The trading discipline I set for myself was earned through bruises with real money.

Don't be superstitious about your fantasies; the market always calculates three steps ahead of you. I once heavily invested in a small coin, with logic that was dazzling, but the volume was as elusive as the wind at two in the afternoon—barely there. I stubbornly held until I was down 15% before I admitted defeat and left; that day I truly felt for the first time: the market isn't an opponent, it's a referee that never blows a foul.

Stop-loss is the airbag in my account. It should either be placed at the most conspicuous key level on the chart or at the loss value where my heart can still beat normally. Last year, when I opened a long position in Bitcoin, I set the stop-loss at 2% below the entry price. The moment it was triggered felt like a piece of flesh was cut away, but later the price dropped 20% in one go, and I was relieved that I didn't entertain any wishful thinking.

If you're wrong, stand at attention; don’t try to make up for losses; if you're right, sit tight; don’t disrupt profits. In the spring of 2024, I held on to Ethereum's set target; those who exited midway were slapping their thighs, while my account gained 40%—the interest from discipline is often frighteningly high.

Living long is always more attractive than making quick profits. I've seen too many meteors that multiplied tenfold in a year, only to vanish without a trace by the third year. Now I only pursue an annualized return of 20%, treating compound interest like old wine slowly brewing, which is more fragrant than any quick profit.

What trading has taught me goes far beyond making money. In the past, I treated candlesticks like life; now I know life lies in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting. Every day, after writing a page (of the Nine-Temple Palace), I play the electronic keyboard for half an hour and flip through a few old books. No matter how much my account fluctuates, my heart remains as calm as still water.

The market is a mirror that reveals your true self; if you are greedy, it shows your true form; if you are stable, it rewards you. Veteran traders say, 'I have failed in my life'; it sounds bitter, but actually, they have realized: when the pace is too fast and the soul can't keep up, it's better to step firmly into the ground.

Between knowing and doing, lies a highway that burns money. That friend of mine, who is technically outstanding, failed in small-scale fluctuations, losing 800,000 over three years, simply because he 'saw correctly but couldn't sit still.' Remember: when uncertain, missing out is cheaper than making a mistake. The fate of high-frequency traders is mostly the fertilizer of transaction fees.

If you want to live long, engrave these four sentences on your forehead:

1. Don’t let profits inflate, and don’t retaliate against losses.

2. Slow is fast, stability is profit.

3. Don't overthink; trust the system.

4. Never go all-in; black swans don’t make appointments.

When watching the market, I only focus on three things:

1. Trading volume: It must be sustained during an uptrend, and confirmed during a downtrend.

2. Key levels: draw lines with Fibonacci retracement; breaking or not breaking is a clear-cut decision.

3. Trading notes: Words won’t deceive you; reviewing them is like looking into a mirror.

4. During a cycle, only favor one coin; understanding its temperament is a hundred times safer than chasing trends.

The end of trading is to recognize oneself. If you are gentle with the market, it will be polite to you; if you want to compete with the market, it will make you understand what a dimensionality reduction attack is.

For the next market cycle, I've already mapped out the route and will focus on @小花生说币 . Let's be clear: I only travel with rule-abiding companions.