I was only 15 when I bought my first bitcoin (3.26 to be exact). At the time I put my entire savings into the currency and bought around $500.00 worth of bitcoin. In order to buy bitcoin I had to lie about my age and use my parents' credit card number but my God was it worth it.

After two months of holding bitcoin the currency shot up to record highs and I sold, making a profit of around $1800.00 as a teenager!

My parents had no idea what I was doing or how bitcoin worked. If anything, they thought I was part of some sort of get rich quick scheme and that I was never going to get my money back. In part they were right..

My First Mistake

I slowly began to realize that bitcoin was not as secure as everyone else believed it was. I was paranoid, so I decided to buy 2 bitcoin back (for around $2000) and store them in an encrypted online wallet. I found a free service that actually tumbled your bitcoins automatically and I quickly signed up and deposited my bitcoin. Around 3 months later bitcoin started to drop and I wanted to sell. I took my bitcoin out of the wallet only to realize for the first time that withdrawing funds costed me a fee of .25 btc! I was pissed but took my money out and sold anyways.

My Second Mistake

Warren Buffet has always said "Buy Low, Sell High", which to everyone seems stupid simple. 16 year old me had no idea who Warren Buffet was and didn't care, I just wanted money. I bought bitcoin again while it was on a downward trend and did nothing but lose money for 2 months before selling.

The Third Mistake

My third mistake was the worst of them all. I only had about $1000 left to buy bitcoin with but I decided regardless of how much money I made in the next 1 to 3 months if I was just patient I would make my money back. I bought bitcoin and decided to transport it to my desktop bitcoin wallet. Instead of copying my send address I typed it in manually into Coinbase. I must have at the time entered the wrong address because my bitcoin sent on the network but never got to its destination. I was so mad at myself but in the end I realized that I could have made a worse mistake and that money is just money.

Conclusion

I learned several valuable lessons in my early days using crypto-currency. First and foremost, the system behind bitcoin, although revolutionary, is not perfect and it's going to take some time before it is. Second, researching what you are putting your money into and analyzing trend lines is the least you can do before investing your money in anything. Simply put, if you don't understand crypto-currency or the general technology behind it then do not invest. Lastly, only invest what you are willing to lose. The markets are extremely volatile especially in these early days. If you invest $100 dollars don't expect to get it back and if you do and actually make some money you won't be disappointed.