How I Lost My First $50,000 in the Market

My name is Lee, and I’m from Vietnam. I’ve been involved in financial markets for over a decade. You could say the market has been both a teacher and a tormentor—at times my best friend, and at others, the reason I lost sleep for weeks.
This is the story of how I lost my first $50,000. It’s not a proud story. It’s not a glamorous one either. But it’s real. And it changed me forever.

The Beginning: Big Dreams, Bright Eyes

It all began back in 2015, when I bought my first Vietnamese stock—Kinh Do (KDC). That feeling of owning a piece of a company was electrifying. I was hooked. Two years later, in 2017, I bought my first Bitcoin at just $900. That year was magic. The market was exploding, and it felt like everything I touched turned to gold.
By the end of 2017, I was sitting on what felt like a mountain of money, especially for a young man from Vietnam with limited means. I had just made tens of thousands of dollars, and I thought I had finally cracked the code.

The $IDH Fiasco: Blinded by Hype

That was when I discovered a project called Indahash ($IDH). Their idea was to build a token ecosystem for KOLs (Key Opinion Leaders)—basically influencers and celebrities. I remember vividly being drawn to their polished website, celebrity endorsements, and the promise that KOLs would tokenize their fame. It sounded genius.
As someone young and still emotionally driven by the glitz of fame and success, I fell for it—hard. I didn’t do much research. I didn’t think about fundamentals. I just felt like it was the next big thing. I threw almost everything I had—$50,000—into $IDH.
Easy money in, easy money out.

2018: The Fall

When 2018 hit, the entire crypto market crashed. It was brutal. My $IDH tokens? Worthless. The project faded, and so did my money. I watched my portfolio bleed to zero.
I was devastated. It wasn’t just about the money—it was about the belief that I was smarter than I actually was. That money was meant to change my life. Instead, it humbled me. It showed me how dangerous it is to let emotions lead financial decisions.

The Years That Followed: Pain and Persistence

Even after that loss, I didn’t quit. But the market kept testing me.

• 2019, I got into binary options. Fast money, high risk. I had moments of winning, but it was like a casino—easy come, easy go.

• 2020, I jumped into forex and lost another $10,000. Another painful lesson.

• 2021, crypto came roaring back with GameFi and metaverse hype. I caught the wave and made $50,000.

• 2022, I lost it again—this time in futures trading. Greed. Leverage. Regret.

• 2023, I took a different path. I joined a prop trading firm in FX and slowly earned back $90,000. I finally felt some control. I extracted a portion of that to hold long-term crypto.

• 2024, I made the mistake of shorting BTC at $48,000. I was overconfident. I thought I saw something others didn’t. I was wrong. I lost another $50,000.

Turning Point: A New Chapter

That’s when something inside me finally shifted.
Losing my first $50,000 hurt. Losing it again in 2024 hurt even more. But instead of blaming the market or my luck, I started asking deeper questions:

• Why do I trade?

• What do I really understand?

• How can I truly improve?

So, I began to take finance seriously—not as a gamble, but as a career.

1. I enrolled in WorldQuant University, diving into quantitative trading to understand market data and models.

2. I made plans to study for the CMT (Chartered Market Technician) to get a firm grip on technical analysis.

3. I started seeing myself not just as a trader—but as a retail trader with purpose.

4. Most importantly, I committed to helping other retail traders avoid the painful mistakes I made.

Final Thoughts: A Scar and a Lesson

• Losing $50,000 taught me more than any market rally ever could.It taught me that the market doesn’t care about how you feel, who you trust, or how confident you are. It rewards discipline, risk management, and humility. It punishes greed, emotion, and ego.

• So if you're reading this, especially if you're new—please don’t chase shiny promises. Don’t let hype blind you. And never invest more than you're willing to lose on a gut feeling.

• Today, I carry the scar of that loss not with shame, but with honor. Because it’s the wound that made me grow. And hopefully, by sharing it, I can help someone else not make the same mistake.

My Letter

Hi there,
I’m Lee — and just like you, I’m here to make money.
Not from you, but with you.
After walking through some painful lessons and losing money in the markets myself, I’ve come to realize one thing: it’s not just about how much you make, it’s about how well you protect what you have and how you learn from your mistakes.

That’s why I created this website.

• It’s not to sell you hype or dreams, but to share what I wish someone had told me earlier — the common mistakes retail traders often make, and practical ways to avoid them.

• To support you better, I’ve built a simple automated email and AI assistant system to guide you through the most frequent problems, using the best knowledge and experience I’ve gained so far.

• I believe in honesty, transparency, and a contributive mindset — if we’re going to walk this journey toward financial freedom, let’s do it together, step by step.

• If that resonates with you, then stay. Learn. Grow. And let’s make smarter moves — together.

Warmly,
Lee

Common Mistakes

Wrong Brokers

The first problem is profitable strategy
The second problem is profit withdrawal

Retail traders

Wrong Tools

The first problem is using the right tool
The second problem is using the right way

Wrong Partners

The first problem is choosing right partner
The second problem is win together

Be Better Together

Trade With Lee