Iāve been having this feeling for a while now: lying still, eyes open, staring at the ceiling and hoping for something to take decisions for me. Not just related to the crypto market, but my decisions in general, my patience and my belief that holding onto something would eventually be worth it. Iāve told myself many times that all I need is one more bull run. Just one. I promised myself that Iāll do things differently next time. I promised myself that Iāll take profit. And yet, deep down, I know how fragile and emotional that promise really is as mostly on the hype I tend to delay taking profits. This is not just about charts or prices. Itās about adrenaline bundled with hope and the quiet fear that maybe the cycle I believed in so strongly doesnāt work the way it used to. Truthfully in 2025 I took some profits, but I hope that 2026 the bull run will continue stronger and I'll be able to book other profits as well.

At some point, HODLING stopped being a strategy and became a habit. I kept telling myself that patience was strength, that pushing through pain was how winners were made. But patience without action slowly turns into wasted opportunities. Every peak feels like it might go higher. Every drop feels temporary. And before I know it, the moment is gone. Iāve watched markets run up fast and fall even faster. Iāve seen profits on paper disappear because I convinced myself that we can go higher. The truth is, itās easy to say āIāll sell next timeā when prices are low. When numbers go up, logic fades and greed quietly takes over. Holding feels safer than deciding. But what is clear is that when the market is low - like I feel it is now - it is the best time to build and improve the holdings in my wallet.
Something has shifted in the crypto space. It no longer feels like everything moves together. Some assets surge, others never recover even if it is hard for us to let go. The idea that all boats rise in a bull market feels outdated. Utility matters more. Tokenomics matters more. Blind hype doesnāt carry the same weight it once did.
Thereās also this constant background noise of uncertainty. New technologies, new risks, new narratives that threaten old established blockchains. Long term security no longer feels guaranteed just because something worked before. Even Bitcoin, once seen as untouchable, now exists in a world where power, regulation and influence are impossible to ignore. Ethereum follows it in big lines as well alongside some other tokens that this well in this bull run. But besides these it is the uncertainty and disappointment of others that drains our confidence. It makes every decision heavier. It turns investing into something emotional instead of strategic, which comes with higher risk.
Iāve noticed how often hope enters the conversation when logic runs out. People pray for pumps, for dips, for miracles. Itās half joke, half desperation. When youāre deep in a position, hope becomes the last line of defense. But stress changes perspective. After years of cycles, promises and near-misses (like forever waiting for Ethereum to hit $5,000), Iāve learned that belief without discipline is dangerous. Believing in something long term doesnāt mean never taking profit. It means respecting risk and understanding that survival matters more than being right. I missed booking profits on ETH for about $50 just because I was stubborn to wait for the psychological price of $5,000. But I am telling or lying myself that it will not happen again as I still have hope for it.

Truth is that I still want one more bull run like you probably do as well. I wonāt pretend otherwise. But Iām starting to understand that waiting based on hope is not a plan. The real lesson isnāt about predicting the next cycle. Itās about taking responsibility when opportunity shows up, even if itās not 100% at the established exit criteria. There may be another run. There may not. What I know now is that if it comes, I donāt want to be lying still again, hoping and promising. I want to be awake, prepared and willing to act with some flexibility. Because in the end, hope feels good, but decisions change outcomes and taking profits is always good. My luck is that I took some profits this bull run and left something for the next one, as otherwise my mental balance would be suffering as I am writing this article. š
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So relatable š HODL can quietly turn into āwaiting as a lifestyle.ā Love how you framed it: hope isnāt a planādiscipline is. Wishing you a calmer, smarter 2026 runšš»
Much appreciated and indeed discipline is what gets us at the finish line. Hope I will have enough of that...
Hope is a powerful emotion that sometimes takes us through worse of times but as you rightly pointed out, it's really not a strategy. I think systemizing when/how you take profits could reduce much of the emotional situation of hoping price will rise higher which isn't always the case. Crypto is still a volatile industry, so gains and losses can happen really fast.
Yeah, sometimes I put certain price thresholds and I lack flexibility. If I would have taken a bit less profit now I would be in a much better position.
A feeling I can relate to. It happened to me twice. Once in the stock market and second in the crypto space.
We can only learn from our experiences and do better. And greed is a sentiment that costs us if not balanced with reality.
I did better in the stock market after that huge loss in 2015. I wish I would do the same in crypto after suffering similar losses beginning in late 2021 until today.
āAt some point, HODLING stopped being a strategy and became a habit.ā
This is the Right mindset if used for the right assets. The only ones I have that conviction for are BTC and HIVE.
The second because I like it here and have some use cases of HP, the first is my bigger bag where I am sure it will 10x over the coming decade.
Better have a long term strategy and if it goes big you can at any point take profits. But on short term view, things are crazy volatile and different emotions kick in.
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Profits must be taken. Furthermore, a periodical reassessment of projects value needs to occur.
Agree and I fall short on doing that needed reassessment. I mostly invest and forget and sometimes I end up on the losing side when a project does down and I don't react.