The phone screen at 3 AM is blindingly bright; a friend sent a message with a sobbing tone: 'I just got liquidated, my 500,000 principal is gone without a trace...' This is already the third crypto newbie this month who has cried to me. They always say, 'I didn't understand the K-line', but I've seen too many people who know MACD crossovers inside and out still get wrecked in the market.
What truly wipes out an account is never a lack of skill, but rather hitting those 'survival traps' hidden in trading. Today, I’m breaking down the bloody lessons I’ve witnessed into 8 points, each of which can help you survive another round of bull and bear markets in the crypto world.
1. Leverage is the bait of the casino; heavy positions are the death knell for accounts.
There are always people who treat 'all-in and 100x leverage' as the key to wealth, forgetting that a 30% drop in a single day in the crypto market is more common than a buy-one-get-one-free milk tea offer. Last year, a fan shared a liquidation order: using 200,000 to go long on ETH with 50x leverage, they went from an unrealized profit of 800,000 to liquidation in just 4 hours— that vertical drop didn’t even give him a chance to close the position.
Remember this lifeline: the position of any single coin in spot trading must not exceed 20% of total funds, and once contract leverage hits above 5x, it’s like handing your account over to luck. Those who can survive a bear market are always the ones who are 'cautiously timid'.
2. People who stay up late watching the market are just giving money to it.
The crypto market runs 24 hours, but your brain needs to shut down and recharge. I've seen too many people stay up until 4 AM, bloodshot eyes glued to the K-line, mistaking 'stop-loss price' for 'take-profit price', turning long positions into short ones in a second; even worse, fatigue amplifies greed—knowing they should take profits at 20%, they still think 'I'll run when it goes up another 5%', only for profits to turn into losses.
My iron rule: set automatic stop-loss and take-profit before bed, and uninstall trading software from 2 AM to 8 AM. The market won’t close just because you’ve looked away for 6 hours, but a sleep-deprived brain might cost you 60% more.
3. Don’t touch real money before finding the 'safe logic'.
Every day someone asks, 'Can I buy this coin?', and I counter, 'What’s the core logic of buying it?'. If the answer is 'everyone in the group is grabbing it' or 'I heard it’s going to pump', then it’s basically giving away money. True trading advantages should be as precise as a scalpel: for example, 'only trade the top 15 coins by market cap, liquidate immediately if it drops below the 20-day moving average', or 'only invest in Web3 projects backed by leading institutions'.
The truth is: 90% of trades in the crypto world are ineffective operations. Can't find your 'safe zone'? Then saving money in a balance treasure is better than random buying.
4. Only those who can stay in cash for 3 months can catch doubling markets.
"It's 10 times harder to be in cash than to be in a position." This is a lesson ingrained in me after losing my first pot of gold. I've seen too many people buy unknown altcoins out of 'itchy hands' and end up losing their passwords; meanwhile, those who can stay in cash for 3 months always manage to catch the starting point of a doubling market like UNI or ARB.
Tough strategy: delete the exchange app, note down the key price levels of coins you’re interested in, and only download it back when both conditions of '30% pullback + increased trading volume' are met. Bored? That’s still better than watching your account shrink.
5. Rushing to recover after a big loss is like jumping into an abyss.
Who hasn't experienced the despair of losing 100,000 in a single day? But the truly fatal thing isn't the loss itself, but 'revenge trading'—knowing full well that the logic behind this coin is flawed, yet thinking 'I'll make it all back in one go', turning a 100,000 loss into a 300,000 loss. The harshest aspect of the market is that it never cares for your tears; it only enjoys devouring impulsive gamblers.
Emergency plan: if daily losses exceed 15% of total funds, immediately stop for a week. Set a screenshot of your account balance as your phone wallpaper, and every time you think about placing an order, just take a look—only those who can control their emotions are qualified to wait for the next opportunity.
6. A stop-loss isn't giving up; it's installing a security door for your account.
There are always people who 'bet against' the market: 'It’s already dropped so much; it will definitely rebound'. What’s the result? Holding from a 10% drop to a 50% drop, and stop-loss levels turn into 'break-even levels'. Last year, during the FTT collapse, how many people held onto the fantasy that 'Zhao Changpeng won't go all out' from 18 dollars down to 0.7 dollars, leading to their accounts being wiped out.
Operational iron rule: a stop-loss must be set when buying (5%-8% for spot, 3%-5% for contracts); cut losses if it drops below, don’t make excuses. A stop-loss is the ceiling for losses; without this layer of protection, your account will eventually be pierced.
7. Don't get emotionally attached to coins; they will only drain your principal.
Some people have held LTC for three years without letting go, saying 'this is silver, it will definitely rise'; some cling to XMR, thinking 'anonymous coins will always have value'. But the truth in the crypto world is: there are no eternal god coins, only endless iterations. In 2024, with AI + blockchain booming, AGIX and FET tripled in six months; once Layer2 narratives came into play, ARB and OP doubled directly.
Stay alert: spend 2 hours a week looking at new sector information; if the coins in your hand haven’t moved in 3 months with no new funding interest, decisively reduce your holdings. Belief can’t be eaten; only realizable trends are king.
8. Discipline is 100 times more important than technique; execution is worth more than analysis.
The most heart-wrenching truth: I've seen too many people preach 'plan your trades, trade your plan', only to forget everything the moment the market moves. They clearly said, 'I'll sell if it drops below MA60', yet hesitate because 'the expert in the group said it will rebound'; they planned to 'take half profits at 50%', yet are dragged to zero profits by 'just wait a bit longer'.
Breakthrough method: write trading rules on sticky notes and stick them next to your screen. Read them before placing any order: 'single coin not over 20%, stop-loss 5%, don’t watch the market at dawn'. Those who can strictly follow the rules, even if their skills are average, can outperform 90% of the 'smart people'.
Let me say something from the heart: the cruelest thing in the crypto world isn’t the crash, but the illusion that 'the next bet will turn things around', leading you further down the wrong path. Those who survive aren’t the ones who predict accurately but those who understand how to avoid the traps that cause sudden account deaths.
If you're still anxious about your losses, why not stop and check against these 8 points—perhaps the problem isn’t with the K-line, but with you. Follow me, and in the next issue, I’ll teach you three safe strategies to layout for the next bull market with a 3,000 principal. What pit have you recently fallen into? Let me help you analyze it.
