How much do you need to be financially free?
I saw this insane tweet today and felt disappointed, hurt, pained, and sad. It was about a trader who was up $85M in profit, and didn't take profit, until they lost all the money.
Apparently, this guy was a trader, going long and short, and rode his way up to $85 million. Now I am trying to make excuses for this guy, because doing so will justify why he made so much money and did not take it.
The only justifiable excuse was that he was already financially independent and did not need money. Why? Being financially free allows you to take risks, particularly those that are frightening but potentially mind-bending (in terms of money) so it's not always all about risk without reward
🚨 BREAKING 🚨
— Crypto Beast (@cryptobeastreal) May 28, 2025
After being up +$85m a week prior, this trader is now down below $0, meaning he’s down on his initial investment.
1000 years of generational wealth destroyed in a few days.
Welcome to crypto. pic.twitter.com/2lIiELPuU4
The ability to take risk is one of the most rewarding things in life, and there's probably no one who has made it in life that hasn't taken risks that makes them seem crazy.
Holding to zero
Holding a coin or an asset to -80% is one of those crazy decisions, but when the project is solid and a person has the conviction, then maybe these risks are going to be rewarding. However we all know how stressful crypto can be.
It is easier to think about it than to actually do it. A lot people stay away from trading even though they know it can be potentially rewarding, why?
The emotional stress can be really bad, this is why many will just prefer to buy Bitcoin and hold it. To be able to make $85M from trading will take a lot of skills, and we must understand that this person is an absolutely skillful and knowledgeable person. Could it be that this person become overconfident?
Perhaps this is what I will call it—maybe this person became overconfident in their abilities and lost $85 million.
Secure the bag
I do not even want to know if they are financially free.
They could have taken a profit at some point, but put some of it in BTC and some in alts, take a large chunk of that profit out of their trading account, and they could easily walk away with $300 to $400 million at the end of the bull run. But what do I know?
They say that poor people are unfit to provide financial advice to wealthy people. That is something I have heard repeatedly.
A genius is not always wise
Being a trading genius doesn't really guarantee anything in this space.
This guy was on the verge of securing generational wealth with a few key decisions, and he ended up losing everything. Perhaps this person already secured a lot of millions and weren't worried about losing, but what are the odds that they could traded profit to $500M? It is possible, but the chances are slim, and they have now lost all of their money, including their initial investment.
So, what are the chances that this person is not thinking about suicide right now?
Whether we like it or not, they may have missed out on the opportunity to retire their families this cycle; perhaps there will be more opportunities for them, perhaps not, but this is likely to be one of the worst mistakes in crypto history.
In this space (crypto), many people will fumble with their opportunities to profit; profits that can serve as a start-up fund to help them get started.
This wouldn't be because they didn't get their hands on profits, but they'll end as losers because they didn't have the right knowledge, they were too greedy or they lose themselves in the abundance mindset that most people get drunk in whenever it's a bull run.
This space is chaotic, and greed is most likely one of the reasons why the four-year cycle will continue to activate and follow patterns, regardless of what BTC maximalists believe.
This is probably a lesson for everyone in the space. It is easier said than done, and despite all of these lessons and motivation, many people will continue to make the same mistakes. What a sad day for a degen!
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Losing 85M doesn't matter and you can afford to lose them only if you are CRonaldo or Trump or people like that otherwise it's just an excuse, even if you are financially free earning 5k$ a month, 85M is life change, he just couldn't admit he has been dumb 🤣
You're right. However I know that a lot of first worlders might not agree that 85M equals financial freedom, but I think I agree with you say the person has fumbled their one-time opportunity to become financially free.
Even CRONALDO will see 85M$ as a lot of money. So truly there were dumb and might never get an opportunity as this again.
It's his loss and I believe he alone knows why he didn't take the profit.
I'm not a trader so I can't say.
But oga o, it's really a pity to lose such an amount.
That's a lot of money. The person could have retired all his family members with that amount of money, unfortunately they just lost all that.
some risk are really not meant to be risked but it sometimes depends on their financial status that can determine the action taken.
He may be a wealthy man already, so yes, that's why..
https://www.reddit.com/r/Economics/comments/1kykayp/how_much_do_you_need_to_be_financially_free/
This post has been shared on Reddit by @uwelang through the HivePosh initiative.
There will always be some risk, but I don't know what that guy was doing by not locking in some profits. It doesn't seem like a good idea to put all that money into one bag. Making that much money required quite a bit of work so I guess he was just too overconfident.
I agree that he got too overconfident. His name on Twitter is James Wynn, and I forgot his handle now. Funny thing is that everyone seems to be laughing at him for losing all that generational wealth.
Going from "zero" to 85m and then back to zero must be painful. As a trader, imagine the self-doubts going forward, even as a skillful one. I don't know the story, but he might very well need to start doing something else, because it is something one might not recover from, more than financially.
I heard they've started trading again, and lost another $3M, the person is probably a whale and loves gambling more than taking profit
Someone who doesn't take profit at 85m and then, after losing everything and making 3m again, doesn't take profit, probably doesn't need money... As you said, he may treat this a gambling.
I've been taking a lot at the twitter account of this fellow and he's been doing a lot of damage control by saying he was chasing billions in dollars and not millions instead.
Without an initial significant investment? That's gambling, for sure, no matter how good he is!
A lesson for me here, actually. That was a massive profit but just like you said in end part - greediness sometimes contributes to mistakes like this. Crypto space is chaotic and I hope the victim is okay at the moment because in such a situation, people can commit suicide especially when the feeling of guilt robs on them. This is a lesson for us 👌