Three guiding principles for long-term crypto investors — strategy, distance and psychology — are presented to improve systematic performance.

Strategy

Attention must focus on leverage and position sizing, especially around futures with 50–100x leverage, which drastically increase bankruptcy risk.

By contrast, spot positions allow holding through volatility and provide an opportunity to capitalise on assets trading x4–5 below their last year levels.

When evaluating opportunities, form clear entry and exit rules, and avoid narratives that encourage selling major assets or taking extreme single-point bets.

• Set position limits relative to overall portfolio risk and avoid margin levels that can trigger rapid liquidations.
• Prefer staged entries to single large purchases, preserving capital for rebalancing after sharp market moves.
• Use objective criteria for coin selection, including liquidity, development activity and on-chain metrics where applicable.

Distance

Distance refers to the ability to wait for targeted price levels and to maintain allocations through multi-month or multi-year cycles without succumbing to impatience.

Rather than aiming for speculative claims of twentyfold returns, investors should assess realistic upside scenarios and the probabilities of reaching them.

Community insights and advice from experienced participants, particularly those who navigated altseason 2021, can help set more grounded expectations and timing strategies.

Psychology

Psychology remains the principal challenge: emotional reactions often drive premature selling or reckless doubling down in adverse conditions.

Maintaining discipline requires a support structure that can intervene or provide perspective before impulsive decisions become costly.

Avoid placing the entire portfolio into a single outcome; limit “all in” exposures that can reduce capital to effectively zero after adverse events.

Common weaknesses

Among typical areas of shortfall are emotional control, the ability to hold positions across extended draws and the application of a robust strategy.

• Psychology — difficulty enduring drawdowns without panicking.
• Distance — inability to remain invested long enough to realise planned returns.
• Strategy — insufficient rules for sizing, risk limits and position management.

Improving across these three domains — strategy, distance and psychology — increases the likelihood of systematic gains and reduces the chance of repeated losses.