What I Wish I Knew Before I Got Into Crypto

One of the most important things I’ve learned in crypto is this:

You can’t just press “buy” and hope for the best.

Let me tell you about a moment that really opened my eyes.

A regular investor — not a whale, not a fund, just someone with money and enthusiasm — decided to go all in on a promising altcoin. He’d done some research, read the news, liked the tech and tokenomics. And the price was low. It looked like the perfect time to invest.

But there was one problem:

He didn’t check the liquidity or trading volume.

Instead, he placed a huge buy order — around £1,000,000 in one shot.

What happened next?

He wiped out the entire order book.

The price jumped from £0.22 to £0.40 — not because of market hype or demand, but because his own buy order caused the pump. He was essentially buying from himself at higher and higher prices.

This is what’s known as price impact — when your own transaction moves the market more than you expected.

It’s what happens when you crash into a low-liquidity market instead of moving with it.

What Could He Have Done Differently?

He could have used a grid of limit orders.

He could have split the amount into smaller chunks.

He could have let the market breathe.

Buying slowly over time — instead of in one big rush — would’ve helped him get a better average price without triggering panic or sudden spikes.

Think of the market like an ant colony:

If you hit it with a stick, it freaks out.

That’s what happened here.

I Was There. I Watched It Happen.

This wasn’t a story I read on Twitter — I saw it live.

It happened with Axelar.

I was watching closely, and right away, I had questions.

The devs didn’t post any updates. There was no news. Just… chaos.

So I went to Etherscan.

I traced the transactions.

And suddenly it all made sense.

This wasn’t a pump driven by fundamentals.

It was a pump caused by one big buy — one person moving too fast, with too much, in the wrong place.

Why I’m Sharing This

No shame to the person who bought.

No financial advice here.

Just a real story from crypto.

Crypto makes you curious.

It forces you to ask questions, connect dots, and look deeper.

If you’ve seen something like this happen, I’d love to hear your story too.