After years in this market, from losing sleep over losses in the beginning to now earning a steady seven-figure income every month, what I want to say is—there’s no secret, just a few ironclad rules ingrained in my bones.

The most crucial point: Survival is more important than anything else.

No matter how great the trend is, one liquidation and it’s game over. My approach is rigid: with 100,000 in funds, each test position never exceeds 10,000, and total holdings are always kept under the 20% red line. Lose 2% on any trade? Cut it immediately, no hesitation. Leverage? Beginners shouldn’t touch it at all, and even veterans should hold back—10x max. These simple rules can help you avoid more than 90% of liquidation pitfalls.

The lower your trading frequency, the healthier your account.

You don’t make money in the market by trading volume, but by catching those few real opportunities. Now I only take one direction, no back and forth, and I set stop-loss and take-profit in advance ( like exiting at a 3% drop or reducing position at a 5% gain ), with a maximum of three trades per day. Quality always trumps quantity.

Here are a few major pitfalls to avoid: averaging down after a loss is a fast track to bankruptcy; fees will silently eat your profits; and if your paper profits aren’t realized, it’s all empty joy in the end. I used to always think “it can go a bit higher,” but ended up giving all the profits back.

With the same 100,000 principal, there are two paths and two fates:

Wrong way: full position + high leverage → adding to losing positions → holding on until liquidation;
Right way: start with a 20,000 base position, strictly enforce stop-loss and take-profit on every trade, and carefully select two high-quality trades per week. Average monthly return of 8%, annualized can reach over 150%.

Here are six mantras for you: use spare money, follow discipline, go one direction; no all-in, no holding losses, no betting both sides.

The contract market is not a casino—those who gamble with living expenses always fall just before dawn. Survive first, only then are you qualified to talk about profits.