In the cryptocurrency market, stories of young trading prodigies getting rich overnight and then quickly falling from grace are not uncommon. However, the 25-year-old trader Vida, who has accumulated considerable assets, deliberately distances himself from such narratives. He openly states that he never considers himself a trading genius and does not stake his life on the high-leverage gambling of a lone hero.
People in the crypto world often do not regard money as money; Vida always holds a reverence for money.
Vida positions himself as an entrepreneur and the operator of a proprietary trading firm, rather than an independent trader working alone. He emphasizes that the top players who can survive long-term in the market, even reaching billion-dollar levels, largely rely on teamwork, information collaboration, and pack tactics rather than individual heroism. He candidly states: the market loves stories of getting rich overnight, but reality often does not operate that way.
In his view, traders who can withstand severe volatility often develop a dangerous mindset of not treating money as money at some stage of life. He names past cases in the market, such as Brother Ma Ji and James Wynn, believing that this mindset has led many to fall rapidly from their peaks. In contrast, Vida states that regardless of how much his assets grow, he always maintains a reverence for money; as long as there is time, he will not miss any reasonable arbitrage opportunity.
This discipline is also reflected in his asset management style. Vida assesses his personal asset situation once every quarter, and this habit has continued for seven years, with positive growth maintained each quarter. He also adheres to a very conservative view on consumption. Recently, he purchased a self-occupied house, using only about 3% of his net worth, even being teased by friends for being too frugal. But he candidly states that the self-occupied house itself does not generate cash flow and is considered a liability, while real estate means liquidity is locked in, implying a high opportunity cost. Even in the future when buying a car, he only plans to spend 1% of his total assets.
Founder of Equation News, Vida: Being successful at a young age means starting compound interest earlier.
Regarding life goals, Vida does not hide his ambitions. He describes viewing the amount of money as a scoreboard for life's game, with the goal of entering the top 20 Chinese billionaires during his lifetime. He believes that accumulating substantial capital by age 25 means he can start compound interest earlier than most and even have a longer time window to amplify results.
Therefore, the core strategy he set for himself is summed up in two words: hang on. Specifically, this includes maintaining physical health and promoting asset appreciation in a step-by-step manner, pursuing a stable compound interest of 20% to 30% each year. He emphasizes that from a long-term perspective, the goal is not unattainable; on the contrary, history has repeatedly proven that those who win too much and become over-leveraged often fall.
In terms of trading methodology, Vida believes that the true replicable trading holy grail is akin to fishing: maintaining sensitivity to the market, participating on a small scale, patiently waiting for high-certainty major opportunities to arise, and then decisively taking action. With the recent market being dull, he has also focused more on experiencing life.
Leverage is only used for arbitrage, high-certainty returns, not for directional bets.
Vida also admits that in the early stages he indeed chose to go all in, but the premise was always high certainty events and short-term strategies. He cites three representative cases: in 2021, using algorithmic trading to target tweets mentioning DOGE by Musk, leveraging a multi-account structure to amplify available positions; during the USDC de-pegging triggered by the Silicon Valley Bank incident in 2023, he quickly accumulated positions after policy signals became clear; and when the news of Grayscale's lawsuit victory was released the same year, he took a short-term long position in Bitcoin.
He emphasizes that the commonality of these operations lies in using leverage to amplify the returns of arbitrage-type, high-certainty opportunities, with holding periods mostly just a few hours, rather than betting on direction in overly noisy markets. After his asset scale surpassed 15 million dollars by the end of 2023, he has almost stopped using leverage.
This article 'Making Money in the Crypto Circle, What Next?' analyzes Trader Vida's mindset after 00, aiming for the top twenty Chinese billionaires, first appearing in Chain News ABMedia.
