everything and making money somehow. But even at first glance, it is clear that there are divisions and specializations within it. For example, the rapid growth of the cryptocurrency market has largely been driven by hodlers – those who invest for the long term. Hodlers buy and hold promising coins for months or even years, betting on their future growth. It's a fairly easy task if you can afford to freeze a certain amount of money for several years and have a lot of patience. Between 2017 and 2023, Bitcoin managed to rise in price to $20,000, fall to $4,000, rise again to $60,000, and then sink again. But in any case, this is not a way to make money for a young man – the pace of trading is too slow.
With the development of the cryptocurrency market, more and more exchanges have appeared where you can buy or sell certain coins or make money by changing their rates. Crypto exchanges usually operate independently of each other, so, from time to time, arbitrage situations arise – when quotes for the same currency pair on different trading platforms differ significantly. Therefore, you can buy a coin on one exchange, sell it simultaneously on another, and make a profit without any exchange rate risk.
You can also resell funds deposited on the exchange – a practice called P2P arbitrage. Unfortunately, in real life, everything is more complicated than in theory: you can easily lose money during the technical stages.
When I came back from the military, my friend told me about crypto and suggested getting into arbitrage. I didn't understand what kind of work it really was at the time, but I agreed. In short, it involves buying, say, a dollar for a cryptocurrency cheaper on one website and selling it for a higher price on another. The difference is your profit. Technically, it is not trading, but a routine – transfers, processing payments, withdrawing, and depositing funds on exchanges, unfreezing blocked funds, and checking for erroneous payments. This kind of work is exhausting, although it gives an excellent understanding of how exchanges and payment systems work. I quit arbitrage when I lost almost all my earnings to scammers. I understand it was inevitable in such a business, but it was morally and financially challenging.
Another way to make relatively easy money in the cryptocurrency market is called ambassadorship. In simple terms, this is an attempt to take advantage of the promotional efforts of new projects. When a new coin enters the market, its organizers try to maximize the number of users literally handing out free coins to everyone under certain conditions. Some people monitor announcements of new projects, collect coins, and try to sell them later. In some ways, such a business is like collecting samples in perfume stores – it's free, but with a lot of fuss and little benefit.
In 2018–2019, my friend and I set up a small 'farm' of a hundred accounts – we tried to make money off new projects. When a new cryptocurrency project comes out, the organizers recruit 'ambassadors', handing out coins for promotional purposes. We were about to become such ambassadors. But the income turned out to be law, and my friend and I had completely different views on this work – I took it more seriously, and he saw it as a hobby. We parted ways, but I remained interested in crypto. At the same time, I was biased towards traders – how do they make money? They look at their charts and do something, but what exactly? besides, there is a lot of advertising in the market for 'info gurus' who just pretend to make money and sell their products which they do not understand themselves. How do we understand where the honest profits are? And then I saw a vacancy for a 'trader', which means they would train me and hire me – why not try it?
We decided that cryptocurrency trading is the most suitable specialization for Arseniy. It closely resembles the operations of traditional exchanges – currency, stocks, or commodities – by combining psychology, analytics, and computer technologies. I believe the success and rapid growth of cryptocurrency platforms can be attributed to this similarity. What fundamentally distinguishes trading oil futures from trading bitcoin? In both cases, there is no actual supply, the price is determined by the balance of supply and demand. The timelines, tasks and profits are similar as well. It is also important to note that the skills required trade successfully in the cryptocurrency market are the same as those required of a trader in the stock market or Forex.
In other words, becoming a holder can make you rich but it won't give you a new career. By becoming a trader, you are learning one of the world's most exciting and highly paid professions, and you can eventually move on to trading securities or traditional futures.
Interestingly, there is also a reverse movement – many successful crypto traders came to this market from the traditional segments. They started their careers on Forex or stock exchanges, gradually accumulated knowledge of successful trading and understood how exchanges work and how to make money on global events. Then, they transferred their skills to a similar field – the cryptocurrency market.
Many market participants come from scientific and engineering backgrounds and tend to apply the methods of the 'exact' sciences. For example, they try to filter out market noise to get a clear signal about the beginning of a new trend. Such approaches can be helpful, but they cannot be used to build an automatic trading system since the market does not obey the laws of physics. Prices reflect the psychology of the crowd, which is subject to entirely different, much less precise laws.
A significant advantage of trading is its accessibility. To start trading, you don't need to invest much money, pass exams or get approval from any regulator. As in chess, knowing and following the rules is enough, but no one cares how you end up at the chessboard.
I came to the trading field probably like many others: through advertising. I saw an offer to buy a robot that would make money for you on Forex. My friend bought a working algorithm and convinced me to make a deposit. That meant, while we are engaged in other business, the algorithm would earn us money. And in the end, we lost everything for sure. As I watched the robot drain my deposit for three months, I began to wonder why it was happening. I thought about what needed to be reconfigured in the algorithm and what could be done differently. And I started to delve into this area, study the market, read books. And then I started trading myself.
From the age of 12, Arseniy became interested in understanding the workings of exchanges. He browsed websites, analyzed charts, and tried to figure out how everything worked. By the age of 13, he already had his accounts on three exchanges – Binance[1], Bitfinex[2] and Bybit[3]. This was the start of Arseniy's trading career.
Enjoying one's job requires more than just a high-income. It is essential for a person, especially a young one, to pursue their passions: mathematics, physics, and programming (in Arseniy's case). It's worth noting that trading has had only a positive impact on his academic performance. And this is not surprising, since he's constantly applied his school knowledge while practicing exchange trading.
In any business you start, the most important thing is motivation. It must be there. For students, the motivation to take up trading usually consists of three parts. First, they have a favorite school subject – mathematics – and they love, say, mathematical analysis. Second, at this age there are usually no alternative sources of income, and this might become one if they are not lazy. And third, they get a new profession in which they can find themselves later.
Perhaps the interest for something like programming determined the choice of the first teacher – D[4]. In practice, trading cryptocurrencies the way D did meant using algorithms he developed, the basis of which he did not disclose. The training included working on Bitfinex,
Binance is a blockchain and infrastructure provider for thecryptocurrency industry (online digital currency exchange service) with a suite of products including digital asset trading, investment, decentralisation and infrastructure solutions, research, education and other areas. Founded in 2017.
Bitfinex is an online cryptocurrency exchange service owned by iFinex Inc. headquartered in Hong Kong but registered in the British Virgin Islands. Founded in 2012 as a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency trading platform.
Bybit is a cryptocurrency exchange founded in 2018.
Crypto trading professors often hide behind pseudonyms. Out of respect for their choice, we will also designate them with initials only.
