The bear market in the cryptocurrency world in 2018 still makes me shudder to think about. At that time, I had 200,000 as my principal, and like an ignorant gambler, I dove right in. I heard people say, 'When prices drop a lot, it's time to buy the dip,' so I recklessly went all in on a meme coin. But just a few days after buying, the price dropped by 30%. Watching the constantly shrinking numbers in my account, I panicked, feeling cold all over, and without thinking much, I cut my losses, tasting the bitter fruit of 'buying the dip' for the first time. Later, I chased after 'hot concepts,' excitedly increasing my position at a 5% rise, always afraid of missing out on a doubling opportunity; but once it dropped by 2%, I got scared and liquidated my position overnight, fearing I would be stuck. In this cycle of 'buying high and selling low,' in less than six months, my 200,000 principal was reduced to only 80,000.

My wife sat beside me, gently advising, 'If it really doesn't work, just don't do it. Let's work steadily, and the money will come back slowly.' But I clenched my phone and bit my teeth, refusing to relent—I knew that what I was losing at that moment was not just money, but also a sense of pride. If I retreated now, I would probably never get over this hurdle in my life.

From that day on, I repeatedly reviewed my past operations, and gradually, I began to discern some 'simple rules' from those once incomprehensible curves.

Now, my trading system has only three unbreakable iron rules:

First, before opening a position, I must set a mandatory stop-loss line of 2%. No matter how optimistic I feel about the market at that moment, as long as it hits the stop-loss point, I immediately close the position and exit.

Second, leverage is always controlled within 3 times. After experiencing a loss of more than half of my principal, I finally understood that high leverage may seem to amplify returns, but it is actually a double-edged sword—one mistake can wipe out all gains.

Third, I only trade on weekly trend levels. I used to watch minute and daily charts frequently, always thinking I could catch every small fluctuation, but I ended up losing more due to frequent trading. Now I simply ignore fluctuations below the daily chart and follow the weekly trend, which reduces a lot of unnecessary interference.

Now I operate no more than three times a month. My trading frequency has decreased, but my win rate has increased from 30% to 70%. At this point, I truly understand: preserving capital is never about being conservative, but about leaving a seed for my future self to continue growing. @Air 安叔