RE: Why hesitate to take profit?

There were more than a few parts in your post that struck a chord. In particular, that sense of futility when you end up back where you started, after struggling between the desire to at least salvage your principal and the greed that it will go up further... It is likely a feeling that anyone who has invested in crypto has experienced, often losing sleep over it.

You should probably sell off some of your holdings to generate cash. I usually sell 30% and convert it into dollars when the price breaks through its previous high. Once it touches the bottom twice and consolidates, I start pyramiding and gradually buy more.