The night before last, I got up at 4 o'clock to go to the bathroom and habitually opened my phone in the dark to check the cryptocurrency market. I saw that a good friend had sent several WeChat messages and made a few voice and video calls.

I opened a long contract for 2500 Ether, with an opening price of 2056 and a liquidation price of 1576. On the eve of Black Monday, the cryptocurrency market crashed ahead of time, with Ether dropping 17%. When I opened my phone, the Ether price I saw was 1616, just 40 dollars away from liquidation!!!

He started going long on Ether when it was at 3500, buying more as it fell, and buying more as it continued to fall, investing a total of 2.7 million U. Now he only has 200,000 U left. He always believes he has a lot of funds off the exchange to average down, thinking he can never get liquidated.

Yesterday afternoon, he came to discuss the next strategy with me. He frowned because he hadn't rested well the night before and was under a lot of mental stress, his weary eyes reflecting unwillingness and regret.

My advice to him was to stop averaging down, to pull back from the cliff, protect his capital, and turn back while there's still time. He has another 2 million U off the exchange, and he should buy into Bitcoin spot in batches, using time to gain space; otherwise, no matter how strong his off-exchange earning ability is, he would still be liquidated to zero.

He took my advice, with a liquidation price of 1505. The current price is 1551, and he holds 2560 Ether. If this position is going to be liquidated, then let it be; he won’t average down anymore.

While we were eating, Ether dipped again, hitting a low of 1412, and his ten times leveraged long position was inevitably liquidated to zero. Although 2.7 million U is just a part of his total assets, not too big or too small, and he still has strong earning potential, his hand trembled a bit at the moment of complete loss. He looked at his phone in silence for ten seconds, then calmed down and said he actually felt relieved. It's no wonder he is someone who has been through storms.

As of now, Ether has risen back to 1610. Back and forth, the price of the coin hasn’t changed, but the position is gone. I consider myself one of the people who brought him into the crypto world, and we have agreed that once he recovers from this contract, he will let me manage it for him, investing in Bitcoin regularly, while I protect his principal and take a certain profit share.

You ask me if I feel regret? Of course, I feel regret.
You ask me if I feel remorse? I believe that even if I had to do it all over again, I would still give the same advice. Although spending 2.7 million U in real money to stay away from contracts for a lifetime is a hefty price, looking at the long road ahead over decades, I think it’s worth it.

I have seen an internal data shared by a friend from an exchange, stating that over 99% of contract users will get liquidated within three months.

In contract trading, you either die directly or enjoy it for a while and then end up with no burial place.