Return to Conviction Investing

The crypto market is a graveyard of self assigned “pro traders" constantly chasing narratives, jumping into the coin of the week, and getting liquidated. While they were spending all of their time and energy trying to time the market on 1m candles, the most successful investors were quietly stacking assets and ignoring the noise. 

Remember all of those $BTC whales who cashed out this cycle?  They held for a very long time to get those kinds of returns and it’s tough to hold through prices waxing and waning, unless you have a core belief in the project’s future return potential.

My suggestion? 

A fundamentals driven DCA (Dollar-Cost Averaging) approach wins when you have a long enough time horizon.  Depending on your risk level, consciously allocate a % of your investments on fundamentals and leave some for fun.  I’d suggest a majority in long term plays and keeping anywhere from 5-20% of your portfolio for fun, moon shots and trading.

The Trading Trap

Most people treat crypto like a casino. They jump into a coin after it has already pumped, only to sell at the bottom when the narrative shifts.

• The Cost of Stress: Staring at 1-minute charts leads to emotional burnout.

• The Tax Leak: Every single trade is a taxable event that bleeds your principal.

• The Timing Risk: You have to be right twice…when to enter and when to exit.

Let’s take a look at a $50 a week investment into each token, with a consistent investment approach.

The $50/Week Set and Forget Method (2022–2026)

What happens if you stop trying to time the market? If you had started a $50/week DCA four years ago (January 2022), you would have bought through the 2022 crash, the FTX collapse, the 2024 halving, and the 2025 privacy resurgence.

The 4-Year Results (Total Invested: ~$10,450 per asset)

Note: Zcash ($ZEC) saw a massive recovery in late 2025 as the market pivoted toward privacy and zero-knowledge tech. The DCA investor didn't need to time that bottom.  They simply caught the massive 800%+ rally from the 2024 lows by staying consistent.

Staking for improved wealth: $SOL and $ETH

Staking $SOL (or LST): 4-Year $SOL Results (As of Jan 9, 2026):

• Total Invested: ~$10,450 ($50/week for 209 weeks)

• Total SOL Accumulated (No Staking): ~170 SOL

• Portfolio Value (No Staking): ~$23,120

• Staking Bonus (6% Avg Yield): +~18.5 SOL earned via rewards

• Total Portfolio Value (With Staking): ~$25,636

• Total Profit: +$15,186 (+145%)

Staking didn't just add 6% to your dollar value; it added 6% more tokens every year. In a bull market, those "free" tokens are valued at the new, higher market price. By staking, you’d have earned an extra $2,500+ in pure profit without spending a single extra cent.

Staking $ETH (or LST): 4-Year $ETH Results (As of January 9, 2026):

• Total Invested: ~$10,450 ($50/week for 209 weeks)

• Current ETH Price: ~$3,083

• Total ETH Accumulated (No Staking): ~4.74 ETH

• Portfolio Value (No Staking): ~$14,613

• Staking Bonus (3% Avg Yield): +~0.59 ETH earned via rewards

• Total Portfolio Value (With Staking): ~$16,432

• Total Profit: +$5,982 (+57%)

By staking your $ETH, you earned nearly 0.60 extra ETH for free. At today's prices, that is an additional $1,819 in pure profit that a "non-staking" holder missed out on.

Why the 5–10 Year Horizon Wins

If 4 years looks good, a 10-year horizon is where life changing wealth is built. Here’s why time is your greatest edge:

1. Volatility Smoothing: On a 10-year chart, the scary 50% drops of 2022 look like tiny blips in a massive upward trend.  If your avg on $BTC was $50k and it went from $125k down to $95k, you may be less excited, but you are still in profit.  If you believe $BTC will get to $250k, $1 million, etc,  you can just keep stacking until you hit your exit goal.
   
   

2. Capturing Supply Shocks: A decade-long horizon ensures you sit through two full Bitcoin halvings. These are the primary engines for long-term price appreciation.
   
   

3. Compounding Conviction: When you invest in assets with proven survival (like $BTC) or unique utility (like $ZEC's privacy), you stop viewing dips as losses and start viewing them as a time to double down on the DCA.
   
   

4. Time Over Timing: In crypto, "Time in the market" almost always beats "Timing the market."

Strategy

• Pick Your Core 3-5 tokens: Choose assets with strong fundamentals, pmf and ones you believe have a future, mixed with a history of execution

• Allocate: Based on your risk level and comfort, choose a specific majority % allocation to these tokens and keep the rest for fun.

• Automate: Set a weekly amount you can afford to leave alone.

• Zoom Out: Stop looking at daily candles.

• Stop Using Massive Leverage:  If you want to play with leverage, do it from your fun bucket and not your core investment funds.  Leverage is gambling.  Don’t lose your house chasing a 100x that liquidates you on a $1 price movement.

Method

• Using a CEX: Deposit enough funds into the CEX of your choice.  I personally buy using the advanced features on Coinbase or Kraken and have made it a habit.  I buy a daily DCA in small amounts, but that habit of waking up, buying my few coins and letting them stack helps keep me engaged.  You will get better prices if you buy on the advanced platforms.
  
  • Option B: Within your CEX will be the ability to select to DCA a specific amount daily/weekly/monthly.  This is an easy set it and forget it, but the rates you buy the tokens at are typically worse due to higher fees.
  
  If you plan to buy weekly or daily, look into Coinbase One or Kraken+ to see if the cost is cheaper than the fees saved.
  
  

• Buying Onchain: As of right now, not many chains allow you to buy the native assets of multiple chains all in one place, without buying wrapped versions.  If you are buying Solana, places like Jupiter allow you to predeposit funds and set instructions to DCA into your token of choice.
    

• Buying on a stock platform like Robinhood: Robinhood does allow a dca to be set up, but their prices on crypto are some of the worst out there.  If you care less about self custody, you can buy ETFs for Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana and a lot more are coming soon.

We need a return to conviction, focus, stacking and long term investing.  Shiny objects come and go.  Perps with massive leverage can be thrilling, until you lose way too much.  Dreams of making millions off of memes in purely entertainment.  If you want to make it long term and build wealth, then you need to focus.  

 Stay Free
 - Ebullition