Every trader has scars. Some wear them quietly. Some deny them.
Me? I put mine on the table — because each one was a tuition fee paid to the market.
I don’t regret making mistakes… but I refuse to pay the same bill twice.
Here are the ones I’ll never repeat — and maybe this spares you from paying in blood.
1️⃣ Chasing Green Candles
I used to sprint after every pump like a starving wolf.
“It’s just getting started,” I’d tell myself as I FOMO’d into the breakout.
Reality check? I wasn’t early — I was the liquidity exit for those who got in before me.
Most of those “genius entries” turned red in minutes.
Lesson: I don’t chase. I stalk. I let the market come to me — not the other way around.
2️⃣ Treating Risk Management Like an Afterthought
In my rookie arrogance, I thought stop-losses were for cowards.
“Strong hands don’t need them,” I told myself… until a single liquidation erased weeks of grinding.
That day, I learned: capital is oxygen. No oxygen, no game.
Now? Every position I take has a defined exit before I even click buy.
3️⃣ Overtrading Every Move
There was a time when I believed every candle was my candle.
I’d open ten trades in a day chasing waves that didn’t exist.
Sure, I caught a few. But the bleed from fees, exhaustion, and emotional tilt? Far worse.
Now I hunt for high-probability setups and ignore the noise. One clean win beats ten desperate swings.
4️⃣ Letting Bias Control the Chart
When bullish, I magically “found” bullish signals everywhere.
When bearish, every chart suddenly screamed collapse.
The truth? It wasn’t TA — it was my emotions with a ruler.
Bias killed more of my trades than volatility ever did.
Now I don’t bend the chart. I listen to it.
5️⃣ Pretending Market Cycles Don’t Exist
In euphoria, I swore we were going to the moon forever.
In despair, I convinced myself the market was dead.
Both illusions. Both expensive.
The market is cyclical — greed and fear rotate endlessly.
Today I trade with the cycle, not against it.
6️⃣ Refusing to Take Profits
I once sat on a 5x position, smiling like a genius.
I told myself, “Just one more leg up, then I’ll sell.”
You know how that story ends. What was once a fortune turned into a humble breakeven.
Now I scale out. Unrealized gains are just fantasies until you bank them.
7️⃣ Following Hype Instead of Truth
I used to buy because “CT was buzzing,” influencers were tweeting, and Discord was screaming “next 100x.”
That hype bought me rugs, pumps-and-dumps, and regret.
Now I don’t chase noise. I run my own numbers. I filter signal from static.
🔥 Closing Thoughts
Crypto doesn’t care about your confidence. It doesn’t care about your late-night grind or your “gut feeling.”
It only cares about discipline.
Every mistake I listed carved a scar — but scars harden you.
The mission isn’t to avoid mistakes forever.
The mission is to never repeat the same mistake twice.
Because in this game, survival isn’t just important — it is the edge.
If you’ve read this far, here’s your takeaway:
👉 Screenshot this. Tape it to your wall. When greed whispers or fear screams, read it again. Let my scars pay some of your tuition.