You often hear people say, "Lock up your BTC for ten years and you're locking in your future"—assuming that by then it rises to ten million per coin, holding one coin now would mean you’ll have millions in the future. Does this logic sound familiar? It’s basically the same as those finance bloggers who say, “Invest two hundred thousand in index funds now, and by sixty you’ll be sitting on millions.”

If they’re so convinced, shouldn’t the people urging you to lock up your coins be holding even more themselves? What’s the reality? Many of them are actually reducing their own holdings, but still desperately push the “never sell” narrative on you, without any regard for your personal situation or risk tolerance.

Why are they so insistent that “not selling is king”? Frankly, it’s all hindsight—they look at today’s price gains and regret selling early in the past. But that's their story, not yours, and so-called “belief” is often just a way to avoid thinking for yourself. Think about it: when they said “keep dollar-cost averaging through the bear market, don’t worry about price,” did you really follow through?

Ultimately, locking up coins is just about being afraid you’ll get itchy fingers—either you’ll swap for altcoins and lose big, sell and spend the money carelessly, or invest elsewhere and miss out on future gains. But for those who are already steady-minded, keeping coins in cold storage and accumulating slowly, whether you lock or not doesn’t matter; if you just can’t control yourself, even forced lock-up won’t help—unless, in the process, you truly understand that “locking or not locking is essentially the same.”

There’s also a more practical question: what if you don’t live another ten years? Does locking your coins still make sense? Or, because you’ve got BTC as a safety net, you end up taking bigger risks with your other money and lose even more—what then?

The real key to whether or not to sell depends on what you want. If you’re already financially free, BTC is just part of your portfolio, and not selling in a bull market is fine. But if you’re not free yet, and you still need to make money and grow, then selling in a bull market and buying in a bear is the right rhythm—even if you occasionally sell too early or can’t buy back in, that's part of the learning curve. As long as you don’t blow the money or dive into altcoin pits, you’re on the right track.

The people who make real progress are usually those who reflect after they’ve lost money. Once you find the method that suits you, making money is only a matter of time.