# Cycle Trading
Hopefully you now have a greater understanding of how the crypto market cycles. Why is this important? Well, look at this stat:
If you bought $100 of bitcoin 10 years ago, you would have about 1 bitcoin, worth around $70000 dollars today:
However, if you bought $100 of bitcoin 10 years ago, and then sold at the top of each bull market and bought back in at the bottom of each bear market, you would have about 80 bitcoin, worth over 5 million dollars today. This is called cycle trading, and can offer highly lucrative returns:
Now, granted this is very easy for me to take a historical chart and circle the highs and lows of each cycle. However, knowing what we learnt before about how the crypto market moves in cycles, it can be quite predictable and easy to time if we integrate our knowledge of dollar cost averaging.
Putting everything we have learnt together, this is how to *profitably* **cycle trade**:
1. Buy crypto in the *bear markets,* which typically occur around 1 year before each halving. Use *dollar cost averaging* to make your buys. This is when nobody is talking about crypto, and you begin to hear people telling you “its over” and its “a scam.”
2. Sell crypto in the *bull markets,* which typically occur around 12-18 months after each halving. Use *dollar cost averaging* to time your sells. This is when everybody is talking about crypto, and its all you every hear.
1. Using our [knowledge ](/the-crypto-bible/investing/when-to-buy-when-to-sell/flow-of-money-during-a-bullrun.md)of how the money flows in and out, sell your bitcoin first, then your altcoins, descending in size.
3. Repeat
Note: If you are reading this during a *bull market,* which is more than likely, do not be afraid! In fact, you are in a great position, as *bull markets* offer the most opportunity to make money from [Airdrops ](/the-crypto-bible/airdrops/what-are-airdrops.md)and [Memecoin Trading](/the-crypto-bible/memecoin-trading/overview.md), which are the best options for low budget investors. Full guides on them are available further on!
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