An Altcoin Trader’s Handbook by Nik Patel

PART ONE: A MEMOIR
Chapter One
IN THE BEGINNING
Though, I would imagine, many readers of this book will have become
aware of it via Twitter, and thus will already know a little bit about me, I
feel that a little background information wouldn’t go amiss for those who
have not yet had the (dis)pleasure. Dad-like sense of humour aside, I am a
full-time writer, speculator and advisor, all within the emerging world of
cryptocurrencies, cryptoassets, altcoins or whatever else one wishes to
name them. I like to use cryptosphere as an all-encompassing term for the
goings-on in this weird and wonderful space, though, for the purposes of
this book, I am expressly concerned with the novel financial market that has
developed around the birth and growth of the technology, as well as the
plethora of life-changing opportunities it has brought with it. Prior to my
involvement in the space, I had little to no trading or investing experience –
I was barely eighteen years-old – and it was the excitement I found towards
what I had accidentally stumbled upon that consumed me and led me to
where I am today. I hope to impart at least a little of that excitement in the
pages of this book, alongside all of the knowledge and experience I have
amassed over the last five years on the topic of profitable altcoin
speculation. These markets truly are unlike those of traditional finance (and,
having also spent some time speculating in those, I can tell you that these
are far more-readily grasped), and it is the first time in my admittedly short
lifetime that I have come across such an abundance of opportunities for
those with little initial capital, as I myself began with. I’ll spare you any
further preamble, and begin… well, where it all began.

Late 2013:
I began my journey when and where many others in this space seem to have
began theirs: Dogecoin. It was around Christmas when I first came across
the subreddit for Dogecoin, and I have little to no recollection of how I got
to it. What I do remember is that I had never heard of Bitcoin prior to this
point, let alone any other so-called ‘cryptocurrencies’. I was newly-eighteen
at the time, and, as such, cryptocurrency was an entirely non-existent
concept in my life – my teenage years were more preoccupied with the
discovery of binge-drinking than groundbreaking financial technology.
Stumbling upon this subreddit swiftly changed that, and I found myself
caught up in a strange world comprised almost exclusively of memes,
amused more than seriously interested, at this point. There was no tip-bot
back then, and I had no idea how one might buy any Doge, and thus I
followed the advice in one particular thread, downloaded the Windows
wallet and created my very first cryptocurrency address. If I’m honest, I had
absolutely no idea what any of it meant, but I do know that it was an
indescribably enjoyable experience despite that.
Shortly after this, I happened upon the subreddit /r/dogecoinbeg (a page
where strangers asked for free Doge from other Reddit users) and got to
work. Yes, me – an eighteen-year-old – asking strangers on the internet if
they could spare some digital change. What an odd time to be alive. It may
well have been one of the weirdest moments in my life; that first exchange
between myself and another Reddit user, asking for my very first coins. But
damn, it was weirdly a lot of fun. I couldn’t tell you precisely why, but I
remember feeling that, despite all of the surface-level silliness, this
mechanism of exchange – and the idea of a ‘digital currency’ – was one of
great significance. I was instantly hooked. My evenings began to be spent
poring over the Dogecoin subreddit, growing my miniscule stack of coins
via e-begging, and generally immersing myself in this novel world. Keep in
mind, I was still unaware of much else in the cryptosphere besides the
Shibes that I had grown to love. It wasn’t until the turn of the year that I
truly found myself involved.

An Altcoin Trader’s Handbook by Nik Patel