Recording the journey of asset turmoil for over a decade (2)

2019-2021, Foreign Investment Stage#

I accidentally discovered the US and Hong Kong stock markets because I saw an advertisement for the international version of East Money on Oriental Fortune. With a try-it-out attitude, I opened a door. I learned about it online and found out that the well-known domestic software Futu NiuNiu had already entered the US and Hong Kong stock markets a few years ago.
At the end of 2019, I returned to the cryptocurrency market because I wasn't satisfied with just investing in the US and Hong Kong stock markets. I had dabbled in cryptocurrency before with a few hundred yuan, but at that time, I was solely focused on the A-share market. At the end of 2019, I remembered the cryptocurrency market again.

Alibaba's return to the Hong Kong stock market added fuel to the fire of Hong Kong IPOs. I remember seeing it on Oriental Fortune and that's how I got into it. The special feature of Hong Kong IPOs is the ability to finance and the availability of gray market trading. I remember that I made a significant profit from financing Alibaba's IPO, earning several thousand yuan. I got excited and went all in. Hong Kong IPOs really made me earn a good amount.
However, the pace of Hong Kong IPOs is relatively slow. You have to select high-quality new stocks, otherwise, they are prone to breaking below the issue price, and the waiting period is long. I couldn't stand the loneliness, so I looked at the trends of the US and Hong Kong stock markets, which were rising every day, and couldn't resist jumping in. I vaguely remember that the hottest stocks at that time were new energy vehicles, such as Tesla, NIO, and Xiaopeng. Unfortunately, they were hit by the pandemic, and the US stock market experienced epic circuit breaker crashes several times. I lost some money, and thinking about it now is really regretful.

At that time, the hottest trends were decentralized finance (DeFi) lending and borrowing, as well as liquidity mining. New concepts were being hyped every day, and I got caught up in it. I took out some money and used it for DeFi lending and borrowing, hoping for a big takeoff. However, the prices kept falling every day, and soon I lost 20-30% of my investment. It was painful.
When the pandemic hit, the cryptocurrency market and the US stock market experienced a synchronized crash, but the difference was that the cryptocurrency market crashed overnight. I vividly remember a cold and windy evening when the prices plummeted. I saw Bitcoin at 3,000 yuan and Ethereum at 80 USD. My portfolio was almost at its lowest point. The next day, the market didn't recover much either. The terrifying part was that the DeFi lending and borrowing positions were close to being liquidated, which would have resulted in a total loss. I quickly used emergency funds to buy 5,000 RMB worth of Ethereum.
After that, I became a bit disheartened with the cryptocurrency market. I lost tens of thousands of yuan and was reluctant to sell at a loss. But miraculously, even during the panic of the pandemic, the cryptocurrency prices didn't drop much further. I was stuck for half a year, and then miraculously, things turned around. NFTs became popular, and I sold my Ethereum and moved on to other investments, successfully missing out on the cryptocurrency bull market in 2021.