer cycles.
Stay flexible.
One thing remains constant: human psychology. Understand herd behavior and greed.
I know you're excited by the rising market. But I've seen countless people overestimate their abilities mid-cycle and give back all their profits.
Keep things simple and stay mentally clear.
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