Hi everyone! I'm cryptogirl2017. I started learning about bitcoin a few months ago and found Steemit when when I was doing a little research. I've been browsing for the past few days and am excited to be a part of this community. I plan to share what I'm learning and hopefully provide some useful information to other newcomers as well. :) HOW DID I GET STARTED? Earlier this year, I thought it would it be interesting to go into day-trading. Somehow bitcoin crossed my mind. At that time I didn't know much about it let alone the fact that alternative currencies existed. It was just a term mentioned from time to time in the news. I started doing some research into it and based on the recommendation of another crypto investor, I opened an account on Coinbase to see how everything worked. I watched the price of bitcoin drop dramatically over the course of a few hours and decided that the volatility would make it a great coin to trade...buy low, sell high, right? I made my first purchase when the price was on it’s way down. Over the next few days, I watched it continue to drop and started to panic. Did I make the right decision? Oh man, I got ripped off. If I sell it, I'll have to take a loss, so I'll just keep holding! I was feeling a little stressed and wondering whether it would ever go up, but when it finally started rising again, I sold everything around the price I paid for it. Whew! I dodged a bullet didn’t I? BIG MISTAKE. As most of you probably know, the price of bitcoin began to rise quickly soon after and is currently doing pretty well (compared to earlier this year). I did something similar with Litecoin...buying in when it was pretty cheap, watching it drop, panicking, and selling it as soon as it went back up to what I paid for it. I essentially broke even. Looking back, Litecoin was a bargain then. Afterwards, the price of Litecoin shot up and stabilized around the mid - $20s for a while before increasing, once again to where it is today. LESSON LEARNED Eventually, I started putting some money back into bitcoin as well as litecoin but it came at cost. Prices had increased so my purchasing power decreased, essentially reducing the amount of shares I owned for the same price paid. Surprisingly, I actually don't feel too bad about it. In reality, I needed to go through those experiences in order to learn a couple of things about myself. 1. Based on my risk tolerance, DAY TRADING IS NOT FOR ME. I know that there are people out there making good money doing this. In order to develop the skills needed to do well in trading, you need to be able to tolerate price volatility and higher amounts of risk, understand that you will win some and lose some, be able to make decisions that are not controlled by your emotions (fear), take the time to develop and execute a plan, and probably most importantly, spend the time and energy to do it consistently. At the moment, I do not have the time to dedicate to developing myself as a trader, but it’s something I may revisit in the future. 2. I really enjoyed learning about bitcoin and the technology behind it.In studying about bitcoin, my eyes opened up to a huge world of technology that I never knew about. What is the difference between Ethereum and Ether? How is it different from bitcoin? Litecoin seems to have similar technology as bitcoin but is a lot cheaper. What sets it apart and what is the reason for the considerably large price difference? Why do some people seem to hate Ripple while others love it? How will the Ripple system affect the banking system? And on and on and on…I would start reading about one thing and before I knew it, I was on the page for something else. For a newbie such as myself, the information was overwhelming. I’m currently breaking it down and taking notes. 3. I want to be in it for the long haul. I believe that blockchain technology is revolutionary. It will change the way we do business and interact with one another on a global scale. I recently watched a Ted Talk, in which the speaker was discussing how, throughout history, we’ve had several notable advances that completely overhauled how society functioned: a) The printing press – this bridged the knowledge gap b) The engine – this bridged the power gap c) The Internet – this bridged the distance gap d) Block chain – this will bridge the trust gap Here is a link to the Ted talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k53LUZxUF50. Just a heads up, the guy is pretty loud and intense. I guess he’s very passionate about this subject. ☺ CONCLUSION I am going to invest for the long-term and only invest what I can stand to completely lose. My plan is to leave it alone for the most part and tweak the allocation if necessary. I will continue to educate myself and share what I learn with others. Do you have any questions for me? In my next crypto post, I'll share which websites I've found to be useful. @cryptogirl2017