I thought my biggest investing mistake was buying too much crypto. I was wrong.
The real mistake started long before I ever bought my first coin.
When I started tracking Bitcoin, every day seemed to bring another YouTube video predicting massive gains. Every thumbnail said the same thing: “Last chance before it explodes.” Every rising price target and overly confident prediction made it seem like the upside was almost guaranteed.
I remember checking my portfolio every ten minutes. Not because I had a strategy, but because I felt like something important was always about to happen. If the price moved while I wasn't looking, I felt like I was falling behind.
The strange part is that I wasn't afraid of losing money.
I was afraid of missing out.
That fear made me buy more, even after prices had already run up. When the market started falling, I didn’t suddenly become a better, more rational investor.
I became more anxious.
I didn't know what to do except watch more videos from the same strangers who convinced me to buy in the first place.
I wasn't looking for information anymore. I was looking for reassurance.
Then it hit me:
Crypto wasn't the problem.
I had been making decisions this way for years in other parts of my life.
FOMO Didn't Start With Investing
At the beginning of high school, I spent a lot of time worrying about what everyone else was doing. I hated the idea of missing out socially. So, I made sure I was at the center of fun–following it or creating it.
If everyone was talking about something, I wanted to know about it.
If everyone was going somewhere, I felt like I should go too.
It felt like I was constantly performing for other people.
But that follower mentality sometimes put me in situations I shouldn’t have been in–winding up at parties where people were out of control and making bad decisions. By not using my own judgment, I put myself in risky situations just like following investing videos without first thinking on my own.
The same thing happened with social media.
I wasn't opening Instagram or YouTube because I actually needed to. I didn't want to miss seeing what everyone was watching, doing, or talking about. I was measuring myself by what was happening around me. And before I knew it, I’d spent hours consuming everyone else’s life instead of building my own.
At the time, all of those situations felt unrelated. Now they all look the same.
I realized I wasn't repeating the same mistake.
I was repeating the same habit: seeking positive reinforcement from the crowd.
The Real Cost of Following the Crowd
Losing my own money forced me to face something I didn’t want to admit.
I hadn’t made my own decisions. I’d let other people make them for me.
I was chasing opportunities without stopping to think. I was relying on other people's opinions instead of forming my own. And I cared far too much about what everyone else thought.
What I Do Differently Now
Watching my dad invest made me realize there was another way to think.
He wasn’t worried about missing the next trend because he trusted his own research and ideas more than everyone else’s excitement.
That calmness and confidence intrigued me.
While I was chasing the excitement of others, he was following a process and his own conviction.
Now, before I buy anything, I understand what I'm actually buying.
I’ve learned that hype videos aren’t research. They’re entertainment.
I spend much less time listening to what others say and much more time understanding the business itself.
If I ever feel an overwhelming urge to buy immediately because everyone else seems excited, I slow myself down instead of speeding myself up.
Most importantly, I've stopped needing constant reassurance. When I understand what I own and why I own it, I don't feel the need to check my portfolio every few minutes or search for someone else to tell me I'm right.
The Lesson Went Beyond Investing
What surprised me most wasn't what I learned about investing.
It was what I learned about myself.
I realized FOMO had been influencing who I spent time with, how I used social media, and even how I thought about success.
I used to believe that moving quickly and following the crowd meant I was getting ahead.
Now I think the opposite.
Some of the best decisions I've made have come from slowing down, thinking for myself, and being willing to miss an opportunity if I don't fully understand it. That's the lesson I wish I had understood sooner.
There will always be another investment.
There will always be another trend.
There will always be another opportunity.
The real danger isn’t missing out. It’s losing the ability to think for yourself.