How to avoid major mistakes in cryptocurrency transactions

1. Buy

The first purchase of cryptocurrency is one of the most important stages for beginners. After all, already at this stage, losses may occur, for example, due to fraud.

In 2024, on-chain analysts noted an increase in fraudulent schemes related to unregulated exchanges, especially in the P2P segment. According to analytics platform Chainalysis, total fraud losses, including fake exchanges and crypto exchanges, exceeded $1 billion in 2024 alone.

In 2025, experts predict an increase in damage as well as the number of victims from fraudulent schemes, especially in regions with insufficient regulation. To avoid fraud, you should use only reputable services that have been tested by many users. Such services can be found with the help of BestChange.

When buying cryptocurrency through exchanges and exchangers, you should pay attention to the following:

• The price should not be lower than the market price (you can check with the help of CoinMarketCap and CoinGecko services);
• Feedback from other users;
• Whether the site follows KYC/AML* rules;
• How long has the resource domain been registered.

* KYC (Know Your Customer) and AML (Anti-Money Laundering) — a set of rules aimed at fighting financial crime.

2. Hold, not sell

HODL, also known as "buy and hold", is one of the top slogans and the most common strategy among experienced cryptans. One of the most famous cryptocurrency holders, Michael Saylor, who heads Microstrategy, has already accumulated almost half a million bitcoins that he has never sold.

Some beginners believe that by trading cryptocurrency, they can earn more. However, trading requires long training and practice, and among beginners there are few who demonstrate positive results. In addition, in trading you need to constantly monitor and analyze the state of the market, which is much more difficult because of the large number of transactions.

Trading can bring short-term profit, but investments for a long period of time, as a rule, turn out to be much more profitable. For example, over the past decade, the first cryptocurrency Bitcoin (BTC) has grown more than 130 times in value and the largest altcoin Ethereum (ETH) has grown more than 1,500 times in value.

To increase returns, investors use various strategies, which include DCA (Dollar Cost Averaging). The DCA strategy consists of periodically (for example, once a month or quarter) buying cryptocurrency without selling it. This allows you to average the cost of your investment, especially during corrections in the crypto market, and eventually get a higher profit compared to a one-time purchase.

3. Save

Once a user purchases and withdraws cryptocurrency to his or her personal, non-custodial wallet, the user becomes its sole owner, fully responsible for the safety of the assets.

Safe storage is an equally important aspect of the novice hodler. Due to phishing and other threats such as exploits and malware, users can lose their digital assets.

Here are some important rules to help keep your cryptocurrency safe:

• You should not install pirated software on your devices, as it may contain viruses that can steal digital assets. You should also install software updates in a timely manner, as they may contain fixes for critical vulnerabilities;
• It is unacceptable to provide a seed phrase or private key to outsiders or enter them on suspicious sites - this will lead to wallet compromise;
• Store large amounts of cryptocurrency in cold (hardware) wallets, as they are resistant to online attacks;
• It is necessary to create wallet backups, as the loss of a seed phrase or private wallet will lead to irretrievable loss of cryptocurrencies;
• It is worth using anti-phishing plugins, such as Netcraft and MetaMask, which will help to protect you from getting to malicious sites;
• Additional security measures such as passphrase (seed-phrase extension), two-factor authentication (2FA) and multisig are recommended to increase security.

4. Don't succumb to FOMO/FUD

The crypto market, like any other market, has both favorable (bullrun) and problematic (correction) periods that can lead to emotional decision making.

During periods of rapid cryptocurrency growth or a bullrun, there can be a sense of missing out, better known as FOMO (Fear of Missing Out). FOMO can encourage a user to buy an asset even though its rate has already risen significantly.

However, growth cannot be continuous, and at a certain point it is followed by a correction. In the case of a collapse in the exchange rate, there may be a perception that the decline will continue and this induces a spontaneous sale of assets. This effect is known as FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt) or "fear, uncertainty, doubt".

Among beginners, there are many who buy cryptocurrency at the peak due to the feeling of FOMO, and then sell it at the drawdown under the influence of the FUD effect, taking losses. Such users are ironically called "hamsters" by experienced crypto traders. In order to prevent this from happening, you should make investment decisions in a balanced manner, consider all risks and apply basic strategies such as diversification and hedging.