Staring at the balance of $7862.3 in my account, I threw my phone onto the sofa — the third liquidation message felt like an obituary, my $50,000 principal (saved for 3 years driving ride-hailing, originally meant to replace my parents' appliances) was reduced to this small amount. The green waterfall on the K-line chart felt like slaps on my face.
That day at 3 AM, I was staring at the 4-hour chart of BTC, my eyes red like a rabbit. My long position with 10x leverage was being liquidated, and the 'teacher' in the group was still shouting 'Don't be afraid, this is just a washout', but my position was already flashing a red warning. I even thought about adding another $5000 to 'average down', until my phone buzzed — it was my mother: 'It's getting cold, remember to take out that thick coat to wear.'
Suddenly woke up.
What was I doing? For the illusory 'dream of breaking even', I lost the money meant for replacing my parents' refrigerator and was suffering like a ghost. At that moment, I deleted all 'insider groups', uninstalled the trading software, and decided to relearn 'how to trade crypto properly'.
After being liquidated: 80% of losses were due to being 'emotional'.
The first step to recovery is not to find the next hot coin, but to face how foolish you have been.
I pulled out my trading records from the past six months, which filled 3 pages in Excel:
Out of 27 trades, 22 were 'chasing gains and cutting losses' — jumping in when ETH rose by 5%, cutting when it fell by 3%, paying more in fees than I earned;
15 times I opened positions with over 5x leverage, 10 times I acted on 'hearsay in the group that it would surge', without even looking at the K-line;
The dumbest time, even though the SOL K-line pattern was clearly bad, I 'felt it could rebound', so I changed my stop loss from $100 to $90, and it eventually dropped to $80 and got liquidated, losing $12,000.
The more I looked, the more I broke into a cold sweat: it turned out I wasn't trading crypto, I was giving money to the market. The root of all my losses can be summed up in three words — emotional.
When prices rise, I become greedy, always thinking 'it can still rise by 10%', resulting in profits turning into losses; when prices drop, I panic, clearly setting a stop loss, yet I want to 'wait a bit longer, it will rebound', and in the end, I get trapped deeper.
The 3 iron rules for recovery: I relied on these 3 tricks to roll $8000 back to $30,000.
After turning off all distractions, I set 3 strict rules for myself, even if I miss 10 opportunities, I will never make exceptions:
1. Divide the money into '5 equal parts', never let a single position exceed 20% — use small losses to exchange for survival.
With the remaining $8000, I divided it into 5 parts, each part $1600. I told myself: 'Even if I lose this $1600, I still have 4 parts to recover.'
The first time I used this method was when BTC corrected to $28000. I only bought a 10% position ($800), setting a stop loss at $26500 (a 5% loss). That day it dropped to $27000, and the group was full of 'buying the dip' voices, but I stayed put — 3 days later it really dropped to $26000, and my stop loss was not triggered (just $500 away), if I had gone all in then, I would have been liquidated.
Later, BTC rebounded to $32000, and I sold half at $31000, earning $85.7. Although it wasn't much, it was the first time in half a year that I 'made steady profits', without staying up late or feeling anxious.
Core: The smaller the position, the steadier the mindset; being alive gives you the chance to wait for big market movements.
2. Only trade 'familiar coins', no matter how enticing the market is, do not touch — earn money within your ability zone.
Before being liquidated, I dared to buy any coin: if others said 'a certain altcoin is going to the exchange', I would jump in; if I saw 'new blockchain airdrop', I would grab it. In the end, 90% were just scams.
Now I only focus on 3 coins: BTC, ETH, SOL — all of which I have tracked for over 3 years, knowing roughly where they might rebound or stall.
For example, when ETH surged to $2000, the group shouted 'breaking previous high', but I knew $2050 was a dense area of trapped positions from last year, so I decisively took profits at $1980. Later, it indeed surged to $2040 then retraced, and those who chased the high got trapped again.
Core: There are countless opportunities in the crypto market to earn, but your principal can be wiped out. Protecting your own small territory is 10 times safer than wandering around to hunt.
3. Treat the 'stop loss line' as a lifeline, run when the time is up, don't ask why — discipline is 100 times more important than analysis.
This is the lesson I learned by trading away the most losses.
Now every time I open a position, I first write the stop loss level on a piece of paper (for example, if buying SOL at $0.22, set stop loss at $0.20), telling myself: 'This is the red line given by the market; if it touches, I must leave.'
Once SOL dropped to $0.205, just $0.005 away from my stop loss, my palms were sweating, and I almost manually changed the stop loss. But I remembered my previous experience of 'because I waited for 5 minutes, I saved $5000', so I gritted my teeth and did nothing. Ten minutes later, it plummeted to $0.19, and my position automatically stopped out, losing only 10%, while those who didn't set stop losses lost at least 30%.
Core: Stop loss is not giving up, it's to preserve the principal for the next opportunity. Remember: there is no 'must rebound' market in crypto, but there is a 'must stop loss' discipline.
Now I am: my account has returned to $30,000, more importantly, I can sleep well.
From $8000 to $30,000, it took me 6 months. There were no miracles of doubling in a single day, the most I earned in a week was 20%, but every cent was earned securely — no more late-night chart watching, no more anxiety from news, and I could even stroll with my parents and chat about the market.
A few days ago, I replaced the refrigerator at home, and my mother touched it and said, 'The technology is really advanced now.' I didn’t mention that the money came from trading crypto, I just felt secure — this is what trading crypto should look 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 deep losses, don't follow my initial 'all-in gamble'. Try these 3 iron rules: small positions for trial and error, protect your ability zone, and treat stop loss as a lifeline.
Remember: no matter how fierce the whales in the crypto market are, they cannot cut off 'non-greedy and disciplined' people. What we want is not to violently attack the whales, but to outlive them, and when they make mistakes, we can steadily take over.
One tree cannot make a forest, and a lone sail cannot sail far! In the crypto market, if you don't have a good circle, and lack first-hand news, then I suggest you follow me, I will help you reach the shore, welcome to join the team!!!
