What share of your portfolio in crypto is reasonable?

1. Start from the loss, not from the upside

The usual mistake is sizing a crypto position from what it could become. Turn it around: decide the amount whose complete loss would be unpleasant but harmless — no plan cancelled, no debt taken on, no sleepless month.

That amount is your ceiling, and it is a personal number. Someone with a stable salary and a full emergency fund has a different ceiling from someone with variable income and no cushion, even at the same net worth.

2. Think in percentages, decide in percentages

An amount tells you nothing on its own. The same holding can be a rounding error or your single biggest position depending on the total it sits in — and that total is the thing most people never actually calculate.

This also matters because the percentage moves without you doing anything. A position that was a modest slice can become a dominant one after a good year, and nobody sends you a notice when it does.

3. Deciding in advance what you will do when it moves

The decision that actually protects you is not the entry, it is the rule you set for later. Writing down "if this goes above X% of my total I will trim it" while you are calm is worth more than any analysis made in the middle of a rally or a crash.

• Set a maximum weight as a percentage of your total, not as an amount.
• Decide the review frequency in advance — quarterly is plenty.
• Remember that trimming a position has tax consequences; check before you act.

4. None of this works without a real total

Every step above depends on one number: your consolidated total including everything, in one currency. If your crypto lives in an exchange app and the rest of your money lives elsewhere, that number does not exist anywhere.

FinBoard connects exchanges alongside your banks and your broker precisely so that the percentage is something you can read, not something you estimate. This is educational content, not financial advice.