When I first started trading cryptocurrencies, like many others, I would monitor news during the day and stay up late at night watching the charts, chasing highs and cutting losses, hardly ever getting a good night's sleep. At that time, my emotions were running high; I was afraid of giving back my profits when I made money and unwilling to accept losses, always hoping to make it back with the 'next trade.' The result was that my account kept getting smaller, and my emotions kept crashing.
Eventually, I forced myself to change my mindset and treat trading as a 'job': opening the market on time every day, conducting regular reviews, executing according to strategy, not relying on feelings, and not chasing hot trends. Gradually, I stabilized my rhythm; now the returns, though not as exciting, are consistent and stable, with an annualized return controlled at around 50%.
I summarize a few experiences I have gained after stepping into pitfalls during actual trading to share with beginners—these are truly lessons learned from real trading losses:
1. Start trading after 9 PM
During the day, news is chaotic, and the market is easily influenced by news, especially with a lot of false information.
I prefer to check the market after 9 PM; by that time, news has mostly settled, and the technical aspects are clearer. For me, this makes trading more rational and increases the win rate.
2. Take out a portion when you make a profit.
Don't fantasize about doubling every trade. For example, if I make 1000 U today, I will directly withdraw 300 U to my bank account and continue to compound the rest.
The inability to control the desire to 'make a bit more' is the root cause of many people losing their profits.
3. Use indicators to speak, not feelings.
Feelings are the most unreliable basis for decision-making.
I use TradingView to check three things:
Check MACD for golden cross/dead cross
Check RSI for overbought/oversold conditions.
Check Bollinger Bands for contraction/breakout signals.
Only consider entering if there are two or more signals in agreement; otherwise, it's better to wait.
4. Stop-loss and take-profit should go hand in hand.
If I am watching the market and profits come in, I will manually adjust the stop-loss price upwards to lock in some profits.
But if I have to go out and can't watch the market, I will set a fixed stop-loss at 3% to avoid a sudden market crash.
5. Fixed withdrawals every week.
Money that is not withdrawn is just a number. Every week, I transfer 30% of my profits to my bank account and continue to roll the rest.
This habit is very important; otherwise, even if you make a profit, you might end up with nothing in the end.
6. Don't randomly switch when looking at candlestick charts.
When doing short-term trading, I only look at the 1-hour chart: pay attention to long opportunities if two consecutive bullish candles appear.
When the market lacks direction, I switch to the 4-hour chart to find key support/resistance levels before deciding whether to enter.
7. Avoid danger zones (must remember)
Leverage should not exceed 10 times; beginners should ideally keep it within 5 times.
Avoid those altcoins and junk coins; a wave could leave you with nothing.
Limit operations to a maximum of 3 times a day; frequent trading can lead to loss of control.
Never borrow money to trade cryptocurrencies, never!
Final statement:
Trading cryptocurrencies is not about impulse and luck.
If you can treat it like a job, with discipline, planning, and set take-profit and stop-loss points, making money in the long run can actually be easier.
