A SHIB Whale Missed Out on $10M Gain for Only $800K Due to Hasty Selloff

The meteoric rise of Shiba Inu (SHIB) during the 2021 bull run represented the largest price spike of its kind in the history of crypto. Its explosive growth saw many early investors secure generational wealth. 

According to CoinGecko’s analysis,  a mere $12 investment in Shiba Inu at the start of 2020 could have yielded an astonishing $1 million by late 2021 at the rally’s peak.

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A Whale’s Initial $4,000 Wager Led to Massive Gains

Among those who rode the Shiba Inu bullish wave was one investor who acquired a massive bag of tokens when the asset was still unknown. 

Blockchain data revealed that on January 31, 2021, this trader leveraged the decentralized exchange Uniswap to swap 3 Ethereum (ETH) worth nearly $4,000 for a large holding of 122.92 billion SHIB tokens.

At the time of this trade, Shiba Inu was priced at an almost negligible $0.0000000325, allowing the investor to accumulate billions of coins essentially for pennies on the dollar. 

With such a colossal stash secured for just $4,000, this trader was perfectly positioned to reap immense profits as SHIB’s value exploded. However, as the bull market heated up and Shiba Inu started its meteoric ascent, this investor made the mistake of selling off their tokens too early. 

The first sale came just three months after the initial purchase in April 2021, when they dumped 31.889 billion SHIB for 2 ETH worth around $4,600 – essentially recovering their original $4,000 investment capital.

Over the weeks and months, a series of smaller selloffs followed as the trader continued to cash out portions of their SHIB holdings for modest profits. This culminated in a large sale on May 8, 2021, where 69.8 billion SHIB was traded for 212 ETH valued at $730,000 based on prices.

While booking an impressive $800,000 in profits from an initial $4,000 wager – a staggering 19,900% return on investment – seems like a savvy trading move, this investor missed the opportunity of a lifetime.

The $10 Million Wealth Opportunity Missed Due to Hasty Selloffs

A few months later, in October 2021, Shiba Inu reached a historic all-time high of $0.00008845 per token. Had this trader held onto their full original stack of 122 billion SHIB, the holdings would have been worth a mind-boggling $10.8 million at the peak.

Despite SHIB’s pullback from those lofty highs, the tokens still maintain a current price of around $0.00002688 as of April 2024. At this valuation, the trader’s 122 billion SHIB would be valued at over $3.3 billion – a sum that makes the $800,000 profit secured seem like a drop in the bucket.

This particular case demonstrates the immense wealth-generation potential that crypto can have. While taking some profits is always prudent, excessive profit-taking by cashing out too early can lead to missing out on life-altering gains.