I love a deal. I ABSOLUTELY love freebies. Sometimes something comes up that feels like a sure thing, and then it doesn’t quite work out. Occasionally the wild speculatory market known as “the crypto market” drops off a cliff with impeccably bad timing. And yet, somehow, I’m still likely going to break even. Also another affirmation that crypto is all a big scam. Don’t get stuck with the bag.
The promotion (targeted) is straightforward with good value (10% back in crypto!)
- Buy $100 or more of any eligible crypto to get your first $5 in BTC (an easy free $5)
- Keep buying $100 or more for 4 more days in a row (total of 5 days) to get an additional $45 in BTC (a slightly harder $45)
My plan was simple
- $100 x 5 = $500 in crypto purchases required; $5 + $45 = $50 in rewards; $50 / $500 = 10% back; available to liquidate after 60 days
- Buy for 5 days, liquidate all after 5 days ($500). Sit on the bitcoin for 60 days, then liquidate ($50).
- Profit (assuming no inflation or deflation in bitcoin prices) ~8% of $500, or $40 (OKX charges a 1% spread on the purchase and sale of bitcoin ($500 x 1% x 2 = $10 cost).
And yet, my timing was so impeccably bad
- My first purchase was on Monday February 2; Bitcoin increased 2.27% from $77k/bitcoin to $78.7k
- My second purchase was on Tuesday February 3; Bitcoin dropped 3.81% to $75.7k (down is bad for this scheme)
- My third purchase was on Wednesday February 4; Bitcoin dropped 3.42% to $73.1k (more down)
- My fourth purchase was on Thursday February 5; Bitcoin dropped a steep 14.05% (as of this evening) to $62.9k (down down down!)
Core to not losing money is value not dropping more than 8% over the hold period. Turns out, that wasn’t meant to be this week. With the tanking Bitcoin, on February 4 I liquidated the first 3 days worth of Bitcoin purchases for $270.05 net of fees (loss of $29.95). I kept up the $100 purchase on 2/5 (5 days in a row required and I already had 3 down) and waited a few minutes past the 15 minutes to liquidate, and so magically my $100 rapidly turned into $95.30 (an additional loss of $4.70). One more day to go.
If I were to do this again, I would have approached this slightly differently
Terms and conditions reflect that the purchase only needs to be held for 15 minutes, and then can be sold. That would radically reduce (but not eliminate) the risk of holding even nominal amounts of crypto (the price can still drop, but is much less likely than over multiple days of my original plan). I also would limit my exposure at any one point of time to $100 total, versus the $100 x 5 in my initial plan. $50 return for $100 invested isn’t bad.
Obligatory post-ending gif
