Brothers, as I type these words, my hands are still trembling uncontrollably.

Last week, a former colleague shared profit screenshots in the old buddies group, captioned 'Just playing around, made half a year’s salary.' That string of green profit numbers hooked my eyes like a bait. I stared at my savings of twenty thousand yuan that I had accumulated over two years, which was meant for rent and buying appliances, and in a moment of impulsiveness, I threw it all into digital assets that very day.

I thought I could catch the 'get rich overnight' express train, but what happened? Three days! Just exactly three days!

The moment I opened the account, my blood ran cold. The original twenty thousand yuan turned into a glaring string of 0s. There was no buffer, no room for recovery; the account went straight to zero. I slumped in my computer chair, staring blankly at the screen for an entire afternoon, feeling like my heart was hollowed out, with each breath carrying pain.

What kind of investment is this? This is clearly using your hard-earned money to 'self-harm!'

Honestly, in our line of work, haven’t we seen enough of these incidents? How many people, like me, have been fooled by the myth of 'zero threshold, high returns, hundredfold coins'? Not even understanding what blockchain is or what private keys are for, yet daring to put all their wealth All in.

It wasn’t until I completely fell that I realized the depths of the digital asset waters are deeper than the Mariana Trench! The volatility here is not something normal people can withstand; a 50% rise or fall in a single day is common. One moment, it makes you feel like you can buy a house, and the next moment, you find yourself eating instant noodles. If you can’t handle it, take my advice and don’t touch it!

This lesson bought with twenty thousand yuan, I have painstakingly summarized into four iron rules; new friends must engrave them in their bones and not walk my old path again!

First, if you don't understand the technology, don't invest money; don’t treat digital assets like a lottery.

I now regret it deeply; back then, I didn’t even understand why Bitcoin is called 'digital gold' and blindly followed the trend to buy. Later, I realized it’s valuable because of its fixed supply and ability to resist inflation; Ethereum became popular because it has smart contracts supporting its ecosystem that can deliver practical results; even USDT, which everyone thinks is 'stable,' although it is pegged to the dollar with low volatility, is not a safe box and still carries risks.

The core idea here is 'decentralization'—no one can control the entire situation, but it also means no one can help you bear the losses. At first, I didn’t understand any of this, and even the basic wallet private keys were carelessly stored in my phone's notes. Looking back, if I wasn’t cut, who would be?

Remember, the premise of investment is 'understanding the industry.' Spend three months understanding the white papers of mainstream assets and clarifying the technical logic before talking about investing money.

Second, choosing the wrong platform can make your money disappear instantly! Safety is always more important than returns.

Never be tempted by sign-up bonuses or fast withdrawals to go to those unknown small platforms! This time I didn’t get caught by a platform running away, but I’ve suffered losses from small platforms before; withdrawal fees and slow transactions are minor issues, but if the platform collapses, your funds can vanish just like that, and you won’t even have a place to file a complaint.

When choosing a platform, trust well-established firms and focus on two points: first, security measures, such as whether there is two-factor authentication and cold storage for funds, which is the baseline for protecting your money; second, fee details, including trading fees and withdrawal thresholds, which you must understand clearly. Every penny saved is your hard-earned money.

High returns are all illusions; being able to safely bring back the principal is the real skill.

Third, only use money that you won’t feel sorry about losing; never touch your emergency funds.

This is my most painful lesson! That twenty thousand yuan was intended for rent; now that money is gone, I can only eat instant noodles every day and plead with the landlord for leniency at the end of the month.

Newcomers must remember: rent, mortgage, emergency funds, living expenses—none of it should be touched! Only invest spare money, and it's best to divide this spare money into 2-3 portions, only investing in mainstream assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum. Don’t touch obscure coins with names you can't even pronounce.

Additionally, set a stop-loss line for yourself—withdraw immediately if you lose 10%; don’t hold onto the fantasy of 'waiting a bit more to buy at the bottom.' In this market, the more fantasies you have, the worse the losses will be; it specializes in dealing with various forms of disobedience.

Fourth, emotions are the number one killer; greed and fear are unacceptable.

I lost money this time; half was due to a lack of understanding, and half was due to emotional mistakes.

When a former colleague shared screenshots, I got jealous and followed suit; when someone in the group shouted, 'This is a hundredfold coin, if you don’t buy now, you’ll miss the chance,' I rushed in like crazy; when it dropped a bit on the first day, I was so anxious I couldn’t sleep, and by the third day, it crashed completely—there wasn’t even an opportunity to set a stop loss.

Now I understand, the messages in the group and the big influencers' trades are just for reference; never follow blindly. I set a rule for myself: from now on, no matter what operation I’m doing, I’ll turn off the screen and take a deep breath for half an hour, and only decide after my emotions cool down.

Greed makes you chase high prices and stand firm, fear makes you cut losses and leave the market; these two are the fatal symbols for retail investors!

As I write this, my eyes are getting warm again. The digital asset market is not an easy money-making casino; it’s a hell where you can be shattered if you are not careful.

New friends, stop believing in the fairy tales of 'getting rich overnight.' Spend three months to calm down, read white papers, watch the market, and learn. Then invest a few hundred or a few thousand dollars to test the waters.

I don’t want you to repeat the mistakes I made with the lesson I bought for twenty thousand.

Remember this phrase: slow is fast. Stay steady to win!

If you have had similar experiences or are struggling with whether to enter the market, feel free to chat in the comments; don’t bear it alone.