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Who is Chris? The trader behind ChartLab

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I'm Chris. I got into crypto eight years ago, and for the first four I did almost everything wrong. This page is the short version of how I got here.

AI-generated portrait made to look like Chris, the ChartLab instructor, in front of his trading screens

This portrait was generated to look a lot like me. For my family's safety, I keep my real face off the internet and stay as anonymous as I can. Too many people who show their face and their money online end up targeted.

How it started: DOGE and a rule that didn't exist

My first buy was DOGE. I was dreaming of a 1000x. I stayed away from Bitcoin because I was convinced you had to buy one whole coin. So I sat on the same few coins for four years, all the way to the 2021 top. That's when I found out you can buy a fraction of a Bitcoin. Yes, it took me four years.

At the top, I kept everything. Then 2022 came, and I watched it all melt back down. I never sold.

What changed

That crash changed me. I didn't want to watch my money move ever again without understanding why. At the same time I got hooked on what Bitcoin actually is: how it was born, decentralization, a system built outside the system, and a value most people still don't recognize.

So I started reading charts myself. From there, I finished four years in a row positive, reading my own charts. Not every trade. The years.

The mistake I'm not proud of

Then I did the one thing I now teach against. Near the top, I wanted to switch my brain off so I wouldn't miss the move. I followed the calls of a creator who presented himself as a certified professional financial analyst. I lost 33% of my account.

Two lessons I teach from day one

1. Never hand over your reading. If you don't understand a trade, you don't take it. A title or a certificate on someone's profile changes nothing.

2. FOMO is the most expensive feeling in trading. The fear of missing the top made me stop thinking, right when I needed to think the most.

ChartLab is the method I went back to after that.

What I trade today

  • Bitcoin, mostly swing trades, from a few days to a few weeks

  • A few altcoins I believe in, like ETH, SOL or TAO

  • Gold and the big US tech names, the Magnificent Seven

I read all of them the same way: Bitcoin first, because Bitcoin leads.

Outside the charts

I'm a dad, so I'm not in front of a screen 24/7, and my method doesn't ask you to be either. I'm also a gamer and a Pokémon card collector. Nostalgia pulled me back into collecting in 2021, and the 151 set is the one I love most. That's what you'll see behind me on camera. On PC I play strategy games and realistic shooters like Escape from Tarkov. Those games punish rushing. Precision and patience win. Trading works the same way.

ChartLab is educational content, not financial advice. Trading crypto carries a high risk of loss. My past results are not a promise of yours.

Chris, ChartLab