How I Made 100% Profit in Crypto in Fifth Grade — In Less Than Three Months — and Why I Left Forever

I’m not here to tell you “Bro you should’ve invested in crypto in 2010”, because I wasn’t even one year old back then.

But I did invest in the crypto market when I was young. And unlike what everyone else does (which is exactly what I always do, or else what’s the point of this blog post?), I’m telling you: better not touch the crypto market.

I entered the crypto market for the first time around March 2022, when I was in Grade 5. I bought $100 worth of Cardano (ADA) on Binance while eating out. By the time we were heading home, I had already made enough money to cover the parking fee for the day.

Then, I gradually became interested in crypto. My parents also loved to see that, so they gave me $1000 to play with. The market was bullish at that time, and combined with a bit of luck and a bit of my research, I picked several cryptocurrencies ranked top 100 on CoinMarketCap: BTC (Bitcoin), ADA (Cardano), BCH (Bitcoin Cash), THETA (Theta Network), and VET (VeChain).

I even learned some basic portfolio allocation and combined short-term and long-term strategies together. At my peak, I was making around $100 a day, which is 10% of the money I had.

But I always took profits quickly. Every time I made $100 or $200, I would immediately withdraw the gains, making sure my account never held more than the original $1000.

Three months later, I had made another $1000 in total, bringing my assets to around $2000.

And then I did what everyone in crypto eventually does: something stupid. I broke the rule I had set for myself, and bought SHIB (Shiba Inu), a meme coin. I chased it simply because I had seen some discussions on the internet saying that SHIB was going to grow incredibly fast (which is obviously wrong).

Right after I bought it, SHIB crashed violently. Remember to take notes: in the financial market, things are always going the right way until you buy it.

My original $1000 position was cut in half almost instantly. At the same time, the bull market was turning into a bear market, so I panic-sold everything and withdrew the remaining $500.

And that was the final lesson crypto taught me: don’t be greedy.

Coincidentally, sixth grade was about to start, and students were required to bring their own laptops to school. So I used the money to buy a MacBook Air and left the crypto market forever.

So that was my experience.

Now it’s time to share my thoughts.

1. Change

As the Buddhist classic The Heart Sutra says, “Emptiness is form; form is emptiness” (「空即是色，色即是空」). I am not Buddhist, but I have to say that, in the financial market and in most fields of life, this is absolutely correct. A bull market can avalanche at any time, and you won’t be able to predict that even in a day.

Furthermore, the crypto market is even more unpredictable than the stock market. You may earn a lot if you invest in crypto, but everything comes with a price, and you may lose as much as you earn.

2. Trend

As the late director of the Hong Kong Economic Journal, Mr. Cho Chi Ming (曹仁超), once said, “Your own effort is only 30%. The other 70% — the part that truly makes you money or wipes you out — is the trend” (「你自家努力，是30%。真真正正令你賺鈔票或者虧本，70%是勢。」). That’s exactly why me, a kid who knew nothing about the financial market, earned that much money. Because what matters most is the trend, not your techniques.

As Xiaomi’s founder and CEO, Lei Jun, once said, “Even a pig can fly if the wind is strong enough” (「站在風口上，豬也會飛。」). And I was that pig.

Finally, some thoughts not directly related to crypto.

When I was writing this memoir, I found that it became hard to remember things. If you had asked me to write this post when I was in Grade 6 or 7, I would’ve had all the details in my head. But since I’m in G10 now, I forgot so many things. It’s shocking to realize that you discover things that you didn’t know which you’ve done, like in this memoir, I didn’t remember that I made $100 a day at the peak, until I checked my WeChat chat history. Maybe that’s the opportunity cost for growing up?

Also, I forgot that I was familiar with money. When choosing my IGCSE options and my tutor suggested that I choose Econ, I went for a straight “no”. But two years later when choosing my AP courses, I finally realized that, hey! I knew loads about money!

Original Chinese version posted on WeChat Moments on August 7, 2025.

Expanded and edited English version posted on this blog on May 17, 2026.