The crypto market moves fast and hard. These are the frameworks used to navigate it — from HODLing Bitcoin to trading altcoin season rotations.
⚠ NFA — Not Financial Advice. Crypto is extremely high risk. DYOR.— 05 Core Approaches
The original crypto strategy. Buy Bitcoin or Ethereum and hold through every bear market, correction, and FUD cycle without flinching. Your edge is a multi-year time horizon. The BTC halving cycle (every ~4 years) has historically driven price discovery to new all-time highs each cycle. You don't need to time the market — just stay in it.
Bitcoin (BTC) — 2020–2021 Bull Run
BTC was trading at $8,000 before the May 2020 halving. A HODLer who simply bought and refused to sell through the March 2020 crash ($3,800) and the 2020–2021 bear periods watched their investment grow to $69,000 by November 2021 — a 762% gain in 18 months. No trading required, just conviction and patience.
Invest a fixed dollar amount (e.g. $100/week) into Bitcoin or Ethereum regardless of price. When price is low you buy more coins, when price is high you buy fewer. Over time, your average cost per coin smooths out. It removes emotion, eliminates the need to time the market, and works best on assets you believe in long term.
Ethereum (ETH) — DCA through 2022 Bear
ETH crashed from $4,800 to $880 in 2022. A DCA buyer putting $200/month into ETH throughout 2022 accumulated coins at an average price of ~$1,600. When ETH recovered to $2,400 in 2023, that portfolio was up 50% — while someone who bought the top at $4,800 was still underwater. DCA's power is in the average, not the timing.
After Bitcoin makes a big move, capital rotates into altcoins for explosive percentage gains. The signal: BTC Dominance (BTC's % of total crypto market cap) starts falling. Rotation order: BTC → ETH → large-cap alts (SOL, BNB) → mid-caps → small-caps. Always rotate profits back to BTC before the cycle resets. Never overstay.
Solana (SOL) — Q4 2023 Alt Season
BTC dominance peaked at 54% in October 2023 and started declining as BTC's ETF narrative matured. Capital rotated hard into Solana — SOL went from $20 in September 2023 to $200 by February 2024, a 10× move in 5 months. Traders who caught the BTC dominance drop signal and rotated into SOL early captured monster gains.
Crypto consolidates in tight ranges before exploding. Identify major resistance on the daily or weekly chart where price has been rejected multiple times. Wait for a daily candle close above with volume at least 2× the average. Enter at the close, set stop loss below the breakout level, and ride the expansion. BTC breakouts often pull alts with them.
Bitcoin (BTC) — $30K Breakout, Oct 2023
BTC was stuck under $30K for months through mid-2023, rejected 4 times at that level. On October 16, 2023, BTC closed above $30,000 on 2.5× average volume following BlackRock's ETF filing momentum. Entry at $30,500, stop at $28,500. BTC ran to $44,000 by December — a 44% gain in under 10 weeks from a clean level breakout.
The blockchain is a transparent ledger — use it. Track exchange inflows (bearish, whales preparing to sell) and outflows (bullish, whales moving to cold storage). Watch the MVRV Z-Score: below 0 = historically extreme undervaluation. Monitor supply in profit and long-term holder behavior. Tools: Glassnode, CryptoQuant, Lookonchain.
Bitcoin — MVRV Bottom Signal, Nov 2022
After the FTX collapse in November 2022, BTC hit $15,500. Glassnode's MVRV Z-Score dropped below 0 for only the third time in BTC's history — a signal that had previously marked the 2018 and 2020 bottoms. On-chain data also showed massive exchange outflows as long-term holders refused to sell. This confluence called the cycle bottom within 2 weeks of the actual low.