The real difference between holding and hodling.

Many things have been said and written about "hodling". Some people still believe that "hodl" is the acronym of the phrase "Hold On for Dear Life". Yeah, and they live among us. When I am reading this explanation at some posts, I imagine a soft woman's voice saying the phrase and at the same time a skeptical deer turns its head towards me staring me in the eyes while my inner voice sings "See these eyes so green, I can stare for a thousand years" like David Bowie did. A peaceful thought - I must say - but this is not the case and The Show Must Go On.

The word "hodl" was used for the first time by mistake from an angry drunk guy who posted on bitcointalk.org. He wanted to write "hold", but eventually he spelled the word as "hodl" and that's the whole story. But let's not be confused. Hodling doesn't mean holding and they are not synonyms.

Holding your coins is a strategy. It means that you bought some coins at an X price, and you believe that you will sell them later at a bigger price. Holding, means that you are a long term investor and you don't really care about the small fluctuations of the price in the short or the mid term. You are bying because you want to hold and sell with a big profit.

Hodling your coins, means that you bought at an X price, you want to sell them almost immediately at a bigger price for a small - usually - profit, but unfortunately, the price starts falling immediately right after you bought them. You know that you bought at a high price, and after several hours you are convinced that the price won't get as high as you want to. You are sad and desperate. Your inner voice sings Andrea Bocelli's version of "Time to Say Goodbye" and Klaus Nomi's "Total Eclipse of the Sun". And have no doubts that you are singing it with the exact Klaus Nomi's voice.

But, it's not your fault. You have heard about the "whales" and how they manipulate the prices. You get angry. The decision has been made: You won't sell not because you believe that the prices will go high, but because you don't want to give them the pleasure to buy cheap - especially from you. Lesiem's "Fundamentum" plays at the highest volume inside your head. Yeah, you don't care if you lose your money, you did it your way like Frank said and you are celebrating your decision opening a bottle of scotch, removing carefully the dust from your favorite LP, placing it on the platter of your old turntable, moving slowly the tonearm above the beginning of the record and lowering the stylus with surgical precision. Ennio Morricone plays "The Return of Ringo" and you know the lyrics by heart:

"Those who saw me as a rundown man, those who tried to destroy all our world, shall leave forever our beloved land. Because we are fearless men".

Holding shows your strategy.

Hodling shows your character.

Stratos A. for Steemit.