AN unfortunate Reddit user has lost his entire life savings after investing in Bitcoin – and couldn’t dare tell his wife.
Going all-in on the digital cryptocurrency, user ‘Prudent_Plum_7644’ posted a heart-wrenching account of his experience and a warning to others.
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Writing on the Bitcoin subreddit, he said: “I completely messed up guys, my life savings are gone for good, I have learned a devastating hard lesson.”
He goes on to detail how he and his wife amassed 1.7 BTC which, at current rates, is around £58,400.
He said it took the two of them ten years to amass the money, saving as much as possible and taking on odd jobs wherever possible.
Then he began trading.
“I started future trades and managed to turn the 1.7 BTCs into 2.1 BTCs, the classic beginner luck,” he wrote.
Unfortunately, he put all the funds into a type of trade called leverage futures – betting that Bitcoin’s value would continue to rise.
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When it fell, he says he lost it all.
He wrote, “Of course it didn’t play out, BTC went from touching 50k $ down to 47k $ and our whole life savings have been wiped out.
“I still haven’t say anything to my wife, she doesn’t know that and this is killing me from the inside. I just don’t know what to say to her, I’m simply devastated. I barely can watch myself in the mirror.”
Ending with a plea to others not to fall into the same trap, the Redditor posted: “Please follow my advice, don’t trade guys, don’t fall into these marketing traps like I did.”
He posted screenshots of his future trade being slowly liquidated as Bitcoin fell rather than rose in value.
Other Redditors took pity, but reinforced the notion that putting the entirety of one’s funds into a single trade is not a smart move.
One commented: “That sh** is legit dangerous and the average investor shouldn’t touch it with a 10m pole.”
Another said: “Sorry to hear that man. Be honest with your wife. Tell her your heart and beg for forgiveness. Then come up with a plan and rebuild your stack.
“And don’t ever attempt to surprise your spouse by making a move with your entire combined life savings again. She has a right to know and not be surprised, either good or bad.”
Galina Stavskaya, Head of Investments at Claro Money, explained: “Future trade is when you agree to buy or sell an investment product at a certain date in the future at a certain price, with both future transaction date and price are being determined today.
“It’s like going to a store today and saying “I will buy this car in 2 months at £5000” and signing a contract to do so.
“If the price of the car in 2 months is above 5,000 – you made money, if the price is less than 5,000 – you lost. The trade involves no exchange of money today – only signing of the contract to perform this pre-planned transaction in the future.”
