From $50,000 to $8,000, I relied on 3 iron rules to recover in the cryptocurrency market: Don’t wait until all the money is lost to understand; stability is the fastest way.

When I stared at the balance of $7,862.3 in my account, I threw my phone on the sofa — the text about my third liquidation felt like an obituary, with the principal of $50,000 (that was what I saved from 3 years of driving for ride-hailing, originally planned to replace appliances for my parents) reduced to a fraction, and the green waterfall on the K-line chart felt like slaps to my face.

That day at 3 AM, I stared at BTC’s 4-hour chart, my eyes red like a rabbit. The long position with 10 times leverage was being forcibly liquidated, and the 'teacher' in the group was still shouting, 'Don't be afraid, this is just a washout,' but my position had already started flashing a red warning. I even thought about rushing in another $5,000 to 'average down', until my phone vibrated with a message from my mother: 'It's cold now; remember to find that thick coat to wear.'

Suddenly woke up.

What am I even doing? For an elusive 'dream of getting back my money', I lost the money meant for replacing my parents' refrigerator and stayed up like a ghost — at that moment, I deleted all 'insider groups', uninstalled the market-watching software, and decided to relearn how to 'trade coins properly'.

After my first liquidation, I locked myself in my room for 3 days and concluded that 80% of the losses came from 'three words'.

The first step to recovery is not to find a bull coin, but to face how foolish I have been.

I dug out my trading records from the past six months, and the Excel sheet spanned a full 3 pages:

Out of 27 operations, 22 were 'chasing highs and cutting losses' — rushing in when ETH rose 5% and cutting losses when it fell 3%, with transaction fees exceeding the profits.

I opened over 5 times leverage 15 times, of which 10 times were 'based on what was said in the group about a surge', without even looking at the K-line.

The dumbest time was under the 'death cross' pattern of SOL; because I 'thought it could rebound', I changed the stop-loss line from $100 to $90, and in the end, it fell to $80 and liquidated, losing $12,000.

The more I looked, the more cold sweat I broke out: it turned out that I was not trading coins, but giving money to the market. The root of all losses actually comes from three words — emotional.

When it rises, I get greedy, always thinking 'it can rise another 10%'; the result is profits turn into losses; when it falls, I panic, clearly setting a stop-loss but always thinking 'wait a bit, I’ll sell on the rebound', and I end up deeper in trouble.

Three iron rules for recovery: I rely on these 3 tricks, rolling $8,000 back to $30,000, now I dare to challenge the manipulators.

After turning off all distractions, I set 3 strict rules for myself; even if I miss 10 opportunities, I will never make exceptions:

1. Split the money into '5 equal parts', with no single position exceeding 20% — use small losses to gain the right to survive.

With the remaining $8,000, I divided it into 5 parts, each part $1,600. I told myself: 'Even if this $1,600 is lost, there are still 4 parts to recover.'

The first time I used this method was when BTC retraced to $28,000. I only bought a 10% position ($800), setting a stop-loss at $26,500 (losing 5%). As a result, it dropped to $27,000 that day, and the group was full of 'buy the dip' voices, but I held my ground — sure enough, three days later it dropped to $26,000, my stop-loss didn’t trigger (off by $500), but if I had gone all in at that moment, I would have been liquidated.

Later, when BTC rebounded to $32,000, I sold half at $31,000, earning (31000-28000)/28000 * 800U = 85.7U. Although it's not much, this was my first time 'steadily making money' in half a year, without staying up late, without panic.

Core: The smaller the position, the steadier the mindset; as long as you can survive, you have the chance to wait for a big market.

2. Only trade 'familiar coins', no matter how tempting an unfamiliar market is, don’t touch it — earn money within your capability circle.

Before liquidation, I dared to buy any coin: when others said 'a certain altcoin is going to be listed', I rushed in; when I saw 'new public chain airdrop', I snatched it. As a result, 90% were just schemes to cut the leeks.

Now I only focus on 3 coins: BTC, ETH, SOL— all of which I have tracked for over 3 years and can understand their support and resistance levels.

For example, when ETH surged to $2,000, the group shouted 'breaking the previous high', but I knew that $2,050 was a dense area of trapped positions from last year, so I decisively took profits at $1,980. Later, it indeed surged to $2,040 and then pulled back, and those who chased the high were trapped again.

Core: There are so many opportunities in the cryptocurrency world that you can't earn them all, but your principal can be lost completely. Protecting your own small piece of land is 10 times safer than going wild everywhere.

3. Treat the 'stop-loss line' as a lifeline; when it's time to run, don’t ask why — discipline is 100 times more important than analysis.

This is the lesson I learned from the most losses.

Now every time I open a position, I will first write down the stop-loss level on paper (for example, buying SOL at $0.22, the stop-loss is set at $0.20), telling myself: 'This is the red line given by the market; if it touches, I must go.'

One time SOL fell to $0.205, just $0.005 away from the stop-loss; my palms were sweaty, and I almost manually changed the stop-loss. But remembering the previous experience of 'losing $5,000 because I waited 5 minutes', I gritted my teeth and did nothing. As a result, 10 minutes later, it directly dropped to $0.19; my order automatically stopped out, losing only 10%, while those who didn’t set stop-loss lost at least 30%.

Core: Stop-loss is not surrender; it is to protect the principal and wait for the next opportunity. Remember: there is no market that 'must rebound' in the cryptocurrency world, but there is discipline that 'must stop-loss'.

Now I have: an account back to $30,000, more importantly, I can sleep well.

From $8,000 to $30,000, it took me 6 months. There were no miracles of doubling in a single day; the most I made in a single week was 20%, but every cent was earned solidly — no more staying up late watching the market, no more panicking at the news, and I can even chat about the market while walking with my parents.

A few days ago, I replaced the old refrigerator at home. My mother touched the fridge and said, 'The technology is really advanced now.' I didn’t say that the money came from trading coins; I just felt solid — this is what trading coins should be like: it is a tool, not a gambling table; the goal is to improve life, not to get rich overnight.

If you are also struggling in a deep position, don’t follow my previous way of 'going all in to gamble'. Try these 3 iron rules: small positions to experiment, protect your capability circle, and treat stop-loss as a lifeline.

Remember: no matter how ruthless the market manipulators are, they can't cut off those who are 'not greedy and disciplined.' What we want is not to violently oppose the manipulators, but to outlive them, and when they make mistakes, we can steadily take over.

Follow Brother Rui, tomorrow I will show you my trading record screenshots, from liquidation orders to profitable ones, each one carries a lesson. Let’s slowly recover together, earning back what we lost — the market for $BTC is still there, as long as you are willing to stop, adjust your pace, and set off again.