It all started with a chart.

Not any chart, but a Bitcoin chart.

The sort of chart that gives hopes and dreams, shouts of ‘wen moon’, and thoughts of quitting the 9-5. But in the same breath, the fear of losing it all and complete rektness is ever present. The fictitious McDonalds uniform looming neatly folded on a chair in the corner of your mind.

My first Bitcoin purchase was late 2017. 

Like most people, I used Coinbase, opened an account and bought a small amount of Bitcoin. Watching the simple line chart on the coinbase app was mesmerising. Buying in November was near the end of the peak mania cycle (unbeknown to me at the time). Watching price soar soon became an addiction. Each day passed and the number was higher than the day before, my small deposit slowly growing in size... this is easy I thought, why hadn’t I done it sooner?

And more importantly, what is this Bitcoin thing actually all about?

Searching the internet for answers gave me a good start, but it also pointed me towards twitter, a social media platform I hadn’t really used much other than creating an account years previous. I logged back in to dive deeper into the magical internet money sensation that was Bitcoin

Charts, charts, charts everywhere. 

In December 2017 you couldn’t scroll your feed without seeing a price chart. Obviously this led me to tradingview, a website where you can analyse the price in greater detail than just the blue line and number that the coinbase app offered.

Colours, indicators, candles, lines, fibs and moving averages. The options were limitless, and it spurred on the addiction, a constant pull to the screen to check the price. Just one more look, another hit, number still going up, good good.

Simplicity in art has always appealed to me, and as my charts had become overly complicated with a million indicators and colours, I decided to remove it all and look at price in a simpler fashion.

When looking at price in black and white on the screen, the chart looked like a giant mountain to me. Like a massive ascent for anyone wishing to pursue the Bitcoin path.

It was at this point I created my first piece of ‘chart art’.

The area chart of the Bitcoin price created what appeared to be a giant mountain, like something out of Mordor. It reflected exactly how I felt trading Bitcoin; fear, anxiety, the unknown. Then the thought occurred to me to put a simple silhouette of a stick man jumping off the top of the current price position. It described how I felt a thousand times over in one image.

Jumping into the abyss, not knowing what I was doing, but the exhilaration and excitement of doing something new, being involved in what could be the future of money. Realizing I’d found something not many people knew about (even peak mania of 2017/2018 not many people around me knew much about Bitcoin) felt good, really good.

It sparked a curiosity I’d not felt for a long time.

I started posting my chart art on twitter, but it wasn’t until I got a retweet from notsofast that people really started to take notice. People liked my charts, which gave me motivation to make more. I did, and ever since I’ve been very active on twitter.

I also write about Bitcoin, about my journey with trading and how trading can be mentally draining and one of the most difficult things you might ever try. I do think most would be far better off just buying a certain amount of Bitcoin at predetermined intervals (dollar cost averaging). This is a far simpler way of getting exposure to Bitcoin without the difficulties and struggles of trying to trade it. The emotional struggle of trading definitely works its way into my chart art... 

I’ve made lots of friends through Bitcoin, been very creative, made and lost money, struggled and flourished at times. It has changed me, changed my view on money, the world, the way we live our lives and exchange our own time for money. How Bitcoin allows for that exchange with no middle party involved. It’s incredible really that two people anywhere in the world can exchange any amount of Bitcoin that they choose, at any point in time, for anything they so wish.