A fan played contracts last year, starting with 100,000 USDT and ended up with only 5,000, a typical case of retail trading. Every day he was trading like he was on adrenaline, making dozens of trades a day, with transaction fees exceeding his losses. Even though he was already badly in the red, he stubbornly refused to cut his losses, always believing that the bull market was just around the corner. When he saw others flaunting their wealth screenshots, he couldn't help but go all in on meme coins, only to wake up and find his account nearly wiped out. At his craziest, he was glued to the screen at 3 AM, with an ashtray piled high, eventually collapsing in his chair, questioning his life.
Later, I told him to do three things: First, stop obsessively watching the 1-minute candlesticks and just focus on the larger trends on the hourly chart or above. Limit yourself to no more than three trades a day; if you're feeling restless, hit the gym instead. Second, learn to control your position size; your first trade should not exceed 10%. If you make 20%, take half off the table, and set a stop loss on the remaining to let profits run. Cut losses immediately at 5%, don’t average down or indulge in fantasies. Third, if you experience two consecutive stop losses, shut down the computer. You must review your trades daily to understand how you lost and how you gained in each trade.
This brother gradually recovered following this advice and later asked me why no one taught him these things before. I told him the truth: Most people lose everything and still refuse to admit they are gambling. To turn things around, you first need to learn to survive; if your capital is gone, what else can you play with? Remember, discipline is more important than skill; those who get liquidated are often due to the gambler's fallacy of thinking "just hold on a bit longer and I can break even." Now, do you dare to open your trading records and see how the market treated you like a pig?
Are you stuck? When will you catch the bottom? As always, if you feel lost and helpless and don’t know what to do, like and comment. I need fans, you need references; guessing is not as good as being decisive!
