What I Learned From Investing in a Meme

Do what I did... or don't...

This was the year of the memecoin.

In lots of ways, that made sense. It was a natural progression of the so-called “meme economy”, a movement that swept up investors of Wall Street and Main Street. And with millions of people discovering crypto for the first time, the memecoin was bound to have a moment.

Or two.

$DOGE ushered in the frenzy, and many call it the original—a coin created years ago as a joke and an answer to the all-so-serious Bitcoin. I watched Doge’s meteoric rise in the spring as it pushed to crazy all-time highs, minting millionaires and market movers as it went from relative obscurity to the top ten of all cryptos traded. I was interested, riveted, and wondering why I didn’t allow myself to learn about crypto years before.

But I didn’t invest in Doge. I held back, convinced it all was still too risky.

Then in the late summer, a text hit my phone from a friend. She raved about $SHIB or the Shiba Inu coin, and she thought we should toss some money that way. It’s fair to say this friend got bit by the crypto bug hard in 2021. She likes making money, is willing to take risks, and she’s skeptical of the way the global economy is moving.

It’s not mystery why we are friends.

I considered my friend’s text for a few minutes before opening my phone, finding my trading app, and hitting buy. I didn’t know much about $SHIB before I did, and I didn’t do my own research. Let me be clear, I was strictly gambling, and I knew it.

That was the first lesson, and one I realized I had to keep top of mind when investing in a memecoin. Investing in any meme is a gamble and you better be prepared for what that entails.

We promised to hold. We promised we’d never sell. We promised each other we’d meet on the moon, once the coin made us more money than we could have ever imagined.

And for awhile, it was easy to keep those promises.

$SHIB spent the next several weeks going up, up, and up some more, climbing in market share and shaking down trading apps as people jumped on the movement to make a quick buck. I hadn’t been part of something like that before, and it was captivating. More than once I watched the market in shock as the coin went parabolic. A few times, I thought all the action was going to crash my phone.

But like all rockets, this one fell back to Earth too.

I rode my investment all the way to the top, and since mid-fall, I’ve seen it give back most of the gains. Still, I haven’t sold because I’m not done with this meme just yet.

I like experiments, and I want to see what the next chapter is for $SHIB.

Now, before we move on, I know the Shib Army is strong, and that many in that group would argue that $SHIB is more than just a meme. After holding it so long, I agree, and I’m a loyal member of the Shib Army too. Over the last several weeks, I’ve read announcements about a Shiba Inu game, as well as other real-world use cases. The community is motivated to burn tokens in a bid to increase price. It’s not going away.

Still, let’s be clear—when the coin began, Shiba Inu very much was a meme, a joke, and a cultural movement. That was part of the fun, and it still is.

I learned a lot from my so-what-why-not-let’s-do-it investment in $SHIB. Much of that is worth applying. Here’s what I know:

• Remember that this is gambling

• What goes up must come down

• Memecoins often have a very short time in the sun

• Understand this isn’t likely a long term investment

• Always take profits

That last one is probably the hardest to remember, and one I need to work on in the future. When a memecoin goes parabolic, it’s hard to find the will it exit an investment. Nobody wants to miss making money. But taking profits is key to all this, and a way to neutralize risk. I should have taken more profits at the top of the market, and I didn’t. I let greed cloud my thinking.

So will I invest in another memecoin? Maybe and maybe not. Never say never in life, or in crypto.

What about you? Are you invested in any memecoins?

The Crypto Connection is for entertainment purposes only and is not meant to be financial advice. Please do your own research before investing in any asset class. Sara Celi is not a financial advisor, and holds several cryptocurrencies. To purchase her books on Amazon, please click here.